What animal is tunneling under our coop? Photos

[77horses]

Update: We set a live trap last night with some cheese and a cracker and placed it inside the run, right next to the main hole. But no luck...the trap and bait inside was untouched. But there were more signs of digging, so they were definitely in the run again last night, and totally ignored the trap.
Either they’re too smart or just picky eaters. I’m gonna try another time tonight but with a piece of meat.
One thing to mention is that the leftover cracked corn in the run doesn’t disappear overnight. In fact it appears to remain largely untouched, along with any other scrap food pieces left behind by the chickens. So it seems like they’re not really eating the food that’s left in the run, which is odd...

 

[aart]

Game cam.

 

[SlimPickens74]

Looks to be a rat. We are trapping them as we speak, using the Ratanator. Where there are chickens and feed there will be rodents. We have holes just like that. I would start taking care of the issue, or soon be overran.Good luck. Rats are very wary of new things. Maybe bait the trap without setting it a night or two... They will get to trust it. Then , well.

 

[77horses]

Looks to be a rat. We are trapping them as we speak, using the Ratanator. Where there are chickens and feed there will be rodents. We have holes just like that. I would start taking care of the issue, or soon be overran.Good luck. Rats are very wary of new things. Maybe bait the trap without setting it a night or two... They will get to trust it. Then , well.

Good thinking with baiting the trap after letting it sit for a little while, so they get used to it.

 

[77horses]

Update: So I spent several hours today revamping the mesh wire around the coop and run. My S/O put four cinder blocks under the cement pad on the inside of the run (not only to help support it since the dirt underneath has been eroding because of the tunnels, but also to block it off entirely). I used heavy duty poultry nails to secure mesh wire all around the base. Then I put crushed stone on top of the mesh wire that goes underground at an angle, followed by some hefty boulders, and finally dirt to cover it all up.
I know a lot of you have said that rats can chew through many things, including cement blocks and sometimes even metal...but if they can get through this, I’m gonna be really impressed.
See photos for the process (first photo is the beginning- digging out the dirt for the mesh wire to be buried- and so on. Last photos are the finished result.)
I am planning on getting a night cam at some point.
Oh, one other thing- I did find droppings in the run this morning. They looked like small black sunflower seeds, about the size of a piece of orzo pasta that you’d find in rice pilaf. Aka like bigger mouse droppings.

 

[77horses]

@Al Gerhart I took your advice and moved all feed into the coop at night. Fortunately it’s already stored in metal barrels, but I was in the habit of leaving their automatic feeders out in the run 24/7. I also cleared the run of any leftover foods- cracked corn, etc.- so hopefully they don’t have any reason to come back (if they can get through the new mesh wire set-up, that is.)

 

[77horses]

Well, the mystery continues. I went out this morning to find that the new mesh wire was successful last night (so far). There were no signs of digging, no new tunnels, on the outside of the coop or run.
But...somehow, someway, there were STILL a couple new holes on the INSIDE of the run. ???? I walked around and inspected the entire exterior border of the run and coop- no signs of tunnels. But on the inside, there’s two new holes that don’t seem to reach to the outside. And there’s no new tunnels under the coop either, now that it’s entirely blocked off, so it’s not like there’s anything living under there. Unless there’s some secret underground tunnel that starts further out in the woods and connects to a tunnel inside the run that I’m somehow not seeing, I have no clue how they’re getting in at this point.
I have two stumps and a tire in the run that I lifted and inspected to see if anything has been living underneath this whole time. Nothing.

 

[ColtHandorf]

It's weird, but try baiting the trap with avocado. I had someone who worked for a pest control company swear by it. When a house was demolished next to us all their rodents fled into the surrounding neighborhood and I ended up with mice in my car. I could hear them running above the headliner. I put some sticky traps with avocado down on the floorboard and caught all of them. Also your live traps may not be sensitive enough for a rat to trip. you may need to resort to sticky traps put out after the birds have gone to bed and picked up again before you let them out in the morning.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Chipmunks, & or gophers maybe likely.
Another tunneling animal, & we had them were rats.

 

[Rammy]

Answer? Rat.

The good news is, if it is a rat it won't hurt the chickens, it's just looking for a free meal.

I have rats at my barn, and at first, poison worked. Now they wont touch anything I put out or do in an attempt to eradicate them.
They WILL attack chickens because one of my hens was attacked in the early morning hours. Thankfully, she just had a head wound.
They have eaten many chicks that were hatched by my broody hens this year. Id find them gone, or just the shell but no chick. So if its rats, get rid of them, if at all possible.