What was in my run last night?

[mowin]

I thought about concrete, but I'd need a excavator to dig. Super rocky and large trees within 10'. No way could I dig through 5"+ roots by hand.

 

[EastJacket]

The culprit! This young man spent midnight to 3am last night digging around, luckily the reinforcements we worked on kept him out!

 

[Folly's place]

Rats are smart and determined, and come in family groups. One may mean MANY, and they will eat egg, kill chickens, and spread diseases we can all get.
At least you don't have plague in Massachusetts!
They may come in when you have your birds out ranging during the day, and I think you will need to not only keep them out of your run, but look at extermination solutions for this group.
Good luck!
Mary

 

[cmom]

This is what I used. I had a coop that was infested. The rats had nests in the ceiling and the walls. When I took out the ceiling and walls, dozens of rats of all sizes came out. I used poison. I put rat bait stations in our barn which is right behind the coops. The rats didn't like the bait that came with the bait stations so I bought some different bait that the feed store used down the road. They liked that bait. The only things that can get to the bait is rats and mice. The bait stations have a little window above the bait so it can be checked often. I haven't had any takers for quite awhile. I didn't find any bodies laying around. I think they went into their tunnels and died. Good luck...

 

[cmom]

If you get mites, rats can bring them into your flock too.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

We use traps. We can't use poison here because our cats and birds both eat mice and I'm not losing another animal to second degree poisoning

 

[Folly's place]

You might get a couple of rats in traps, but never all of them, if you are dealing with more than a scout or two.
Mice are easy to trap, rats, not so much.
Concentrate on rat proofing everything, and if you only have standard sized adult chickens, a rat proof feeder will help. Here we have bantams and youngsters, so rat proof feeders are not usable.
Mary

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Anyone try these?

 

[Folly's place]

It's called a mouse trap for a reason!
Again, one or maybe two rats might fall for any trap, but then the rest know better.
Years ago we had rats in the barn, and by the time we noticed, because the little darlings were wishing us 'good morning' in person out there, it was a colony. Our barn cat declined to get involved, and two younger rats died in a hanging water bucket. Two, out of many! We locked our pets up out of reach, and used poison in bait stations, and took care of things.
No rats were caught in any of several other traps we set.
Mary

 

[EastJacket]

The run is fully enclosed with 1/2 inch welded wire (including the roof) and we have now tacked down and secured the 3-4 foot apron—the rat couldn’t get in last night or the night before but I’ve seen the dig marks at the edge of the run where the dirt is covering the apron. We also bring their run feeder I’m at night. I am hoping that he will move on soon Since he isn’t being fed—it would be tough to lay down poison in my area because we’d possibly kill off much more than the rat.

Side note, I’m really excited to have a game camera now! I can’t wait to see what I can record in the swamp