what's that digging in my barn?

Mojo Chick'n

Empress of Chickenville
11 Years
Mar 8, 2008
5,261
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Republic of Chickenville
Ok, I went out to feed calves this morning, and I have two big mounds of dirt in the barn. I keep grain (some in an old freezer, some in trash cans) and hay in there.

The mounds of dirt are from about the size of a football - to the size of a bowling ball. Much more than I would think mice would make (I do have mice out there).

it has been colder here, and I think that something has decided that my barn would be a good place to overwinter.

I have not seen anything large in there - except a possum that I killed a month or so ago. I don't see any holes, but they may be under the hay (one of the mounds is right next to the hay).

I thought perhaps rats, but no evidence yet of rats, other than the mounds of dirt (do they mound or just make holes?).

I also thought maybe skunk, but no smell at all.

We have tons of rabbits this year, but I doubt they would be brave enough to dig in the barn.

If it is something I need to worry about with the chickens/ducks, or the calves, I want to nip it in the bud.

any clues as to what the new tenant might be?

I can get pics of the mound, if needed.

eta --- Oh, just had a thought... maybe a groundhog? we had one up by the other barn that came right into the barn and bumped into my step dad's leg before it even bothered to look up
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then it just walked on out of the barn, unconcerned that it had a human nearby.

meri
 
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Spinds like rats to me. They will mound the dirt as they are digging their runs. I thought groundhog at first but I would think much more dirt would be piles outside a pretty large hole.
 
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but... but... I don't want rats!!!
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when I was a kid we had rats on this one farm we lived at - OMG!! so creepy and nasty.

the one mound is right next to the hay, there may be a hole under the edge of the hay pile - I am hoping for groundhog.

meri
 
I may be able to help if you post some pics.

I trapped a rat along the outside of my coop that was the size of a fox squirrel. It weighted about 3-5 lbs.

Funny thing is, the coop wasn't housing chickens at the time.
 
Me too, I'm guessing that a groundhog wants to connect to a den already in existence and have access to your barn in winter OR a wood rat, which we once had under one end of a concrete slab until the feral cats harried it, and it left.

http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/Woodrats.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

I'd stake out the coop or sprinkle flour or stable powder around the dig site to get clues...
 

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