rats

Back information before I get to the problem at hand. I live at the end of the road. I have 5 gardens that back into mine from the next street over. The village I live in is completely surrounded by vegetative farmlands. My husband and I have been working our butts off since we moved into this...

Hi all, I have a pair of ducks in an outdoor enclosure with some chickens. One of the ducks got cut on a piece of metal in the coop. We set him up in a nice warm spot, gave him a heatlamp and tried to make him cozy to recover. I set up a camera so I could keep an eye on him. The second night...

Hi. I was hoping to get advice. I went into the run to open feed containers and let the girls out this morning and found a large pile of freshly dug dirt. Looks like something dug it's way out?? I took a photo in the hole and you can see light to where it tunneled through. The exit was about...

We live above a sheep farm so it didn’t take long for the rats of their hay barn to venture up and find our coop. It’s been a multi-year problem as I’ve never seemed to eradicate them each time I try. Then, we messed with their home nest and they retaliated by killing a hen. Now, it’s war. I’ve...

I've been reading numerous threads about having hay in or around the run, and the comments run the gamut from good to bad. Some think hay is the best, others warn against it harboring rats, mice, mites, and disease. Why I am asking is that a friend has access to free hay bales, the large round...

Hi everyone! I’d like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable about chickens at this point, but this is something I have never struggled with before. I absolutely cannot get my birds to gain weight. I thought it was their feed so I switched to higher protein and add game bird feed. After that I got...

Have tried the usual methods, keeping food stored in metal garbage cans. The use of mint family sprays, even live plants, sometimes that does attract them more, than repel. Use sticky traps, unfortunately a couple small birds got stuck. Poison works somewhat, the good stuff the environmental...

Hi all, I have a rat problem that predates my chickens, but has gotten worse since we got them. I've got the grandpa feeder and have rat-proofed the run, but they aren't going anywhere and the traps I've tried (electric, claws, roller bar) have all been failures. I don't want to use poison...

Our biggest rooster overheated a few days ago, he's big and active and doesn't stop to care for himself if he feels "at risk" ... We're fighting a big rat problem this summer and he's killed a few himself already, so I assume he's been worried about the rats and not drinking ... Well he decided...

I have a dilemma... over the last month, ground squirrels have been getting into the coop, eating the feed, and eating/stealing the eggs. I fortified the coop, sprayed pepper powder/paste in and around the coop, and mixed it into their food. I collect the eggs often. Because we let the chickens...

So my parents have been complaining about having rats in their chicken run for months now, but I had no idea how BAD it had become. Just to keep it short 1. They are huge. I'm talking 8 inches at the very least. 2. They have completely taken over the pen. Mom told me they devoured an entire...

I need serious help, and you have always had my back. Hubby was getting the chicken coop and run ready for summer, and we found a HUGE rat’s nest in the concrete blankets we use to keep the girls warm. There are tunnels covering every inch of their run. We’re planning on moving their run and...

Built a coop with hardware cloth floor, which has worked well keeping snakes and those sorts out. But this year is our first we've been overrun by rats. Tried the bucket, and poison (in protected bait stations), both to no avail. They won't go up on bucket, and they aren't eating bait. I even...

Any information please. We were tilling our garden yesterday and a small rat run into the chicken coop. And the chickens chased it and all were eating it. Do we need to throw away their eggs worried about any possible diseases? We haven’t put any poison out or anything like that.

This morning I went out to check on my button quail and all but 1 were dead, they are housed with a chicken and a rooster and a larger coturnix quail and have never had any problems until this morning where there was a pile of them in their little wooden house on the bottom floor I don’t know if...

Hi, Ive got my first checkin a year ago, so im pretty new to chicken world. Just 2 weeks ago ive noticed that one of the chicken is not looking good, its all fluffed up, disoriented, and not as active as other chickens, also her comb if down and looks like its dried up and changed in color. Ive...

Hi everyone! So I noticed that four quail eggs have randomly disappeared over the course of the night. We have their coop on the ground, and we have chicken wire around the caged coop part. I’m thinking maybe rats might be going in to try and get the eggs? I’ve noticed this the past three days...

This is very much a noobie question, and I'm just looking for general thoughts and opinions. We've got a rat infestation on the property and poison is not an option (yes, we know about the other options). We've been discussing getting a dog, but I've read so many horror stories of dogs going...

Hi, I have 3 chicks and they live in area where lots of rats are there. I am going for a trip for 3 days and givings chicks to my neighbour. There are no other predetor such as cat, snake and birds of prey. Does rat kill chickens ?, Please help

I have recently discovered a bit of a rat problem in my coop/run and am working on getting it taken care of. I have a few things in the works, but if I have more issues, I'll be back for suggestions. What I'm here for is to inquire about a real head-scratcher that happened today. I have a...