- Oct 8, 2010
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So I’ve had a couple flocks of seramas for 3 years now. Because I had one perish overnight when the temperature dipped just under 40 degrees F suddenly one night, after much deliberation I decided to put in their coop supplemental heating via heat mats. These are the kind used for dogs and cats. You plug them into the outlet and they just give off a gentle warmth, have a hard plastic shell. The chickens sit on top of it and it keeps their feet, tummies and chests warm. This has worked very well for them these past years. It also kept the roosters from getting frostbite on their combs. They seem very contented to have a warm snuggly bed to sleep on during these cold nights. I haven’t had a problem...until....
Early this year I noticed large holes in the walls of my coop: RATS.
I put up hardware cloth everywhere and started trapping, made sure excess food was picked up...etc. I thankfully was able to “un-rat” my coop to such an extent that in most of my chicken pens inside this coop (it’s basically a large outbuilding/shed) there was no evidence they were present or had the possibility of getting in. But you know how it is with varmints... once they find a place they like they’ll keep on trying. And yes, I both saw and found evidence of them yet again, particularly only in the one section of my coop where the one electrical outlet is. The very same outlet I use to plug in all my heat mats. 
. In fact, that ‘evidence’ was that the rat had chewed straight through a heavy duty extension cord that I use for my heat mat. It wasn’t plugged in at the time, but of course this has me concerned as to how to handle this.
I’m almost afraid to ask, but what could occur if a rat attempted to chew through one of these electrical cords while they are plugged in? I use the deep litter method method- pine chips- in the winter. I do try to put the cords up off the floor but sometimes a chicken (serama) will try and perch on it and bring it down. My fears are the rat could chew the cord, get zapped, and start a fire. All the heat mats are on raised platforms high off (about 3 to 4 feet) the bedding and the extension cords I put up along near the ceiling and try to make it so that the cord is taught(ish) to the outlet...kind of more like a laundry line to the outlet. But this isn’t too far off the floor and I still still reachable in areas that rats could get to. If the rat chewed the cord and disrupted the current, could my chickens sleeping on the heat mat get electrocuted as well?
It’s probably silly of me to have assumed I only had rats in my coop earlier this year and not at all in the past 9ish years I’ve had the coop. I probably even had them in the coop when I used my heat mats before but just was oblivious to them being there and the potential danger.
Do rats and mice sort of know not to chew on live electrical wires? And do varmints chewing on wires create fires?! And how is it that in old houses (or even new ones) that houses are protected from fires and rats chewing on, say, live electrical wires in the attics, walls or crawl spaces where they usually reside? Is there anything I can do to protect the extension cords from getting chewed? Any protective products? Are there such things as fire alarms for barns that will only sound inside your house, as if by remote, notifying you, but not sounding off in the barn (scaring the animals half to death even if it was a false alarm)?
Should I be concerned, if so how much? Is this potentially dangerous? I both want to avoid having to continually buy replacement expensive extension cords AND avoid fires/electric shock to myself or chickens. There’s one more adjustment I can make to my coop to prevent the rats getting into this section of the coop, which I plan to tackle tomorrow, but even after those alterations, there’s no promising a rat-free coop...anywhere at anytime....I know those darn suckers will try their best. And so, knowing that, I need some advice and knowledge regarding the use heat mats, and electrical cords in a coop that now not only houses a few flocks of chickens but destructive rats.
Anyone offer some safety tips? Advice? Remember, these are Seramas I’m giving supplemental heating to, not my regular flock which I know will be fine in these cooler temps. Night time temps dip below freezing this week. I’ve got the heat mats on this evening...can’t sleep because I’m worried about my babies and crossing my fingers
.
Thanks in advance.
Early this year I noticed large holes in the walls of my coop: RATS.
I put up hardware cloth everywhere and started trapping, made sure excess food was picked up...etc. I thankfully was able to “un-rat” my coop to such an extent that in most of my chicken pens inside this coop (it’s basically a large outbuilding/shed) there was no evidence they were present or had the possibility of getting in. But you know how it is with varmints... once they find a place they like they’ll keep on trying. And yes, I both saw and found evidence of them yet again, particularly only in the one section of my coop where the one electrical outlet is. The very same outlet I use to plug in all my heat mats. . In fact, that ‘evidence’ was that the rat had chewed straight through a heavy duty extension cord that I use for my heat mat. It wasn’t plugged in at the time, but of course this has me concerned as to how to handle this.I’m almost afraid to ask, but what could occur if a rat attempted to chew through one of these electrical cords while they are plugged in? I use the deep litter method method- pine chips- in the winter. I do try to put the cords up off the floor but sometimes a chicken (serama) will try and perch on it and bring it down. My fears are the rat could chew the cord, get zapped, and start a fire. All the heat mats are on raised platforms high off (about 3 to 4 feet) the bedding and the extension cords I put up along near the ceiling and try to make it so that the cord is taught(ish) to the outlet...kind of more like a laundry line to the outlet. But this isn’t too far off the floor and I still still reachable in areas that rats could get to. If the rat chewed the cord and disrupted the current, could my chickens sleeping on the heat mat get electrocuted as well?
It’s probably silly of me to have assumed I only had rats in my coop earlier this year and not at all in the past 9ish years I’ve had the coop. I probably even had them in the coop when I used my heat mats before but just was oblivious to them being there and the potential danger. Do rats and mice sort of know not to chew on live electrical wires? And do varmints chewing on wires create fires?! And how is it that in old houses (or even new ones) that houses are protected from fires and rats chewing on, say, live electrical wires in the attics, walls or crawl spaces where they usually reside? Is there anything I can do to protect the extension cords from getting chewed? Any protective products? Are there such things as fire alarms for barns that will only sound inside your house, as if by remote, notifying you, but not sounding off in the barn (scaring the animals half to death even if it was a false alarm)?
Should I be concerned, if so how much? Is this potentially dangerous? I both want to avoid having to continually buy replacement expensive extension cords AND avoid fires/electric shock to myself or chickens. There’s one more adjustment I can make to my coop to prevent the rats getting into this section of the coop, which I plan to tackle tomorrow, but even after those alterations, there’s no promising a rat-free coop...anywhere at anytime....I know those darn suckers will try their best. And so, knowing that, I need some advice and knowledge regarding the use heat mats, and electrical cords in a coop that now not only houses a few flocks of chickens but destructive rats.
Anyone offer some safety tips? Advice? Remember, these are Seramas I’m giving supplemental heating to, not my regular flock which I know will be fine in these cooler temps. Night time temps dip below freezing this week. I’ve got the heat mats on this evening...can’t sleep because I’m worried about my babies and crossing my fingers
. Thanks in advance.
I have heard they should be fine, but I want to keep them healthy and also trying to save the serama roo’s combs from frostbite.
