Re: Feeding Chickens -- keeping out rats..

[Guest guest]

I love silkies! They weren't as hardy as some of my other chickens but maybe

it was their breeding. My Aruacanas ruled! Chickens like the SE corner of

the coop because it's the first place to get warm in the morning..

By the way, I thought I'd share some info on keeping rats from digging into

your coop:

1.) It used to be that you needed to install hardware cloth down about 3

feet around the outside edge of your shed or coop because supposedly rats

won't dig deeper than 3 feet. But that's a LOT of work and the rats dig down

deeper than 3 feet if they really want to get in. What you can actually do

is go down only about 6 inches and then out about 10 inches with hardware

cloth -- (they're smart but they're not that smart -- they will go DOWN but

not go further OUT than about 10 inches from the base of the shed.) Just

tack the wire hardware cloth to the edge of the building, go vertically down

with it 6 inches and then bend it out to go out horizontal to the ground

another 10 inches. Then cover all the wire cloth up with dirt. Sneaky! If

you have rats, as I did, you'll probably find holes all along the wall of

the coop but none get inside. (I use the quarter-inch mesh hardware

cloth...)

2.) Plug any holes with a fine gauge steel wool as the rats will try to chew

through this and it dulls their teeth. I just smush some 0000 steel mesh

into a hole and then hold it in with duct tape on the " good " side. I can

tell that they'd be chewing but they've never make it to the duct tape.

3.) Rats can live in ivy year round without water as they suck the water out

of the stems of the ivy. The ivy also provides shallow cover from predators

obviously and the ivy's shallow root structure allows them to tunnel easily.

So get rid of ivy.

4.) If you do decide to ever use poison you can mitigate its effects on

other animals that might eat the dead rats this way: Rat poison usually

advertises " one bite and they're dead " or something like that. That small

amount is not enough to kill a rat scavenger but the problem is that since

that " one bite " of poison actually takes 5 days to act, in the meantime, the

rat may continue to eat the poison for 5 more days and get way too much

poison in its little rat system. So if you put out rat poison, watch, and as

soon as you see a nibble, take it back in for 5 days. Or just put it out

every 5 days. Then you can use poison with a reasonably clear conscious --

it's using an itty bitty amount and it's just killing a rat which you (or

your husband!) will dispose of properly.

5.) Rats that eat chicken feed become immune to rat poison because chicken

feed has vitamin K in it, an anti-coagulant. The poison works by coagulating

blood I think..

Hmmmmmmmmmm.. that's all I can think of for now. Just thought I'd share...

~Robin

[Guest guest]

Robin Reese wrote:

>I love silkies! They weren't as hardy as some of my other chickens but maybe

>it was their breeding. My Aruacanas ruled! Chickens like the SE corner of

>the coop because it's the first place to get warm in the morning..

>

>By the way, I thought I'd share some info on keeping rats from digging into

>your coop:

>

>1.) It used to be that you needed to install hardware cloth down about 3

>feet around the outside edge of your shed or coop because supposedly rats

>won't dig deeper than 3 feet. But that's a LOT of work and the rats dig down

>deeper than 3 feet if they really want to get in. What you can actually do

>is go down only about 6 inches and then out about 10 inches with hardware

>cloth -- (they're smart but they're not that smart -- they will go DOWN but

>not go further OUT than about 10 inches from the base of the shed.) Just

>tack the wire hardware cloth to the edge of the building, go vertically down

>with it 6 inches and then bend it out to go out horizontal to the ground

>another 10 inches. Then cover all the wire cloth up with dirt. Sneaky! If

>you have rats, as I did, you'll probably find holes all along the wall of

>the coop but none get inside. (I use the quarter-inch mesh hardware

>cloth...)

>

>2.) Plug any holes with a fine gauge steel wool as the rats will try to chew

>through this and it dulls their teeth. I just smush some 0000 steel mesh

>into a hole and then hold it in with duct tape on the " good " side. I can

>tell that they'd be chewing but they've never make it to the duct tape.

>

Robin,

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely implement some of your

suggestions. Poison is not something I would do. Maybe some sort of

chicken-friendly trap. The coop is attached to a metal shed on one side

and is 6 x 8' at 6' high. The bottom two-thirds will be plywood

covered. We are using plastic corrugated roofing and chicken wire over

the rest I am getting nine birds, btw.

Could I just feed the chickens when they are out in the day and to not

attract rats? I live and work on 2 acres fenced. Honestly, I think

egg-stealing snakes are more of a concern for me here in Texas than

rats, especially with four of my cats out of doors all night. I'll post

a photo of DH getting the rat snake out of the birdhouse last year to

the photo section (he is shy so I will cut out his head, lol). Poor

baby bird didn't make it. :-( Said birdhouse is now attached to the

house up high, btw. Old Stormy kitty sometimes goes on suicide missions

off the roof and dive-bombs it. Said snake, whom we named Jake,

slithered off into the sunset. It is never a dull moment round these

here parts.

And heat may be more of an issue upcoming than cold. Perhaps I will

experiment with portable nesting boxes in two locations and see what

they prefer. We were just out nailing them together.

But again, thank you for all of the information.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

Poison is not something I would do. Maybe

> some sort of chicken-friendly trap.

Hi Deanna, As I just mentioned, I had a HUGE problem with rats. They were so

brazen they'd just sit up, in groups!, on a rafter and stare me down -- in

broad daylight! It was me vs. the rats -- warfare!! I'm sorry to say, they

won the first battle.

But I finally won the war: I razed the whole darned shed and poured a

concrete slab. ~Robin

[Guest guest]

At 5:22 PM +0000 3/31/05, wrote:

>5.) Rats that eat chicken feed become immune to rat poison because chicken

>feed has vitamin K in it, an anti-coagulant. The poison works by coagulating

>blood I think..

>

>Hmmmmmmmmmm.. that's all I can think of for now. Just thought I'd share...

>~Robin

? I thought most rat poison was Warfarin, which is an anti-coagulant,

and that they basically got hemophilia and bled internally.

--

Quick, USUM (ret.)

www.en.com/users/jaquick

Term limits: one term in office, one term in jail.-- Wolfe.

[Guest guest]

>Hi Deanna, As I just mentioned, I had a HUGE problem with rats. They were so

>brazen they'd just sit up, in groups!, on a rafter and stare me down -- in

>broad daylight! It was me vs. the rats -- warfare!! I'm sorry to say, they

>won the first battle.

>

>But I finally won the war: I razed the whole darned shed and poured a

>concrete slab. ~Robin

>

OMG. Have you seen Graveyard Shift or Willard, because your situation

sound similar, lol. Too bad about the problems you've had. Could I

line the bottom of the coop with the hardware cloth?

We have hawks too, but they only go for the young birds, I believe. I

may make a little chicken tractor too until they are grown. Mr. Chicken

Supplier lives across the road and has never seen rats. And he hasn't

any cats either.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

> ? I thought most rat poison was Warfarin, which is an

> anti-coagulant, and that they basically got hemophilia and

> bled internally. --

> Quick, USUM (ret.)

You're probably right so maybe I mean the opposite :-) Sorry. I can't

remember exactly what the deal was but Ed at Vector Control told me

something like that about the chicken feed..... It's been years now.. ~Robin

[Guest guest]

Yeah Willard. I love it. It really was miserable. We moved into this

" country " house 10 years ago, from downtown San Francisco. The rats had been

here for, oh, probably upwards of about 100 years as our town, Petaluma, was

the Chicken Capitol of the World " starting in 1849. I kid you not. The old

shed had been constructed with a wood floor that just sat on top of the

ground. No doubt, rats had been living for years under the floor. Dumb place

for chickens, right? Anyway, this City Slicker proceeds anyway and there you

have it. Learned a bit about rats in the meantime and hope to spare any

souls the same experience of cleaning rat turds off of Everything. We're

lucky the EPA didn't come after us for violating Norway Rat Habitat. ~Robin

[Guest guest]

>Yeah Willard. I love it. It really was miserable. We moved into this

> " country " house 10 years ago, from downtown San Francisco. The rats had been

>here for, oh, probably upwards of about 100 years as our town, Petaluma, was

>the Chicken Capitol of the World " starting in 1849. I kid you not. The old

>shed had been constructed with a wood floor that just sat on top of the

>ground. No doubt, rats had been living for years under the floor. Dumb place

>for chickens, right? Anyway, this City Slicker proceeds anyway and there you

>have it. Learned a bit about rats in the meantime and hope to spare any

>souls the same experience of cleaning rat turds off of Everything. We're

>lucky the EPA didn't come after us for violating Norway Rat Habitat. ~Robin

>

>

Ah, Petaluma. Brings back fond memories of antique shopping when I

lived in the Bay area. I had no idea rats were so big there. Can't

y'all import some snakes or cats to deal with the rats? Rats are pretty

big though, aren't they?

I have seen mice around here but never seen or heard of rats. My sweet

Ashes kitty brings me presents sometimes. Let's see, she's brought me

mice, birds, a squirrel, a rabbit and a hot dog. ;-) She's not very

big, but I'll bet you she could tackle a rat no problem. The cat

population in this town is huge. Five cats came with my house, and I

have rescued and neutered/spayed two others since moving here a few

years ago. I guess having them all around must help with the rodent

population.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

I don't think 20 cats coulda made a dent in my herd a rats, Deanna. And yes

they were Big Rats. :-)

And the dreadful beasts are so highly adaptable that they carry diseases

that they themselves don't catch. One wonders how on earth they do that.

Pretty remarkable immune systems when you think of it.. ~Robin