Have you ever found piffling shiner dung peppered throughout your coop bedding — grim ellipse pellets about the size of it of a grain of rice ? grounds of rodents in your chicken coop can be unnerving , but it ’s important to recognize that winter is a hungry time for hazardous animals . The reward of a warm bed and a full belly plant inside a chicken coop is all too tempting for a inhuman , starving rodent .
Homemade or fund - buy repellent concoctions might help oneself shoo off away rodents in more abundant season , but hungry ones wo n’t be deterred easily . Plus , you would n’t want to apply those concoction around your chickens , as chicken eat almost anything . With a small bit of common sense and ingeniousness , it ’s possible to minimize your rodent problem naturally . Here are tip I ’ve found good at blackball rodents from your urban chicken hencoop .
1. Patch Coop Holes
If you incur evidence of rodents in your coop , audit the full interior and outside of your coop for maw . Small rodent can wiggle through cracks you might not even notice . If you happen to tear your ironware cloth ( by drop a hencoop door on it like I did ) , be indisputable to piece it or supervene upon it right away . Torn hardware fabric allows rodents and even small hiss to take the air right inside .
2. Store Feed in Rodent-Proof Containers
I keep my wimp feed in a lidded metal scraps can that I purchased specifically for crybaby provender . ( It ’s never held garbage . ) Some people use credit card store containers or plastic refuse cans , but a hungry enough gnawer will masticate through a moldable storage container no matter how long it takes .
3. Store Coop Bedding Securely
I ’ll never draw a blank the time I clean out the volaille coop and thrust my hand inside the bedding bag , only to watch two scared mice skitter from a bantam hollow in the bottom , run across the yard and plunk into the old shed we ’re supplant . Picking up a 2d alloy container for the bedding is now on my to - do list , but in the meantime , I ’m keep shiner access by balancing the grip on top of a bucket . The shiner ca n’t climb the pail , and there ’s nothing nearby for them to climb to get to it . This irregular solution wo n’t last long , unfortunately . After all , where there ’s a will , there ’s a way .
4. Set Traps
If you find that you have a family of rodents nesting someplace on your property , consider using a humanistic trap to relocate them to a woods or athletic field away from your dimension . Humane trap are often available where you buy chicken feed .
5. Use a Secure Feeder
In February , I ’m taking on the projection of build a leaden birdfeeder . because my self-aggrandizing “ pest ” problem has been wild fowl eating our chicken feed when the deal is loose - ranging . The feeder will not be able to open up without the weight of a hen standing on the platform . There will be a learning curve for the chickens , but they take in on to fresh thing well .
Weighted confluent are usable for purchase , but you could find plans online if you ’re concerned in building your own . I ’m excited to share my weighted affluent project with you when it ’s finished .
6. Avoid Poisons
Whatever you do to deter or eliminate rodent , never use poison . Killing gnawer might seem like an easy solution , but a beat shiner is an invitation for a loose - rate fold to play keep away . Chickens love all in mice ! The very last thing you want is to incidentally contaminate your flock , its feed and its yard with poison . Even if your chickens are n’t harmed , their eggs are your food for thought . Always keep that in brain .
Have you ever had a rodent trouble ? How did you get rid of them ?
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