Yesterday morning I went out to the chickens as they were coming out and inspected for droppings to see if blocking up the gaps had worked. I was really disappointed to see a couple mouse droppings by the feeder and even worse about five rat dropping in front of the storage cabinet.
We searched for gaps and my husband concluded that cable ties were not good enough to hold the chicken net to the weld mesh. He thought that a rat could push its way in between and we started thinking of other ways to secure it. I came up with the idea of pulling the net down to the wooden beam, nailing it, then nailing a baton of wood over it. Off we went to the D.I.Y. store for more wood. Husband says are we never going to stop spending money on these chooks and working on their home!
I started to remove the cable ties with a craft knife (I had made extra work by adding loads more cable ties the day before) and very soon managed to cut my finger with the knife rendering me useless to continue the job. My husband took over and completed the job, securing the wooden batons. We both agreed this looked much neater and wondered why we didn’t do this in the first place (hind sight is a wonderful thing!).
Strip of wood securing the chicken net to the weld mesh
Side of enclosure with the wooden strip attached
We then decided to check round the inside and make sure there were no more gaps that we may have missed. It was then that I noticed an entry point point where the rat had dug in. We have a jasmine in the corner of the patio area that we had planted by lifting out one slab, before we had chickens. We had decided to leave it in as a bit of interest for them and us.
We now have a new entry point
On the other side of the fence is our water butt which is why we hadn’t noticed it from that side. I think that the rats were probably coming through the gaps in the corrugated roof and that once they were blocked up they have found another way in. This wasn’t like this yesterday. I filled the hole with stones then piled more of these pebbles on top (we had these from a broken water feature that was in the garden when we moved in and which we removed).
The gap filled and pebbles heaped on top
We then needed to address the other side which involved more work as this is where the water butt that takes the rain water from the chickens roof is situated. Moving this meant emptying the full water butt. We realised that there were also gaps where the the fence panels are butted up against the big shed which makes the end wall of the enclosure. Like the gaps in the corrugated roof there are gaps made by the staggered slats of the shed not allowing the fence to fit flush against it. Husband decided maybe we could make use of the insulating foam after all. He squirted it in the gaps and when it had set trimmed it off and replaced the water butt.
Foam in the gaps against the shed
The foam is trimmed and the water butt is back in place
We really do feel all the gaps are filled now and are fairly confident that nothing will be able to get in. My husband kept saying we may have done lots of the work for nothing when that wasn’t where they were getting in but I think like a leak, if you block it up the next weakest spot leaks. I think you have to block every possible gap and think it’s all been worth doing if it now solves the problem. Husband did feel better about being able to use the foam rather than it being a wasted purchase though. We are not sure long term if a rat could chew through it, but at least if that was the case we would see it and would come up with something else.
This morning I went in to do my chores and check for new droppings and I was bitterly disappointed. Again there were a few mouse droppings and more rat droppings.
We started trying to work out where else they could get in. I suggested the most vulnerable side was the fence bordering our neighbours. The top end of the enclosure is up against our big shed which is stood on concrete. Our side of the enclosure is against the patio and a concrete path. The bottom end backs on to our veg plot and the weld mesh has been dug down and inwards on the inside. On the outside my husband dug a trench and lined it with vertical tiles, then horizontal tiles, filling it back in with earth. Behind the fence bordering our neighbours garden, they have wooden decking which comes part way up our fence in height. When the guys were building the chicken enclosure for us, they thought the decking would keep out foxes or any predators (to be fair they weren’t thinking rats) and the bushes up against the fence made it difficult to put anything in on our side. We went back out to check this side and this is what we found.
New entry points either side of the shrub
You can just see a hole between the compost bin and the shrub and another just by the wooden logs. As I said before about leaks finding another weak point, I think that now that we have blocked up all the other gaps, the rats are finding new ways in. My husband was really down hearted about this as to deal with this means digging in mud and somehow trying to get behind the bushes.
We have a lot of tiles stored beside the shed, left over from our loft conversion years back (my husband keeps everything in case it will come in useful one day), and it often does! The plan was to try to sink the tiles down in front of the fence. My husband started digging and putting the tiles in place, while I crawled on hands and knees under the big bush to see what I could do there. It was really difficult as the bush is flush up against the fence and the gap beside it, is really awkward to squeeze through. I had to bodge it together as best I could. I dug, then hammered a tile in as far I could, then sunk a big piece of wood in front of it.
Me and my girls helping!
My husband took this as he found it amusing that where ever I am, the girls are right behind me. It also shows how tricky it is to get under here.
Tiles buried in the ground
This was the best I could do in this corner
We have now spent three days working on our “finished” chicken enclosure and each time we hope this will be the end of it. I don’t think there is anything else we can do and hope, hope, hope that this stops them getting in.
Click here to see the history of my flock.