After a few days of no rat droppings we thought we had cracked the problem but we were wrong! The droppings started to appear again and our hearts sank. I started looking again for any vulnerable parts and wondered if although the big shed is on concrete, maybe there was enough gap underneath it for them to squeeze through.
We emptied and moved out the storage cabinet again. To my horror there was a huge pile of pellets stored behind it and it was only a few days since we had pulled it out and cleaned behind it. My husband said he didn’t think this was where they were getting in but just where they were storing the food. Even so just to be on the safe side we put a baton of wood in front of the shed.
My husband then realised that we had the same gaps up against the louvred boards of the shed as the gaps we had filled with foam on our side. This time my husband cut blocks of wood to nail in front of each gap.
Each gap covered by a block of wood
This was a bit time consuming but I think it will be worth it. In the corner my broom hangs and in front of that my little chair.
The next space I thought was a week point was where the patio joins next doors fence, there is a strip of earth which we had covered with bricks which were left in our garden when we moved in (again my husband saves everything for future use).
We pulled the coop out and my husband lifted the bricks, then cut some strips of weld mesh. He pushed the weld mesh under the fence and put the bricks back on top. I hammered stones into any gaps between the uneven shaped bricks. We hoped these measures would do the trick but were beginning to lose confidence by now.
The following morning I went out to inspect and sure enough there were mouse and rat droppings once again, but as we are making it harder for the rats, they in turn are making it easier for us to see where they are getting in and out.
We moved out the coop and could see that they had pushed the weld mesh up to squeeze underneath. The stones that I had hammered in had been pushed out (how strong are they!).
We also saw that there were two holes dug under the tiles we had put inside the fence. My husband thinks they were digging their way back out again. With a lot of complaining we set to work again.
We removed the bricks and this time my husband nailed the weld mesh to our side of the fence, then over the gap, overlapping the patio and replaced the bricks back on top.
The bricks on top of the weld mesh which has been nailed to the fence
We then took out the tiles from in front of the fence and my husband dug a trench. He then replaced the vertical tile, then laid a horizontal tile in front of it before filling in the trench. This will make it much more difficult for anything to dig under. We are determined that after putting in so much work on this, we will not be beaten by them.
Next morning was the moment of truth and there were only a few mouse droppings, no rat droppings and no more signs of digging. The following morning I only found one single mouse dropping. We have seen no sign of rats for a few days now so are hopeful that we really have stopped them getting in. We are hoping that now they can’t get in they have moved on. I will be keeping a very close check on it each day.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Have you ever caught any of your hens killing/eating a mouse/rat?
No I haven’t, but I have never seen a rat or mice in the run so think they only come in at night when the hens are in the coop. But I have read on other blogs of people seeing their hens out in the garden catch and eat a mouse and also of finding a few remains of a devoured rat.
My hens have seen a squirrel cross the veg patch and they all ran to the weld mesh to look so were not afraid. They also did the same when a pheasant walked across the veg patch.
I don’t know what my hens would do if they saw a mouse but I am sure they wouldn’t be afraid of it.
Rats are surprisingly strong, and they are also intelligent and can be quite determined. When I used to let my pet rats out in the hallway they always used to outsmart me and find a way out of the room or into some place that I didn’t want them to go. Even after I blocked off an exit they would keep trying to get back through for a long time afterwards!
Good luck – I’m sure you’ll make your run impenetrable in the end!
I knew how intelligent they could be from your pet rats but was surprised by how strong they are. I did say that I remembered how your last Ratty would bump her way up my sleeve quite strongly for her size.
I have to separate all feelings of the fondness I had for your Ratty from these as they must be stopped. We are quite sure at the moment that at last we have made it impenetrable but of course only time will tell. This is the longest we have seen no sign though since we began this battle.