At the beginning of this winter we had rats coming into the run again. It took a while to track down where they were coming in. The good news is that they haven’t managed to dig in this year. Last winter we put tiles down vertically then chicken wire horizontally with another layer of tiles horizontally over the wire then a layer of soil on top. This seems to be working well.
After searching every where I found that a hole had been chewed through the fence behind the coop. I blocked the hole with weld mesh and a heavy paving stone in front of the mesh.
My temporary block of the hole in the fence
The problem we have is that the neighbouring garden has decking behind this fence. This has two main drawbacks. The first is that rats love to nest under decking as it is safe and sheltered for them. The other thing is that as the deck is right up against the fence with no barrier, the fence is constantly sodden and the wood becomes rotten and easy for rats to chew through.
When we built the chicken run three years ago we replaced the rotting fence with new panels even though it is the neighbours fence. It has only taken three years to return to this condition again.
After I had blocked this hole I put rat poison in the small gap under our water butt where nothing else can get at it and it disappeared then slowed then stopped being taken meaning we had got rid of this wave of rats.
A few days ago we noticed that a new hole had appeared overnight in the fence, this time in the open where it was easily spotted. I blocked it with weld mesh and a brick.
Another temporary block of a new hole
You can see by how dark the fence is that the wood is sodden.
The next morning I went into the run to find that the hole had been extended over night to beyond the brick. It was time to do something more permanent .
The extended new hole
The rounded bit on the left is the new part of the hole. I think what we can see beyond the hole is rubble that had been put under the decking.
We have new neighbours that have moved in recently and we don’t want to mention this to them. They are a really nice couple (understanding of our chickens) and have just had to have a new boiler shortly after moving in. We don’t want to bother them with any further problems.
My husband came up with a plan. He suggested as we still have some chicken wire that we staple chicken wire to the fence. He would then nail some thick planks of wood in front of the chicken wire. This would make it very difficult for the rats to chew through.
First we stapled the wire to the fence
Then we nailed a couple of planks to the fence in front of the chicken wire
Bottom plank nailed in place in front of the next panel
Top plank nailed in place
The entire patio area fortified
I then put poison under the water butt again and it is disappearing each night. I am hopeful that we will soon be rid of this latest batch of rats. I am also hopeful that this will stop the fence being chewed in future and will also add strength and a dry layer on our side.
So that is the latest of our seemingly never ending improvements to our run and I am sure it won’t be the last!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Phew! I know the feeling as we had rats last year. They were coming from under our neighbours decking . We in the end had the rat man in from the council as then he could deal with the neighbour as well as us . The only thing is the council have to have permission to go in their garden , they were fine about it so it was not a problem.He found no nests in our garden which was a relief. I would not hesitate to ring him again . He did say to keep on putting poison down long after you think you have sorted the problem.
My biggest fear was the idea that the neighbours might think that it was the chickens to blame. Like you I bring in all food at night and sweep up any stray bits.
A great job done by you though and fingers crossed .
I too am always afraid neighbours will think it’s the chickens attracting them but every time they have come from next door where the decking is.
I really don’t want to concern the new neighbours with it at the moment and feel that for now it’s dealt with once more. We may talk to them about next year if need be when we all know each other better and they are more settled in.
I will leave the poison down for a while just to make sure. At least now I feel the fence is secure.