Beheaded chick

[chickenfan]

I have found a beheaded chick in my coop this morning. The coop has 3/4" mesh so I am wondering if this could be a young rat or other animal? It must have happened yesterday and I'm not sure how I missed it.

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest it could possibly be a Rat, Stoat or Weasel. I do a lot of vermin control, mostly Foxes for poultry keepers and farmers alike and come across these problems very regularly. If you need any advice just give me a shout.

 

[chrismahon]

That meshing is too big for chicks Chickenfan -a quite large rat will squeeze through that because I've watched one do it here. Our chick runs are 12mm weld mesh.

 

[chickenfan]

Thankyou Foxman and Chris for always being there. I am wondering if whatever it was got in through the dropdown trap-door during the night. Would this be quite easy for a rat to push open, then drag a chick out? What do you recommend Foxman for the most humane rat-control? I back onto allotments where people compost food (and woodland beyond this) so there do seem to be rats that periodically come and go. Not something I want to do, but I also don't want to lose more chicks, so need to find a quick solution before changing my coops.

 

[chickenfan]

Have been exploring the internet and found this: www.raising-happy-chickens.com › Dealing with rats. It goes through various methods but prefers Victor's electronic killer so I have ordered one of these and some finer mesh.

 

[chickenfan]

Chris what do you use to stop anything burrowing under the coop? Some mesh skirt around the edge?

 

[Marigold]

I would line the floor with 1/2" mesh stapled to the coop sides, and also use this for at least the lower 18" or so, preferably all over.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I would use a humane live trap or kill trap. Both work well with some bread crumbs or some peanut butter, and for a rat opening the drop down door they could do that no probs. I would put a catch of some kind on it to stop it opening. And to stop them burrowing in you could use a fine weld mesh run along the side of the run about 4 inches up the side and bend it at a 90' angle onto the surrounding ground and peg it down well with wire or tent pegs. This is so the rats or foxes are scraping at it trying to dig under and eventually get fed up because there not getting anywhere. Many thanks. Andrew.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you Marigold and Andrew for your really helpful suggestions.