Now I know why people say "Rats!" when something goes wrong.
We are now on our 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th chick because of a barrage from these pernicious rodent pests. A week ago, I went in to check on the chicks to find that only one remained. There were no signs of struggle, no feathers, no blood. Just three disappeared chicks. I checked everywhere, but found no signs. I considered that rats might have been the culript, but I didn't see any droppings, and thus figured an owl was the more likely. I stapled barriers up around the top of the stall and figured I'd solved the problem.
The next morning: The 4th chick was gone.
Again, there were no signs, just an absence of a chick. With owls crossed off the list, I suspected rats more strongly. Then I noticed that none of the chick feed was eaten, which I figured would have been gone if rats were the culprit. I examined every inch of the stall for signs, then finally realized that there was a small gap between the stall door and the ground. The chicks had finally grown large enough to be able to fly out of the pool, and I deduced that they were exploring the stall, stumbled into the gap, fell through out into the alleyway, and then couldn't get back in. I looked for any signs of the chicks outside the stall, but couldn't find anything, and decided that they probably walked away and died of exposure or were caught by a cat, rat, or bird.
I found some boards and plugged the gaps in the door. I got 4 more chicks. I put the checks near the door and tested to see if they could fit through. Problem solved I thought--and they were fine for another five days.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. All four chicks were gone. This time, I was flabbergasted--but this time there was a sign. A board down I'd used to block a very tiny gap had been pushed out--and there was blood in that gap. I finally had my proof--rats had pushed on the board, knocking it down, wiggled through the gap, attacked and killed the chicks, and carried them back through the gap. The constriction of the gap created friction that left blood behind. There were no droppings or carcass remains because the rats weren't eating the chicks in the stall. The four previous chicks likely met the same fate, with a rat getting in through the much larger gap in the door and carrying each chick out.
Rats were actually my main concern with brooding chicks and poults in the barn, but I never expected them to be so sneaky and frankly, so mean. They can fit through the tiniest of cracks and once they know where a food source is located, they don't give up. I've now triple barricaded the stall, got four more chicks, and put snap traps out for the rats. I refuse to use rat poison, because it kills the rats slowly and presumably painfully, and the poisoned rats can be eaten by wildlife, farm cats, or livestock. Instead, the snap traps are simple, effective, and from my experience, kill the rats immediately. When I started farming, I thought that I could co-exist with rats by out smarting them, but now I realize that they truly are one of the main scourges of human history. I will kill the rats in the most humane way possible to protect my animals, and I'm okay with that.
We are now on our 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th chick because of a barrage from these pernicious rodent pests. A week ago, I went in to check on the chicks to find that only one remained. There were no signs of struggle, no feathers, no blood. Just three disappeared chicks. I checked everywhere, but found no signs. I considered that rats might have been the culript, but I didn't see any droppings, and thus figured an owl was the more likely. I stapled barriers up around the top of the stall and figured I'd solved the problem.
The next morning: The 4th chick was gone.
Again, there were no signs, just an absence of a chick. With owls crossed off the list, I suspected rats more strongly. Then I noticed that none of the chick feed was eaten, which I figured would have been gone if rats were the culprit. I examined every inch of the stall for signs, then finally realized that there was a small gap between the stall door and the ground. The chicks had finally grown large enough to be able to fly out of the pool, and I deduced that they were exploring the stall, stumbled into the gap, fell through out into the alleyway, and then couldn't get back in. I looked for any signs of the chicks outside the stall, but couldn't find anything, and decided that they probably walked away and died of exposure or were caught by a cat, rat, or bird.
I found some boards and plugged the gaps in the door. I got 4 more chicks. I put the checks near the door and tested to see if they could fit through. Problem solved I thought--and they were fine for another five days.
Fast forward to yesterday morning. All four chicks were gone. This time, I was flabbergasted--but this time there was a sign. A board down I'd used to block a very tiny gap had been pushed out--and there was blood in that gap. I finally had my proof--rats had pushed on the board, knocking it down, wiggled through the gap, attacked and killed the chicks, and carried them back through the gap. The constriction of the gap created friction that left blood behind. There were no droppings or carcass remains because the rats weren't eating the chicks in the stall. The four previous chicks likely met the same fate, with a rat getting in through the much larger gap in the door and carrying each chick out.
Rats were actually my main concern with brooding chicks and poults in the barn, but I never expected them to be so sneaky and frankly, so mean. They can fit through the tiniest of cracks and once they know where a food source is located, they don't give up. I've now triple barricaded the stall, got four more chicks, and put snap traps out for the rats. I refuse to use rat poison, because it kills the rats slowly and presumably painfully, and the poisoned rats can be eaten by wildlife, farm cats, or livestock. Instead, the snap traps are simple, effective, and from my experience, kill the rats immediately. When I started farming, I thought that I could co-exist with rats by out smarting them, but now I realize that they truly are one of the main scourges of human history. I will kill the rats in the most humane way possible to protect my animals, and I'm okay with that.
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