What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Loon]

Hi

 

I'm currently prepping an area in my garden for the Eglu classic with standard run attached. My garden is split into two tiers, the first being grass and the second being a stone chippings area, which is where I intend on siting my Eglu.

 

So, my question is..... Would it be sensible to pull back the stones and put down some weld mesh the width and length of the run to keep out rats etc and then pull the stones back over the mesh before putting a thick layer of Aubiose on top? I intend on covering the run with corrugated plastic or similar to keep the rain out and will put some kind of skirting around the edge to keep it as dry/windproof as possible.

 

I don't intend on leaving food in the run at night or sprinkling grain on the floor of the run but I'm wary that rats may still attempt to get in! I'm not in what you would call a 'rat infested area' but they are everywhere, so even though I don't see them, I'm not convinced that they aren't there!

 

Any help on this would be much appreciated

[mabelandflosmum]

The rats in my area are very persistent,I watched a small rat go through the eglu run mesh to get to the pellets!

They have tunneled under the run skirt so I would say go ahead with your plan. Others with more experience will be along to help I'm sure.

[jennydavies]

I have found the best way to keep them from tunneling is paving slabs. You can then put your aubiose on top of them. We got some of the cheapest slabs from our local B & Q type place over here and it keeps everything from digging underneath (rats, mice, moles etc.) it worked for us.

[Tricky]

Sorry but you wont make the eglu rat proof.they will dig under the eglu plastic house and into the run that way.

 

Good housekeeping is the best answer.Keep everything clean and don't leave food lying around .Most important.

 

If you do have a visit from Rat, get in touch wiyth your local authority who will send the rat catcher, usually at no cost to you.

In ive years we have only recently had a visit during the very harsh weather and we had the council pest controller call who was excellent. now we have no rats

[Redwing]

I've got mesh under some of my runs but thats to keep foxes out

 

The Eglu mesh is large enough to allow small rats through

[Margaret]

Had a terrible trouble with rats until we put down a concrate base, used mesh buried to a depth of over 1foot and they still burrowed in, now it is totally rat proof, do see them sniffing around outside the run, OH normally shoots them

[Loon]

Thank you for your suggestions. I think I'll go with the paving slabs and excellent house keeping

 

Eventually I want to construct a WIR but as we've sold our house and haven't found a new one yet, I'll have to stick with something a little more temporary until we've moved.

 

I've only ever seen one rat here and that was a good few months ago, but as they are supposedly never more than a few metres away, I'm sure they are lurking somewhere!