knittingmama Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 My two little terrors manage to kick wood chip and soil into their glug every day, turning it into a swamp. I also take in their food at night and find the clip-on feeder to be hard to manage first thing in the morning with a stiff back! The run is soooo low down. I've bought them a hanging drinker and feeder now, hoping to keep their water clean... but the question is, can I get away with leaving the food out in the run, in a hanging feeder now? It's not as open and will hang from a chain or something (haven't quite figured out what). Will rats try to get to it anyway? As the weather gets colder I'm going to find it harder to bend down every morning to put the food back... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Don't know about rats but I found a mouse in the chicken enclosure last week and he jumped about 12 inches to reach the hanging food feeder and that was mid afternoon, I also saw him climb up the cube run on to the grub feeder then made his way up the ladder into the cube and settled in the littler tray....suffice to say we spend all weekend filling every single gap with teeny tiny gauge wire mesh! Not seen one since! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisontaylor Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 No problems with rats (so far -newbie chicken keeper) but did find a drowned mouse in the glug one of the first nights we had set up the eglu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 I wish my mouse had drowned, I kept hoping the girls would eat it but they seemed terrified! Eeeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knittingmama Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Guess I'll keep taking the food out. I haven't seen any mice or rats near the run (nor have I seen evidence) but I know they hang out just behind the garden shed, which is next to the run. And there's an express motorway for them to travel on (in other words, a little gap) between the shed and the fence! They used to steal every seed I planted in the veg patch that used to be where the hens are now. Yuck, drowned mouse in water glug... I do actually check the feeder every time I take it out, for fear that there will be a hitchhiker in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
