How do I keep Rats and Mice away from my chicken coop?

It is just the worst when you go to say good morning to your beautiful chickens and you spot rat or mice droppings around their feeder and your girls are a bit stressed out because they had some unexpected visitors during the night. During Spring and Summer rat and mice activity increases and sometimes it becomes a mission to try to stay on top of it. So today we have some very helpful tips on how to keep rats and mice away from your chicken coop.

First things first is reducing the attractants. Avoid leaving scraps in or around the coop. Pop them on a plate or tray to make clean up easier once the chickens are finished with them. If you have a traditional "Bell" feeder, we recommend hanging it up about 200mm from the floor so rats and mice can't climb up into them or remove the feed completely from the coop at night as that's when they are more likely to feed. Store feed somewhere that rats and mice can't get to such as a bin or metal drum. Also making sure that your coop is built with a narrow-gauge mesh to enclose your coop or run (this will also stop other animals from getting in and stealing their food!).

Removing the rats and mice is another option. Putting bait stations away from loved animals but in line of known pathways that the rats and mice are using to get to your chicken coop is a good way to control the population. Be sure to be regularly checking them and safely cleaning up any dead rats or mice. When setting up bait stations be sure to use gloves and don't wash that stations out afterwards as they are very sensitive to smell and will not return if they can smell you or cleaning products.

 We stock a variety of rat and mice baits here.

We also stock 200L Feed Drums here.

We hope this helps and good luck!