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<\/a>My temporary block of the hole in the fence<\/p><\/div>\n
The problem we have is that the neighbouring garden has decking behind this fence. This has two main drawbacks. The first is that rats love to nest under decking as it is safe and sheltered for them. The other thing is that as the deck is right up against the fence with no barrier, the fence is constantly sodden and the wood becomes rotten and easy for rats to chew through.<\/p>\n
When we built the chicken run three years ago we replaced the rotting fence with new panels even though it is the neighbours fence. It has only taken three years to return to this condition again.<\/p>\n
After I had blocked this hole I put rat poison in the small gap under our water butt where nothing else can get at it and it disappeared then slowed then stopped being taken meaning we had got rid of this wave of rats.<\/p>\n
A few days ago we noticed that a new hole had appeared overnight in the fence, this time in the open where it was easily spotted. I blocked it with weld mesh and a brick.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Another temporary block of a new hole<\/p><\/div>\n
You can see by how dark the fence is that the wood is sodden.<\/p>\n
The next morning I went into the run to find that the hole had been extended over night to beyond the brick. It was time to do something more permanent .<\/p>\n
<\/a>The extended new hole<\/p><\/div>\n
The rounded bit on the left is the new part of the hole. I think what we can see beyond the hole is rubble that had been put under the decking.<\/p>\n
We have new neighbours that have moved in recently and we don’t want to mention this to them. They are a really nice couple (understanding of our chickens) and have just had to have a new boiler shortly after moving in. We don’t want to bother them with any further problems.<\/p>\n
My husband came up with a plan. He suggested as we still have some chicken wire that we staple chicken wire to the fence. He would then nail some thick planks of wood in front of the chicken wire. This would make it very difficult for the rats to chew through.<\/p>\n
<\/a>First we stapled the wire to the fence<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Then we nailed a couple of planks to the fence in front of the chicken wire<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Bottom plank nailed in place in front of the next panel<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Top plank nailed in place<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The entire patio area fortified<\/p><\/div>\n
I then put poison under the water butt again and it is disappearing each night. I am hopeful that we will soon be rid of this latest batch of rats. I am also hopeful that this will stop the fence being chewed in future and will also add strength and a dry layer on our side.<\/p>\n
So that is the latest of our seemingly never ending improvements to our run and I am sure it won’t be the last!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the beginning of this winter we had rats coming into the run again. It took a while to track down where they were coming in. The good news is that they haven’t managed to dig in this year. Last … Continue reading