Use chicken wire or welded wire mesh, with holes no bigger than half an inch. ... A solid floor will keep any burrowing invaders like rats or raccoons from getting in. Bounty from a skip in Saffron Walden. One thing to remember: chicken wire will keep chickens in; hardware mesh will keep predators out.. A determined, hungry animal can and will break through chicken wire. Missing eggs. Inspect the bottom of the coop and patch any holes where predators could gain entry. Some sources say 10 sq ft per bird, but I consider that an absolute minimum. 3. When a rat problem presents itself in a shed, steps must be taken to remove the problem and to prevent reoccurrence. Adding a floor a few inches up creates one more barrier between your chickens and their predators. It will take them more time to chew through a solid floor. This will prevent digging predators. This will keep the mice and rats from burrowing into your chicken coop and leading weasels into it. Chickens don’t eat during the night anyway but this is when rats are most active. I now have three seperate holes in the garden with the rats burrowing under anything I seem to cover the holes up with. Step 3: Starve The Rats Out. Poorly designed or maintained chicken coops can be a magnet for rodents such as rats. I'm losing the battle and have just called in Rentokil. All would like to get into your chicken coop to eat chicken feed, eggs, and/or chickens. I have stopped this handy drive-through by laying roof tiles over the floor. The canny vermin dug some open trenches under the wire and then shifted the grain from the feeder through the wire and into the trenches. If you have a portable hen house, then a raised floor is a must because you won’t be able to dig down around your chicken coop to keep predators out. Put lights around the coop at night; motion-sensor lights work well. Proofing Chicken Coop Windows, Doors and Roofs. Elevate the coop off the ground to help prevent mice, rats, and weasels from getting into the coop. It could be rats, raccoons, groundhogs, foxes, or coyotes, depending on where you live. We’ve had chicks up to 3 months old killed by rats in the coop. Rats can bring disease to the chicken house, not to mention to your family. Missing feed. Inspect the bottom of the coop and patch any holes where predators could gain entry. Use Strong Wire. In this article, you'll discover exactly that, together with five easy steps to stop rats coming into your life at all. This page and others on the same subject are there simply to help … If you are constructing a run, it’s important to remember that many predators will try to dig under the run to attack your girls. Rats can easily become a nuisance in any building simply based on how readily they reproduce.