Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Four Minus Two...

I went out this evening to feed the mother chook and the chickens but am now a bit worried.  Yesterday there was 4 new chickens but tonight I could only see 2 but there are heaps of rat, I think, droppings all over the top of the nest box.  I'm hoping the chickens were under the mummy chook asleep and not been gobbled up by a damn rat but I know rats take baby pigeons so...but the chook would surely not let a rat into her nest...maybe...


I know there is a Bandicoot living out there because I have seen it but I'm pretty sure they don't eat chickens and the dropping are, maybe, too small and up too high... What do you think, is this rat poo?


                                                                   I know, nice photo!

                                                                   A better one below.



I'll go check again in the morning and hopefully there will be 4 again but it looks like I need to go buy some traps...And work out how to trap a rat and not a chook...

2 comments:

  1. From my own scat experience rat scat is about a half inch long, maybe a bit less. If you keep some of the scat in a container you intend to throw out, maybe you can find something to compare it with on the internet. About two blocks from me is a county agent who can identify it or I can take it to a pest control company. to identify.

    I have never seen that much poop from one rat overnight. Could you have more than one? Could that be how the animal got two chicks?

    Bandicoot? http://laurarittenhouse.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/is-there-a-bandicoot-in-my-garden/

    Her suggestion is chicken poo to chase a bandicoot away. That may be true, but an animal will overcome an aversion to a repellant if there is food.

    Short answer: I don't know.

    If two are missing and feared dead, how would they be back in the morning? This is why my three hens get to live in the house at night...in a cage, of course.Raccoons are the predator here. I am in the looooong process of making their pen secure.

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  2. I'm hoping that they aren't dead and I just missed seeing them. But I didn't see any yet this morning, 6.30am.

    Our bandicoot doesn't seem to mind the chicken mess, he seems to have the run of 3 pens.

    I'll be agoogling today but I think the rats have been there for awhile and I just never noticed it before.

    Barb.

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