[JedM]

Does anyone else have a problem with squirrels and chicken feed?
I have a coop the same as the picture attached, so the squirrels cant get to the chicken feed but have bitten away at the wooden battens and the side of the house, that they have almost managed to get in.   I do let the chickens out but shut the house door behind so the squirrels cant get in.
Is there anything that squirrels don't like?  I thought about some kind of spray to spray on to the wood or something??

[Dave C]

I don't really have a problem at home but do on my shoot, they chew the pheasant feeders and cause damage to the pens, it's just what they do ! They would rather chew the feeders for fun as there is food all over the floor if they want it.
To be honest I just shoot them.

You could just feed twice a day, just enough for you chucks to clean up, then you could leave the door open and if the got in they would learn there's nothing there.

[JedM]

Thanks, I have tried feeding twice a day but they are young growers, and I think it's best if they have access to feed all the time.
I cant see the chickens from our house, so shooting the squirrels might be hard.  Would rat poison work?  I've always thought squirrels are rats with bushy tails!?!

[Womble]

We had the same issue at one point, but turned it into squirrel satay - waste not, want not!

If you can't shoot them, why don't you try a humane trap?  You could easily mount it out of the way of the hens, and if it's inside the run, you will by definition only be catching the problem squirrels.

Now can anybody tell me how to stop sparrows from eating all our layers pellets? :-/

[Marches Farmer]

Are you sure it's only squirrels?  Rats are happy to be diurnal if there's grub around!  Lots of both around this year due to the mild Winter.  As to sparrows - I'm presently trialling a plastic crow (moving it every time I pass by) in the faint hope of dissuading some of our resident house sparrows from literally pinching the feed from under the chickens' and turkeys' beaks.  I try to bear in mind that they are now quite rare but fear I'll have to put the feeders inside the coops as they don't like going places they may be trapped.

[in the hills]

We have the whole UK sparrow population living here!

They are always 'trapped' in the closed chicken runs ..... somehow managing to squeeze in to help themselves to the chicken food but unable to find a way out.

Loads of squirrels this year. They are usually kept in check by the local gamekeepers but there seem to be so many at the moment.

[Womble]

Hmmm, I can't see the plastic crow working somehow MF. I have a plastic magpie I once used (unsuccessfully) in a Larsen trap. I wedged it under the eaves of the barn just as somewhere to store it, and last year a pair of swallows built their nest on top of it! 

One answer to the sparrow problem could be a "Grandpa's Feeder", but I just looked them up and they start at £111.50! That's a hell of a lot of sparrow food!

[devonlady]

Would it be possible to cover all wooden parts with chick wire?

[Peasgood]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003C0DO76/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
\Bought one of these recently, caught 10 squirrels in the first week. Having had various cage traps over the years this is by far the best I have had. Baited it with peanuts.

[JedM]

Thanks that looks good value for money too. We have cats, so I don't know where the best place to put the trap would be.

[chrismahon]

We solved our sparrow problem by making a 'trigger happy feeder' and training the chickens to use it. They eat all the fallen pellets leaving nothing for the sparrows. The trigger rocks when pecked in a 20mm hole at the bottom of a sealed plastic tub. That rocking releases a few pellets. Perhaps it will stop squirrels as well?

[Womble]

Hi Chris, I tried a "trigger happy" type feeder a few years ago, but a couple of our hens used to peck away at it for ages until there was a huge pile on the ground, which they then didn't eat. I reckon a squirrel would probably figure one out pretty quickly too - they're not daft!


For anybody who hasn't seen one of these before, this should give you the general idea:

[Marches Farmer]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003C0DO76/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
\Bought one of these recently, caught 10 squirrels in the first week. Having had various cage traps over the years this is by far the best I have had. Baited it with peanuts.

I once caught 17 in a week with one of these.  I put the bait in a pile just in front of the metal plate and between the metal plate and the end of the trap - just a small pile of what they're already eating (in this case it was wild bird food) or they reach in from the sides and don't go into the trap to get it.

[Peasgood]

Thanks that looks good value for money too. We have cats, so I don't know where the best place to put the trap would be.

They wouldn't harm the cats, just let them out again. I don't think a cat would be caught twice as they wouldn't go in a second time. Unlike the dumb pheasants around my yard. They seem to spend as much time inside the trap as out.

[JedM]

Thanks, I've just ordered one.  Hopefully it solves the problem.

Just a little question - I ordered it through the link on TAS, but it never said anything about giving a percentage of the money to TAS - would it usually?