page contents
Home » Raising Chickens, The Hen Blog » A Pocket Gopher Inside the Chicken Run

A Pocket Gopher Inside the Chicken Run

23 July 2011

A pocket gopher hole in the coop.

Our chicken run has been invaded by a gopher! It has somehow found its way under 12 inches of hardware wire that we buried under the soil to keep out digging predators. Well, it worked for the predators but not for the crafty gophers. We’ve had a lot of gophers this year in the garden. They can easily dig in the moist soil, and after an unusual amount of rain last winter, it’s to be expected. It’s turned out to be gopher heaven here.

Pocket gophers tunnel deep in the earth, leaving mounds (usually “U” shaped) of fine, powdery soil at the surface. The pocket gopher is named for the pockets inside the cheeks used for gathering food. You can see a pocket gopher gather food on this video. Their nests and food chamber can be 6 feet deep. Gophers are herbivores, preferring herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. If a shrub dies overnight, it is usually a sign that a gopher has eaten the roots. Trapping and applying poison deep in the tunnel are the common methods of ridding your garden of gophers. A wire basket surrounding a newly planted tree or shrub will protect the roots from these pests until the plant can survive a bit of nibbling.

A pocket gopher with pouches filled.

I’ve left the hole where the gopher came up in the run. I don’t know what the hens would do if he comes out in the daytime. They’d probably squawk and run screaming to the far corner. The hens are not very brave. They squawk and run when I throw in a big snail into the run! Now I’ve heard that chickens, especially those big burly he-man roosters, will make dinner our of gophers and rats. But my sweet hens…….I doubt it.

I wonder what the gopher is looking for. There’s not a living blade of grass in the run since hens are attracted to anything green. Perhaps he is eating the chicken feed that gets spilled on the ground. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted. He’s got to go because when he finds out he came up in barren territory, he’ll soon wander and be eating the roots of my beloved garden plants!

Raising Chickens, The Hen Blog , , , , , ,

8 Comments to “A Pocket Gopher Inside the Chicken Run”

  1. GailJuly 25, 2011 at 10:43 am

    I hate these pests. They’ve laid barren my front yard lawn. I don’t want to put out poison as my dogs play in the yard (under our supervision).
    I’ve been ready to shoot the little buggers with my .22 but it’s like being in the movie Caddy Shack. They poke their heads up and I’m as quiet as a church mouse and as soon as I sight in…pooof*** the little bugger disappears.
    I’ve given up and they haven’t shown up in the chicken run yet.
    I wish I had a hunter cat but I don’t let my cats out so that won’t be the answer.

  2. josieFebruary 25, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    Something is eating our chicken food, there are tunnels along the bottom of the fence, like a deep groove that ends in a hole. These grooves go right up to the feeder. Do gophers eat the chicken food, or is this something else?

  3. LeeFebruary 26, 2012 at 11:12 am

    I’ve not heard of gophers eating chicken food. But rats do! And rats can make tunnes in soil and establish their nests under boxes or trash barrels, etc. We’ve had some trouble with rats around our run. We back up to a forest and it is full of them. Good luck, and let us know what it is.

  4. JenSeptember 9, 2012 at 9:20 am

    I live in Oregon and have been having a problem with some creature coming up through the ground leaving 1 big mound of dirt and they are pushing through under my horse mats near the chicken coop. The ground is so hard. Around the mats are remnants of gravel along the edges, so you know they have pushed back through again. When I lift the mats there is definitely tunnel looking action between the mat and the ground. So my chickens are enclosed in cyclone fencing, they have been fine and roost high in their pen not in their nesting boxes at night. If I do not collect the eggs before nightfall, the next morning the eggs are broken apart and looks to be eaten. What do you suppose is going on? Do moles eat eggs, but dont harm the chickens? Do weasles eat eggs and not harm the chickens? Do weasles leave mounds of dirt? Help!

  5. LeeSeptember 9, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Gosh, it’s always something, isn’t it. Moles do not eat eggs. I’ve never heard of gophers eating eggs. Weasles do eat eggs and do dig holes underground but they will also kill chickens. Therefore, my guess it that you have rats. We are struggling with them right now. They burrow through the ground, eat grain in the coop, and will break open eggs and eat them. You should see evidence of them though. Little dark “poops” that look like large grains of black rice. See any of that? We are setting traps around the coop and putting a milk crate over them to prevent the dogs from getting snapped. We got two last night. One very large one (a Norwegian rat) and one smaller variety that I think is a roof rat. I once heard the saying, “If you have chickens, you have rats”. Good luck to you, Jen. Check out Backyard Chickens for more advice.

  6. dianeMay 24, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    Gophers have ‘mounds’ of dirt as evidence however when you see a ‘tunnel’ aboveground that is usually a vole…We have gopher problems here in California and so i know what to look for..The mounds are fresh dug dirt with a u-shape or horseshoe shape plug…you can not see the tunnels as they are underground…only voles have an above ground system

  7. syndee martinezNovember 16, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    I have a dirt mound in my chicken coop I found tonight. I want to know if moles will harm chickens?

  8. LeeDecember 17, 2014 at 8:47 am

    If it is a “mound” of dirt, it is most likely a gopher. I’ve had happen where a gopher comes up in a chicken run. Gophers eat the roots of plants. Since there is seldom plants growing in a run or coop, the gopher will probably leave on it’s own. A mole makes a furrow along the surface of the soil. Neither a gopher or mole will harm your chickens. In fact, chickens have been known to kill them if they can catch them.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.