Little bugs everywhere!!!

[MARCOCH]

They don’t really looklike fleas but do jump pretty far and fast little things. Yesterday was very cold so they’re a bit sluggish.

far and fast little things. Yesterday was very cold so they’re a bit sluggish.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Like 25 times before you were convinced

Touché!

 

[Lizzy733]

Oh, for the rats side of your request... a few good tips on wiping them out.
Personally, we've not done poisoning as that will go through the food chain - if not your chickens, local predators or house pets may end up scavenging the carcasses.
When trapping, the best place to set up is along a rat trail - these tend to follow edging, fence lines, or natural contours. If you have seen rats running along a trail to get from point A to point B, then you want to set up along that path.
You do not want to set the trap up near a food source - such as compost bin, vege patch etc... it should not be competing with another resource.
Rats are 'neophobic' and will avoid 'new' things in their environment, meaning it may be a while before you get a kill - even with a well baited trap.
Type of trap: We use a combination of an old dirty 'snap trap' and fancy pneumatic 'smart' trap. They've both had their fare share of kills. The snapper is housed in a plywood box - about shoebox size - which is meshed on the long ends - 1/4 of the mesh is cut away on one side to allow the rat to enter and the other side slides up to allow easy access to the trap. We bait this with congealed bacon grease as we find it doesn't really go rancid, doesn't usually need to be reapplied and seems to work well in our situation. Some other ideas are peanut butter, nutella, chocolate, chicken feed...
With the automated trap, the benefit is that it is a guaranteed insta-kill, the body rolls away and can be predated and it re-arms. It comes with an attractant which is chocolate scented and has a 'hit counter' which tracks kills so you know when it has been successful even if the carcass has been carried off. As you can imagine, these aren't cheap, but the newer fancy ones connect to an app and even have a regional 'heatmap' of rodent activity.
For rat tunnels, I find the best deterrent is 'metal'. If your compost bin is open to the ground, pop a layer of wire mesh under it to keep them from setting up house... if they dig a tunnel into your coop, backfill with steel-wool (brillo) pads. They may try another place or two, but will give up quite quickly after that.
Lock away your feed in the evenings and if your area is arid, you might even go as far as to lock away your waterers.
That's about everything I can think of... they're pretty clever and may even learn to avoid the traps, but the above should be good advice on how to start a successful campaign.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Oh, for the rats side of your request... a few good tips on wiping them out.
Personally, we've not done poisoning as that will go through the food chain - if not your chickens, local predators or house pets may end up scavenging the carcasses.
When trapping, the best place to set up is along a rat trail - these tend to follow edging, fence lines, or natural contours. If you have seen rats running along a trail to get from point A to point B, then you want to set up along that path.
You do not want to set the trap up near a food source - such as compost bin, vege patch etc... it should not be competing with another resource.
Rats are 'neophobic' and will avoid 'new' things in their environment, meaning it may be a while before you get a kill - even with a well baited trap.
Type of trap: We use a combination of an old dirty 'snap trap' and fancy pneumatic 'smart' trap. They've both had their fare share of kills. The snapper is housed in a plywood box - about shoebox size - which is meshed on the long ends - 1/4 of the mesh is cut away on one side to allow the rat to enter and the other side slides up to allow easy access to the trap. We bait this with congealed bacon grease as we find it doesn't really go rancid, doesn't usually need to be reapplied and seems to work well in our situation. Some other ideas are peanut butter, nutella, chocolate, chicken feed...
With the automated trap, the benefit is that it is a guaranteed insta-kill, the body rolls away and can be predated and it re-arms. It comes with an attractant which is chocolate scented and has a 'hit counter' which tracks kills so you know when it has been successful even if the carcass has been carried off. As you can imagine, these aren't cheap, but the newer fancy ones connect to an app and even have a regional 'heatmap' of rodent activity.
For rat tunnels, I find the best deterrent is 'metal'. If your compost bin is open to the ground, pop a layer of wire mesh under it to keep them from setting up house... if they dig a tunnel into your coop, backfill with steel-wool (brillo) pads. They may try another place or two, but will give up quite quickly after that.
Lock away your feed in the evenings and if your area is arid, you might even go as far as to lock away your waterers.
That's about everything I can think of... they're pretty clever and may even learn to avoid the traps, but the above should be good advice on how to start a successful campaign.

Thank you!! This is all extremely helpful!! I will try all of this!

 

[Lizzy733]

Thank you!! This is all extremely helpful!! I will try all of this!

Oh another note on the snap trap box - if you have materials lying around in the rat's area, build your box out of these as it can help it the whole 'fear of new' things. We had rats out in broad daylight staring 'greedily' at our new baby chicks safe in their run which prompted this whole thing from our side. The compost bin is one thing, but stop looking at my babies!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Oh another note on the snap trap box - if you have materials lying around in the rat's area, build your box out of these as it can help it the whole 'fear of new' things. We had rats out in broad daylight staring 'greedily' at our new baby chicks safe in their run which prompted this whole thing from our side. The compost bin is one thing, but stop looking at my babies!

Good idea!! Thanks!!