Help me get rid of my nightly visitors!!!!!

[jschlaegel]

We had our huge infestation last year. I'd go out in the evening and sometimes see 18 rats running in the coops, and that was after I thought I had every hole plugged, added small mesh wire over all the other wire, and added wire mesh dug down into the perimeter. This year, I rarely see one anywhere, and one every now and then in a trap. About the only bait that I found that worked around a coop is the TomCat Bromethalin Meal Bait, which I placed in short sections of 4" corrugated drain pipe in a tuna or cat food can. I tried four different types of commercial baits in bait stations, and all were left but this type. It doesn't have secondary poison issues [critters eating poisoned rats]. But, it got way too expensive. Then I started mixing up my own bait, with ~45% chicken scratch ~45% powdered wall texture [big bag from HD or Lowes] [it works same as plaster of Paris] ~10% sugar, plus a bit of cocoa powder, all mixed up. I put that in containers where other critters can't get it. Non toxic, but kills rats really well, and is cheap. The plaster of Paris clogs up there digestive tract. Also use traps. The best trap design I've tried [and I've tried them all] is four of the commercial Victor rat traps places in a homemade box, in a row, with no place for the rat to jump. No bait on traps, but a little peanut butter and chicken scratch placed in the middle of the box. I've caught up to 3 at a time in this, and it's cheap and deadly. Plus, I'll also place a rat trap under a milk crate at night in the coop, baited with a tiny bit of peanut butter mixed with cocoa. For rats, it's consistency, and multiple methods, since none are effective alone. Also keep all your feed away, preferably in metal drum, so rats can't get to it at night. And of course, learn that rat shooting with a pellet gun is very satisfying. We tried a Yorkie, which were originally bred as ratters, but pets are too lazy to do what they were bred for anymore. I'll add some pics later of the traps...

 

[springvalley123]

I have one week old goslings who I will be moving outdoors when they are old enough into a chicken coop that is currently vacant. I am NOT excited about this rat thing. This sounds horrific. Based on this thread I'm waiting as long as I can before I put them outside at night (read one too many stories about deaths by rats).

Does anyone NOT have rat problems? Or is this going to be a thing, period?

I've had chickens since 2017, ducks before that (2016-2018). No rats. Mice several times. And a few rattlesnakes and a king snake, which could explain a lack of rats or mice or other smallish rodents. I generally use hanging feeders, but sometimes have the trays/bowls. I'm in the desert southwest.

 

[ThatUserNameAlreadyTaken]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

Many rat poisons use warfarin, developed by D-Con, back in 1950. Yes, the same stuff that goes in Coumadin. In farm magazines, I recall reading in the early sixties as a young boy, they would show a picture of a puppy that had been raised, solely fed their poison.

It won't kill squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks and the like. It won't kill chickens. However, that blood thinner causes mice and rats to die.

If you do use rat/mouse poison, be certain to use a warfarin based poison and nothing that contains Bromethalin or Zinc phosphide.

Use a pure warfarin based poison. If you are still concerned about your flock's safety, put the chunk type out, at night, while your birds are roosting and remove it prior to opening the coop in the morning.

Pure warfarin based poisons would be safe for your birds but why cause yourself unnecessary stress.

 

[Charlene W]

I wouldn't poison because other animals/chickens could be harmed.
We had a rat we couldn't get rid of trying various traps. We finally got a live trap at TSC and it worked like a charm. Just be sure to take the rats at least 2 miles away or they will come right back.

And that is more humane for the rat too. I love all animals, not just my girls. Hens may not eat the poisoned rats, but owls and other raptors do, and they die. I am a wildlife rehabilitor and we see it all the time.

 

[Charlene W]

I wouldn't poison because other animals/chickens could be harmed.
We had a rat we couldn't get rid of trying various traps. We finally got a live trap at TSC and it worked like a charm. Just be sure to take the rats at least 2 miles away or they will come right back.

Poison in inhumane for several reasons in my opinion. The rat is just doing what it needs to survive, and even though chickens may not eat them, raptors do. I am a wildlife rehabilitator and we see owls poisoned and dying from rat poison. I catch and release a good distance away.

 

[Joyann Poore]

Thank you so much. I was afraid of going that route because I could never forgive myself if I accidentally killed one of my babies. (Yes I know they’re supposed to be farm animals, but they are really more my feathered kids than anything else!!)i think I am off to tractor supply to get some rat killer!! Wish me luck

So sorry I lost 2 special chickens today. Broke my ❤ hesrt.my rooster loved being held and followed me everywhere. I lost 4 this month.

 

[SugarandPepper]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

NOT poison. Other animals eat the poisoned rats. It causes a lot of pain and suffering in predators (bobcats, owls, mountain lions, coyotes, hawks, etc.) before slowly killing them and it makes the rat problem worse since you’ve been killing off their natural enemies.

The cats are a good idea. I’ve seen setups too where you use a 5gallon bucket to get them to fall in with a peanut butter lure.

 

[TrishNPaul]

Poison. Put it in some sort of bait box that nothing else can get into. We have a wooden box with a small hole in the end that we put the bait under, and weight it down with a rock. Rats are the only thing that can get into the bait. We have never seen dead or dying rats, nor have I ever had a chicken, cat or dog kill or eat a poisoned rat.

I had a friend tell me to put sweet potato in the pen for the rats. When they and mice eat it, it turns to cyanide and kills them. I did google it, and tried it. I haven't had any rats since, but now my chooks are eating their soft eggs.

 

[raingarden]

Rats are so misunderstood. We have big nasty Norway rats and less offensive roof rats. Every few years we start seeing little mice when they are having their population explosion.

They make life difficult some times. The only thing I've found that is foolproof is to make the pen or cage a solid six-sided cube of 1/2 in hardware cloth. Then add the door and bedding. It really drives up the cost and makes a large aviary impractical.

Food not encased in the coop/cage is kept in Buhl galvanized cans. There is still some food spillage and food scratched out of pens so the rats and wild doves patrol things pretty well.

My dear wife is in charge of rat control. She uses Hovac poison and those black bait stations. She insists you have keep the bait out there at all times to keep up with the rats.

We have two faithful, but incompetent, dogs. When a rat dies of poisoning they sniff out the body and bring the carcass to the house trying to pretend that they caught it.

We have not had much problem with rats dying somewhere inaccessible where they rot and stink for weeks. They often die near water and usually out in the open. I think they seek water as they are dying.

I bought my mother-in-law a Rat Zapper for Christmas. It caught a few and then broke, The Victor slap traps might catch a few before the rats wise up and start avoiding them. The smallest Havahart traps actually works better for us than the others. But, you get a live rat in a trap that has to be dispatched with a pellet gun or drowning. I think drowning them is cruel and always use the pellet gun.

Truthfully, I would rather have rats than the mongoose. Mongoose can sometimes force their way in and they are there to eat the birds, not the bird food.

 

[kristieh]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them