Need to deal with this rat, but… karma

[NewYorkMama]

If there’s anyone out there who tries to follow a path of nonviolence / ahisma / do no harm in their life, I’d love your perspective on this.

We have this rat who visits our chicken run. My girls & he were simpatico: they ate together, hung out in the yard together. He never took their eggs. He’s a big brown guy, healthy looking, smart fella.

We tried without success for months to trap him with a have a heart trap but he’d somehow trip it, get the food, and get out.

Unfortunately, a weasel got in via his entrance hole and killed all of my chickens one night. It was brutal and absolutely horrible.

The resident rat of course continues to visit many times a day… he makes the same trip in and out carrying food so often that he’s made a path in the grass. We’ve watched each other with curiosity. He’s just living his life.

Since I know where he lives & know his habits, it likely wouldn’t be difficult to remove him via other means than the have a heart trap.

I know his existence, and my allowing him to coexist with my chickens helped bring about the demise of my girls, but the thought of intentionally causing more death is horrifying.

I have new baby chicks that will be moving outside in a few weeks so I need to move on this, but I honestly don’t know what to do.

I am stuck between passivity which clearly can unintentionally cause violence and actively pursuing violence in an attempt to prevent future harm.

Thanks for your help.

 

[TOR]

blind trap set or called a trail set

 

[MamaPoult]

Really, what is more important to you? The safety of your flock or this rats life?

 

[Folly's place]

A few years ago we had a couple of rats invade our coop, kill three nice pullets, and eat eggs. We eliminated their access, and removed the rats. my bird's lives, and my health, are way more important than the lives of wild rats.
Domestic rats are delightful critters and excellent pets. Wild rats are disease carriers and lethal risks for chickens, and their access to coops allow weasels to enter, as you've discovered. Zero rats are the best number out there!!!
Mary

 

[MamaPoult]

Yeah @Folly's place is correct!

 

[Al Gerhart]

The only thing you need to know about rats and controlling them is this:

Once you stop feeding a rat it has to leave in the majority of the cases.

Natural territories can only support a tiny rodent population so rats are only a problem when they are fed by humans being careless or introduced into places that do not have rodent predators.

Foraging for natural food is a very risky business, natural predators will limit or eliminate rodent populations if humans stop feeding them.

That rat will happily eat each chick you put out and eat it alive. Peaceful coexistence between predator and prey never has existed and never will.

So stop feeding the rat. No compost unprotected, no rat buffet chicken feeder and if there are many bad reviews saying the feeder isn't rodent proof you should believe them and not the shills being paid to review or the owners that never had a rodent problem to begin with. Clean up the pathways the rodent is using to move around so the natural predators will catch them.

And it is them, rats don't live alone.