Rat Proof Coop

[max13077]

When the farm down the road was just a crop farm, the rats here were BAD! They had those big plastic tubes full of feed, corn, oats, and all manner of other stuff all over the place. The rats came in mass. Even though the farm is half a mile down the road, we still got visited quite a bit, especially in fall.

We used to use a thing kind of like a minnow trap. You got a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and drilled a 1" or 1.5" hole in the middle of the lid. Open the top up and put some rat poison in it along with a handful of sweetfeed(for smell). The rats LOVE it. Then just leave it in the garage or wherever. The rats will jump on top and wiggle their way down through the hole. But then, they can't get back up through the little opening. They eat the poison and croak. I like this because we have dogs who love to run off and dig up woodchucks or whatever and bring them back to chew on. They'd think nothing of eating a poisoned rat they found laying on the lawn.

 

[pyros]

Thank you for all of your replies!

The wire matting, dustbins and cayenne pepper sound most useful.

I've never seen any evidence of rats in my garden and would like to keep it that way, so I'm concentrating on prevention rather than a cure.

If I can maintain the present seemingly rat-free situation, then there should never be any need for poison or traps, even though I'm sure there must be plenty of rats around which could get into my small urban u.k. garden if they had any reason to.

It's a shame if rats can jump six feet, since I was hoping that chickens could jump higher than they could, which would have allowed me to keep all food in the coop out of rat-reach.

 

[LynneP]

(A mouse can jump nearly as high!)

I think it's wonderful that you have maintained a rat-free property, and I'm sure you'll continue to do so, safely...nicely done!

 

[housefullo'roosters]

I wonder if cayenne pepper would keep snakes & other pests out too?

 

[augustmomx2]

Quote:
This is a great idea

Not only do you keep the poison in a container, then the rodent is contained as well. No harm to pets, kids or the wandering rodent that decides to die in your crawlspace (this happened to me

).

I'm setting this up for our polebarn & garden area for the mice and I'm sure rats that are nearby.

 

[Gonda]

I like this idea but it seems there's a flaw. If the hole is large enough for a rat to get in but not get out, that's great. However, the mice will be able to get in and out of that same hole. So they are then poisoned and come out again.

I'm looking for solutions for mice and rats. I had the mice nicely under control using bait stations. Now I have rats in the chicken coop. I've fixed the area where they were coming in with hardware cloth and I've installed a sonic repeller in the coop, so will see if that works to keep them out. But I'm trying to cover all the bases and would like to get them off my property altogether. I have a bait station for rats but after two weeks, the bait hasn't been touched. Now I'm reading about all the risks of using poison or bait (poisoning other animals if they eat a poisoned rat/mouse, the possibility that it could die inside a wall somewhere). It's a bit discouraging. I'd been doing so well, with no rats on the property even though I've had chickens for the last few years.

Has anyone had success with sonic repellers, as far as driving rats and mice away altogether?

 

[patandchickens]

Hi Gonda

Quick tip -- it usually works a lot better to start a new thread for your question... adding it to an old existing thread tends to result in people just reading the initial posts (not noticing the date stamp) and replying to THEM, not to you

I had the mice nicely under control using bait stations. Now I have rats in the chicken coop. I've fixed the area where they were coming in with hardware cloth and I've installed a sonic repeller in the coop, so will see if that works to keep them out. But I'm trying to cover all the bases and would like to get them off my property altogether.

I wouldn't count on that sonic repeller. YOu can try it but in general they work poorly if at all.

Your best bet for the rats-in-coop problem is to patch ALL POSSIBLE areas where they might come in, then do a very thorough sweep of the coop to remove (preferably terminally) whatever rats are currently in there. Then be vigilant to make sure your patches stay patched and no new "rat leaks" develop.

I also would not count on this idea of getting them off your property altogether. If you are diligent and lucky, you may achieve that briefly. But the world is more or less a thin "rat soup", with rats continually wandering out to find new frontiers to colonize, and you would not STAY rat-free for long.

One way to keep a property more or less fairly rat-free is to develop a strong affection for ratting type terrier breeds of dogs, and adopt several of them who frequently get to roam your property having fun. This is not a practical solution for most people however, especially since you have to be a certain personality type to enjoy living with these type dogs and to avoid the bomb craters they will dig all hither and yon

A more practical way to keep the rat population down as low as possible is to devote your energies to eliminating appealing places for them to skulk and inhabit. Keep vegetation around ALL buildings (even little things like a garden shed or woodshed) mowed short or planted very sparsely with little or no mulch; eliminate all piles of stuff they can squirm into/among/under; do not leave foodstuffs out where they can get 'em (birdfood and outdoor chicken food/treats being prime offenders). Make sure there is no space under the coop floor or in the coop walls where they can hang out in secret. No attractive rat-accessible compost piles... this may even mean changing how you deal with your coop cleanings. Etc.

Really, if there are rats in your general area (as evidently there are

) there is not really a whole lot you can do about that aspect of the problem... it is more a matter of *managing* them, or rather managing your property and stuff on it, so that you remain merely a place to pass through in search of better pickins' rather than functioning as a rat ranch or feeding station.

Good luck, I would say "have fun" but that somehow doesn't seem appropriate here

,

Pat​

 

[Chris09]

I will say if a rat is hungry it will get in about anything. [that includes hardware cloth so called, "rat wire"]
If you keep your coop and the area around it clean that alone will help a lot.

I like to keep all lower vents at least 2 foot off the ground and all vent are the heaver metal soffit vents with hardware cloth on the in side similar to this vent

Another tip is get a good working Rat Terrier. They out work most any cat with ease.

Chris

 

[BachBach]

Our coop AND hen yard are completely lined with hardware cloth. We dug the hen yard floor down two feet, put hardware cloth down, put the soil back in on top of it with pea stone for drainage. The hardware cloth continues up the sides and ceiling. If the rats have chewed holes in your coop you can fill them with silicone calk mixed with stainless steel wool, staple gun the hardware cloth over this. This mixture also works for filling gaps where wood has shrunk with age. Wear rubber gloves.
We had a horrible rat and weasel issue, this the only thing that REALLY worked. Chicken wire keeps chickens in but does not keep rodents and predators out. Its useless.
I hope this helps!

 

[ChickenCrazed]

Quote:
Thanks for the info!...I will give this a try...I sat last fall and watch a mouse leap up and down out of my hanging feeder...I have been worried about using poison for fear a chicken or one of my dogs will eat the poisoned rodent!