Help!!! Rat infestation

[Folly's place]

Rats and other rodents carry diseases that can kill you and your dogs too. Pet rats are great, wild rats invading dwellings and feed are NOT.
Mary

 

[nconley11]

Poison, poison then more poison.
If you seeing or guessing you have 40 you probably have a few hundred.
I had same issue and tried all the traps and homemade poison type recipes. Also worried about using poison.
Everything has limited success and in the end they out bred any success I did have.
Poison and poison heavy. Best to give every rat and then some a chance to get some for themselves. It took a couple weeks but soon i wasn't seeing any.
I left it at that only to get reinfested during the winter.
Round two poison, poison, poison.
Got rid of them again but this round I decided to make bait station and leave poison in them at all times.
Haven't had problem in few months now and bait seems to only getting nibbles here and there. Suspect that's from mice. They can go too.
I honestly think anything except poison will be a losing battle.
Wish I would of gave in and used it sooner.

And you didn't have any problem with your chickens dying from eating the rats or anything like that?

 

[nconley11]

So the consensus is to make a new Coop, which I'm fine with. My question is, is it better to have a cement floor or should I Elevate the whole Coop on stilts like 3 or four ft? Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[nconley11]

Also any recommendations for rat bait stations?

 

[Howard E]

Back to this thread........

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rats-when-the-army-went-to-war-on-them.1216226/page-2

Review the video on rat proofing, post #14.

A lot of this depends on your commitment to birds and how many. If you are in this for the long haul, and have a lot of birds, and if you have the means, a cement floor is always the A#1 first choice. Couple that with a building with metal siding, with rat proof base and trim and you can build a new structure that will be rat proof from the get go. At least when the doors are closed. As the video shows, once you open a door for the chickens to come and go, rats can waltz right in.

Rats can climb with the best of them, so even if elevated, they can get in and live comfortably beneath an elevated coop.

On the poisons, issue, threat of secondary poisons is a great fear, but is largely unfounded. Secondary poisonings are very rare, if ever. In most cases, rats will die in their hidden burrows.

If I had a rat problem, I wouldn't hesitate to use poisons as part of the solution, but they are only one part.

 

[Howard E]

https://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/rats.htm

https://store.doyourownpestcontrol....rat-rodent-control-products/rat-bait-stations

All these are also available from Amazon.

Use one of the "Protecta" bait stations. My first choice for baits would be the Contrac from Bell Labs. Used by professional exterminators.

Once consumption drops off, switch to a different type to pick off the stragglers.

 

[Cayuga momma]

I pour beer into a 5 gallon bucket. Enough for them to drowned in. They love beer. I'm still amazed that it work so well here. I can't use poison, because my cat eats them too.

 

[nconley11]

Sorry for all the questions, when I made the shed into the chicken coop I hung plywood with insulation in between. Any trap that I've tried hasn't worked because they're running between the walls. Am I going to have to take the plywood off in order to get them into the bait stations? Or do you think it would be safe to remove what little insulation is left and actually throw the base into the walls for the chickens can't get them?

 

[The Moonshiner]

And you didn't have any problem with your chickens dying from eating the rats or anything like that?

it was a huge concern just because I have so many chickens, other poultry and other animals.
Chickens never seem to try to eat rats. After poisoning of course there were dead rats showing up everywhere. I collected and burned them daily.
I did see some chickens pecking on dead rats.
Biggest fear were our dogs. I took a few dead rats from them daily for a week or so. I never saw them eat any but did chew on them and play with them.
I didn't have anything get ill or die.
Idk if it was just luck or if it is rare for second hand poisoning.
Although we didn't have issue I can't say it wouldnt, couldn't happen.
Everyone has to make that call for themselves. For us the rats were getting way beyond out of hand and nothing else worked.

 

[Howard E]

I'm guessing you used fiberglass bat insulation? And the rats have gnawed holes in the plywood? If so, you inadvertently created a nearly ideal setup for the rats. Home sweet home!

Just look at the bait stations.....you could put one in the middle (don't....put them along walls which are high travel areas) of the coop and rats will be able to come and go into the bait stations, but chickens can't get in, (baby chicks might, but anything past a 2 to 3 week old chick won't). The reason for bait stations is they contain pins that fix the bait blocks in place, otherwise the rats would drag them out and scatter them around where chickens and other could get to them.

As for pulling down the plywood, if you do, be ready for a bunch of rats to boil out on you. If you don't pull down the plywood, be ready for the stench of death to arrive as they start dying in the walls.