How on earth do I plug up Rat holes in a stone building in the middle of winter?

[Cacique500]

Or if you're too lazy or not inclined to make the above...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QT4F1O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We had a rat visiting every night and I tried all the usual stuff to get him...electronics, plugging holes, sitting outside with the 10/22, etc. Finally got the tube above with the poison and it got him. Tube was placed outside the run next to the coop and it's nice because the chickens can't get at it, even when they're free ranging due to the design.

 

[Suzie]

RonP...

Brilliant...my Husband has all of the above...he was a plumber/heating engineer....going to wake him up now from his slumber and get him working on constructing this...it's OK...it is only 1.00 am in the morning here,...

Needs must ...to protect my chickens....

Thanks..wonderful solution!

 

[RonP]

RonP...

Brilliant...my Husband has all of the above...he was a plumber/heating engineer....going to wake him up now from his slumber and get him working on constructing this...it's OK...it is only 1.00 am in the morning here,...

Needs must ...to protect my chickens....

Thanks..wonderful solution!

You sound like someone I know .....

 

[Suzie]

You sound like someone I know .....

My husband agrees with your comment...he was not amused when I woke him up and started talking about catching rats with your wonderful design.....he thought he was having a nightmare....he will be now constructing one here for my chickens....

He looks very much like this at the moment....

...

 

[aart]

Posted to another query.
Hope it helps.:

My understanding is that rats/mice are everywhere.
They will congregate and breed where there is available food, water, and shelter.
Look closely around any fast food restaurant and you will see rat bait stations.

They will eventually come, the idea is to prevent them from establishing a colony.
If you see 1, there are probably fifty.
If you see two or more holes, expect dozens.

Keeping a rat trap/bait station baited 24/7 hopefully keeps the population from establishing near your food source. Once established, they are very difficult to eliminate.

Remember, chickens don't attract rats, food does.

That said, I fabricated black 4 inch circular x 18" long drainage plastic pipe as a bait station.
Placed along the outside of my coop, looks like drainage pipe (not unsightly).
I put a t fitting in the center, capped, for easy viewing once a week.
Inside I maintain commercial rat poison.

My run has food scraps 24/7.
My coop has food access 24/7.
Water access 24/7.

5 years, no sign of rats or mice...

Hope this helps.

What poison do you use specifically Ron....what is the risk of secondary poisoning to other livestock pets etc?

 

[RonP]

What poison do you use specifically Ron....what is the risk of secondary poisoning to other livestock pets etc?

RAMPAGE is a key component in the fight against resistance, as it contains
Bromethalin 0.01%, a non-anticoagulant. RAMPAGE provides sure, fast
control, in one to two days, or even hours in some instances. Rodents also
stop feeding after eating a lethal dose of RAMPAGE, so more rodents are
controlled with less bait. There is no secondary poisoning with RAMPAGE;
pets won’t be harmed if they accidentally eat a poisoned rodent.

There are others, but I use this one.

 

[Naser]

Posted to another query.
Hope it helps.:

My understanding is that rats/mice are everywhere.
They will congregate and breed where there is available food, water, and shelter.
Look closely around any fast food restaurant and you will see rat bait stations.

They will eventually come, the idea is to prevent them from establishing a colony.
If you see 1, there are probably fifty.
If you see two or more holes, expect dozens.

Keeping a rat trap/bait station baited 24/7 hopefully keeps the population from establishing near your food source. Once established, they are very difficult to eliminate.

Remember, chickens don't attract rats, food does.

That said, I fabricated black 4 inch circular x 18" long drainage plastic pipe as a bait station.
Placed along the outside of my coop, looks like drainage pipe (not unsightly).
I put a t fitting in the center, capped, for easy viewing once a week.
Inside I maintain commercial rat poison.

My run has food scraps 24/7.
My coop has food access 24/7.
Water access 24/7.

5 years, no sign of rats or mice...

Hope this helps.

I made two of those but the horizontal arms are much longer than what you have here "48 inches" and the vertical arm is 22 inches. do you think that will be ok.

 

[Naser]

I have two rat proof feeders, and since I stopped putting food in the composter I don't see signs of rats any more. but still I will use poison just in case
What I want to say is if you get rat proof feeders that will help a lot, and saves you money on feeds

 

[RonP]

I made two of those but the horizontal arms are much longer than what you have here "48 inches" and the vertical arm is 22 inches. do you think that will be ok.

No problem with the vertical arm, its just for loading.

Can't say for sure about the horizontal arms.

I simply copied a manufactured product, and I wouldn't know if they did any testing on the lengths...

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

I looked up Bromethalin and it does say there can be secondary poisoning if a dog eats the rat. It's just too scary for me to have poison around! Even if the risk is small I just could never forgive myself if one of my other animals got sick.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/toxicity/c_multi_bromethalin_rodenticide_toxicity

I did catch a big giant rat in a snap trap on Saturday. His body was a little bit bigger than the snap trap. He was alarmingly large. He couldn't resist the peanut that was wired to the trigger. We blocked the holes with small rocks and spray foam. I tried to make balls with hardware cloth...but it was just too hard. Foam is not a permanent solution, but it does slow them down and lets us see where the rats are trying to get in or out. We will just have to keep spraying until spring when we can cement again!

I'm thinking that maybe we can add something to the cement that will make it hard for them to chew or dig through? Glass maybe...that sounds horrible!

The rats are trying to make alternate exits in the coop...so this AM my DH blocked all three I found with hardware cloth where I could attach it and spray foam and rocks where I couldn't! I know we kept some rats out of the coop because last night the dogs were chasing at least one of them all over the yard! It ended up going through the chicken run fence. It made a big smashing noise when it hit the welded wire fence so I think it was a big one! So maybe the big ones can't get in right now.

I finally have my bucket trap materials...I'm going to set one of those up today!