Is this a rat?

[subhanalah]

4 inches in diameter is way too big for a rat. They can squeeze through something that's only 3/4" in diameter! And that's an adult!

 

[Mothrofchickns]

I guess now we know why farmers hate rats, and vermin so much. They are a never ending battle, if you can't do the kill traps or poison then you will have to plug and block them whenever you can, board up all the holes when you find them, keep your feed in plastic bins off the floor and send your Jack R in for sure, my girl caught a rat that was eating my eggs this spring but just like mice even though you don't see them......they are always there!!!
It's a never ending battle.....I actually found metal insulated panels that I am going to frame my coops with, and hopefully the cement floor and metal walls will keep them at bay......but I doubt it! I find that my pen that has the hay for bedding is a haven for rats! it's nice for the winter for my girls, but it gives the rats too many hiding places and tunnels.For the summer I clean out all the hay and just put down shavings in their pen, it's more work but it does keep the rodents down, I think probably because the girls can see the rats better and sound the alarm.....10 fat chickens squawking and scratching will send any rat running! Good luck!

Mother of Chickens

 

[subhanalah]

You can use snake poop as deterrent to any rodent.
You need big snake poop, like from a 4 or 5 foot boid at least.

 

[ChickenPapaCT]

X2 on the live trap suggestion. I like my "HavaHeart" trap.

I would get a large 2-door trap. They work on almost all good-sized critters (ground-hog, raccoon, opossum, skunk, etc.)

Good luck!

 

[cat_named_noodles]

Careful if you do catch a skunk though! I hear hydrogen peroxide works better than tomato juice.

 

[6of6chicks]

Careful if you do catch a skunk though! I hear hydrogen peroxide works better than tomato juice.

One of my dogs has been skunked many times. She just can't seem to get it through her head that it's not a fuzzy black & white kitty. Best recipe I've found:

1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 teaspoon dishwashing soap

Drench with that, let it sit five min., then rinse. Then do a full scrub using just the dish soap. That will get it out of the fur. If there is still a smell after that then most likely it's in the ears. Do NOT use this to clean the ears or around the face. Best to do this outside if possible.

Tomato juice is a useless myth. So is every product on the shelves at Petsmart - none of those worked for me.

If it was a skunk you'd know. The burrows smell musty and 'skunky.' I had one dig a burrow under my barn and the entire place reeked inside - and that was through a concrete floor.

 

[nitter]

Make a box out of wood about the size of a shoe box. Cut a small hole in each end and put a rat snap trap in it baited with chicken feed. That way you won't catch your chickens

 

[Suzierd]

You won't catch a skunk in a squirrel live trap.

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

Took the tape measure out yesterday. I like the box idea. I might have to do that if I don't catch it soon so I can let the chickens back in. The girls have stopped laying because I locked them out.

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

Well this has become a WAR. I've named the rat MF.

Friday my husband comes home with poisonous smoke bombs. I didn't even know these things existed. I'm like "Heck yeah, this will get it." We plug all the holes but one, light the smoke bomb, shove it in the hole while trying to NOT burn the barn down. Let it do it's thing, move to another hole and put another bomb in. Kept an eye on all the escape routes and didn't see anything digging its way out. Saturday I completely stripped the pens down, lifted the mats aaaaannnnnd: nothing.

But I found its nest. Round nest made out of straw. It was deep enough for me to put a rat trap in it and put the mat back down and the trap still had room to trip! This must be one huge rat. I go out Sunday morning to check it and MF had buried the trap with dirt. Filled in its own nest. Do rats have middle fingers? I'm sure this one is holding it up at me.

I can fill the holes in every day and go out the next morning and it's all dug up again. It must be leaving during the day and coming in at night. Which would explain why we didn't get it with the bombs.

And lookie what I found this morning: