NEEDADVICE-RATS EATING CHICKS-GETTING DOG TO HELP-ADVICE PLEASE

[centrarchid]

I would avoid purchasing dogs for dealing with a single issue (such as rats) when the flock size is typical of backyards. Dogs will prove more expensive than other options, especially once the rats are no longer an issue. Secondly, the activity of dogs going after rats may cause damage to grounds where ratting is taking place. As a youth I remember neighbors operating a feed lot with a couple hundred head beef where they used a feeding system using silage and grain-based feed. The cattle had access to a barn with water and feed mangers. The rats created a burrow system under barn, silo's and a couple acres serving as barnyard where implements and vehicles were stored. What the opted to do was purchase a couple young adult rat terriers that promptly went to work hunting and killing the rats. The dogs were not helped nor did they have an easy to dig location like the situations linked in videos earlier in thread. The dogs had to do a lot more digging through harder ground. They also caught a lot of rats scurrying above ground. The digging part got to the point that the ground became treacherous for the cattle to walk over in the barn. Some of the dog digging was hard to discern from that of the rats when it comes to the damage done to stones serving a the barns foundation. The barn was of the very large wooden variety where structure was made of locally acquired materials.

It may prove more feasible to make so rats cannot get to chickens. Some selective trapping of persistent rats trying to get into where chickens are housed can also be employed. I am not an advocate of poisons owing to risks / costs it has posed for our dogs and other animals in the past. Shooting rats with a BB gun or light rifle can be entertainment for some, but those days are behind me at least.

 

[Willowspirit]

I would look to find someone who will work dogs in the area where the rats are. Most rat terriers don’t have to be trained to hunt but they would have to be trained to leave the chickens alone. A friend of mine has a rattie that loves to kill any kind of rodent she comes across. She especially likes to kill hedgehogs. I have another friend with ratties who kill any moving thing on her property including wild birds. She trains them on mice when they are pups but really training is evaluating their gameness against mice. Ad these are show dogs!

I mostly agree with the posters that suggest you strengthen your coops against rats getting in. Also protecting food sources like your chicken feed against them.

 

[aart]

She especially likes to kill hedgehogs.

Wild Hedgehogs in the US?

 

[ducks4you]

@centrarchild is right. We just discussed keeping/not keeping dogs on another thread. UnLESS you loves dogs and intend to bond with your new dog, please don't JUST got a dog to solve this one problem. Both dogs and horses are man's closest and most useful friends/helpmates. They get good at their jobs bc they form a close relationship with their owners.
I would suggest that you try 2 things:
1) adopt cats.
I have 5 acres, 3 horses and 7 cats.
I have NO mice in my house.
I had rats that had tunnelled under my enclosed coop. My good kitties couldn't get to them, and YET they killed them all. One was a feral cat that I couldn't catch and kept popping out kittens, BUT I saw several rats without heads that she had killed, and even an adult rabbit without it's head. She fed them to her kittens.
5 of my cats are female, ALL are spayed/neutered
Cats WILL eat baby chicks, SO...
2) cage off your hens with chicks and your other chicks from the cats.
NOBODY gets poisoned.
You will need to buy cheap cat food. Well fed cats mouse the best, and the mouse/rat is the best food for a cat.
I keep ALL animal feed in new metal trash cans.

 

[Shadrach]

Another vote for the Jack Russel if you decide a dog is appropriate.

 

[NanaKat]

I agree with the advice from most of the responses here. We have a cattleranch and I have over 100 chicken and hatch 250 chicks a year. My duck flock is 43 birds.

Whatever you choose to do be consistent.

- Improving your run and coop with hardware wire is great. If the coop has a floor you will need to plug every hole bigger than a dime. If a mouse or rat can get its head thru that hole, the body follows. Tunneling by rats under hardware into a dirt run is a problem so bury your hardware wire a suitable depth...12 inches.

- Protect your feed in mouse/rat proof containers. I use metal trash cans. Small cans hold 50 pounds of feed. Big cans can hold 180 pounds. Also remove feed at night to a secure container...vermin feed at night. Clean up feed spills.

- A dog may not be your answer by itself. Keeping a trained guard dog with your flock is helpful with predators, not always vermin. A small rat dog can be a victim of coyotes, owls, bobcat etc. Housing a dog outside is not always comfortable in winter snows. I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback that delights in killing rats and digging out gophers...leaves the chickens and ducks alone. My RR/lab loves the hunt, but not the kill. She must be watched closely when the birds freerange. Both are inside at night.

- Cats make great mouser/ratters in a secure barn. Their scent is also a deterrent. They like hunting at night. I've lost barn cats to coyotes when the stall door is open at night for a cow and calf. Cats are fine with the chickens. I even had one that had her kittens in a nest box and her kittens would sleep with the broodies. I neuter now.

- poison...I use Tomcat brand when I don't have cats. I use bait stations and toss chunks under pallets where the chickens can't reach it. The mice/rats carry pieces to their nests and burrows.

- traps for mice and rats are helpful. Live traps must be small enough for rats. I use live traps baited with dry cat food for possum, raccoons, skunk and then dispose of the predator. Cover your live trap for a skunk with a plastic bag when you bait it so you aren't sprayed. Use hydrogen peroxide to clean it to remove the scent.
- Animal cams are helpful in determining what predators are checking out your coop and run and in locating rat activity at night.

- rat shot or snake shot in a 22 is great. Locate the burrow and bait the tunnel with a little cracked corn at dusk for a few days. Then sit quietly watching with your gun poised. And pick them off. Two years ago, I killed 61 rats this way. Have not had a rat problem since, but maintain constant vigilance. Where you see one or two, you have many more.

Good luck!

 

[aart]

Great Post @NanaKat !!

 

[Willowspirit]

Wild Hedgehogs in the US?

Maybe not hedgehogs. I was thinking it wasn’t right when I wrote it. I need to find the post in friend’s fb.

 

[Willowspirit]

Maybe not hedgehogs. I was thinking it wasn’t right when I wrote it. I need to find the post in friend’s fb.

Woodchucks!! One day this girl ran twice in agility and killed a woodchuck between rounds. They are game little dogs.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rats and mice can only grow their population with a huge food supply. If it was the cows next door they would stay there and not be in your coop. Most rats and mice will not travel far from their food sources due to the threat of predators.

The cows might have attracted some rats initially but they colonized your coop because the food supply was better. They can and will tunnel just as easily near the cows if that was their food supply.

Get a treadle feeder. Research them here on BYC.com or just google rat proof chicken feeder and there are many to choose from. Be sure the door is spring loaded and that it has a counterweight. If you go the Amazon route watch the negative reviews very carefully.

Once you have that chicken feeder safely out of touch and your bulk feed in metal cans the rats will leave. Be aware that rats and mice also attract other predators that will happily kill your chickens if they get the chance.