Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

[jools2014]

You would think in this day and age they could come up with a fast acting more "humane" poison. Just out of interest, how are you supposed to dispose of poisoned rats-I won't be using poison but was just curious. I know most of them go back underground to die, but some must die out in the open?

There is a lot of scaremongering around rats, don't get me wrong-you don't want them, but not every rat is disease ridden, we're not all going to get the plague just because they are around, it's not the end of the world. Having said that, I personally have had enough-I'm not going to poison them, but I have no trouble trapping them so will be drowning them next time I catch one-it might not be 100% humane, but it's not like humans have a humane death-I'll probably die a long agonizing death from cancer, and no one will be able to put me out of my misery. Anything human or animal unfortunate enough to be born onto this planet is going to suffer-2 minutes drowning is not that bad a death. And at least I'll be stopping that animal from breeding so the more I get the situation under control the less deaths overall.

 

[Al Gerhart]

myback40, there are two very easy fixes when you have a bird beaking feed out onto the ground.

First cut a section of chicken wire and lay on top the feed, make them peck for their food, the wire stops the raking.

Second method, there is a feeder lip extender on that same shopping cart, super cheap, mostly shipping charges which are included. Very few people need them, we sell less than a dozen per year and we have thousands of feeders in use. The extender just slips down from the inside, takes a few seconds to push into place. There is even a video showing how to do it. All it does is raise the lip up by about 1 1/2" but no bird can rake feed out after you do that.

 

[Howard E]

Al:

Thanks for posting. Who is "we" and what kind and/or brand of feeders are you referring to?

Edited: Never mind, I found it. Nice looking product.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Sorry, I try not to post links out of respect for the site.

Usually when someone says their birds won't use the feeder it is because they didn't follow the directions for installing the feeder and training the birds. I'd say that 95% of our reviews are five star so most people are willing to follow the instructions. Its very simple, remove ALL other feed sources from the pen, no free range, no snacks, no half of a sack of uneaten feed in the deep liter. Install and fill the feeder the night before, solidly secured to a post, wall, or large chuck of plywood that won't rock around in use. Next morning let them go hungry for a few hours and use the tip of your toe to show them where the feed is. One will step up once they are hungry enough, let them get a few beak fulls of feed and gently push them away. If the bird doesn't come back right away, stop and come back in one hour for a second lesson.

90% of the flocks will have several birds learn in the first couple of hours. By the end of the day the other birds will have learned or be eating when the other birds eat. If you have other feed available or let them free range they will go out and fill their empty stomachs on grass. The soft close door helps a lot if you have some of the more nervous breeds but read our reviews online, all chickens are nervous, but all will learn IF the human involved will follow the instructions. Not follow part of the instructions, follow all of the instructions.

Now, I relinquish the soap box to others.... : )

 

[Howard E]

Al:

To assist those who may find this thread and be wondering.........please allow me to post the link (and to those who might be wondering, no I don't have this product and have nothing to do with the company). I had to spend some time finding it again......

http://ratproofchickenfeeder.net/feeders/

There is a concurrent thread with a question about starlings stealing feed. I may post the link there too.

 

[Kasilofchrisn]

I almost hate to say this but here's my take.
If your not willing and able to protect your birds and your family from these rats then maybe raising chickens isn't for you?
They're vermin and need to be eliminated from your property.
Drowning them IMHO is pretty humane and quick death as is the poison bait.
I've had to kill rats before and didn't bat an eye shooting and drowning those in my traps.
Do what you must to protect your birds or get rid of your birds for their safety.
Sorry to sound harsh but your birds need protection from someone who cares about them more than a bunch of rats!

 

[jools2014]

^^ It's not that simple though, not everyone has a gun to shoot them with (or would be a good shot, or has the time to sit around waiting for them in the cold all night), and you may not care about being humane but it's actually illegal to drown rats in the UK, though I don't know about other countries. I also have a book on keeping chickens and it says "drowning is NOT an option"-I don't happen to agree with it, to me it seems more humane than poison, but that's the law here. There are people who have poisoned their pets using poison so that's an issue with that method. Snap traps the rats are very wary of and you risk killing other animals. If there was one sure fire way of getting rid of them we'd all be doing it. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to cause the least amount of suffering-just because humans decided rats were vermin, if it wasn't for chickens tasting nice they'd probably be classed as vermin too along with everything else that doesn't end up on peoples plates.

 

[henryraven86]

My grandfather had the same problem once he tried alot of things got frustrated when they didn't work so he decided to grow
Beans in the garden he cooked a bowl of beans left it out after a week he found most of them dead since mice can't fart.lol

 

[Kasilofchrisn]

^^ It's not that simple though, not everyone has a gun to shoot them with (or would be a good shot, or has the time to sit around waiting for them in the cold all night), and you may not care about being humane but it's actually illegal to drown rats in the UK, though I don't know about other countries. I also have a book on keeping chickens and it says "drowning is NOT an option"-I don't happen to agree with it, to me it seems more humane than poison, but that's the law here. There are people who have poisoned their pets using poison so that's an issue with that method. Snap traps the rats are very wary of and you risk killing other animals. If there was one sure fire way of getting rid of them we'd all be doing it. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to cause the least amount of suffering-just because humans decided rats were vermin, if it wasn't for chickens tasting nice they'd probably be classed as vermin too along with everything else that doesn't end up on peoples plates.

Well I'm glad I don't live in the UK. IMHO drowning rats is humane. My ethics and morals are OK with it and when needed I've drowned them. When you've got 3 or 4 rats in a multicatch trap how else am I going to kill them all with out risk of them escaping or me getting hurt? I did have a ferret once who loved to eat rats. I would throw them in his cage and he would kill then eat them it was his favorite food. I guess that's an option. Get a ferret they'll kill and eat the rats. But in all honesty I still feel that If your not prepared to deal with the predators and pests that come with owning chickens then maybe chickens are not for you! Your putting your birds and your families health and safety at risk and you'd rather have that then get serious and kill some rats?

 

[jools2014]

No one has even come on here and said they don't want to kill rats including myself, and the OP asked for the most effective way to get rid of them with least cruelty-what is wrong with that?!

If your country allows drowning of vermin then great, I just know the UK has made it illegal. I also know that a lot of members on this forum deem drowning to be cruel because I myself came and asked what was the most humane way and most people said drowning was NOT-I'm not sure I agree and I may resort to it myself. I have no issue with how you deal with the problem, it's none of my business, just like how other people choose to deal with their problem isn't really your business enough to say "you are putting your birds and family at risk".Most of us are doing everything we can to deal with it-and whilst I have a very good trap that does catch the rats, not everyone may have an effective trap so they could even drown them anyway. And as I said poisoning poses a significant risk to other wildlife and pets. There are pros and cons for every method.

I have looked up ferrets but apparently they are pretty hard to look after. I have also thought about getting a cat but can't keep one in the house as a family member is allergic and I live too near a main road for an outdoor/barn cat. I have pretty much considered every method. Right now my birds are housed inside due to bird flu restrictions in the UK so the rats can't get inside the house anyway, and the problem has greatly reduced since I changed how I kept food etc.