Rat Control 101

[Howard E]

One more thing I would add about mint oil, etc, do not rely upon that alone. You are still going to need to work on rat proofing the coop, etc. meaning exclusion. Physical barriers to keep them out of any food, water, chicken droppings, eggs, etc. that draw them to your birds in the first place. So anything like mint oil, ammonia, etc. is in addition to, not in lieu of, rat proofing.

But that applies to all other kill options as well, including baits. Until you get exclusion under control, don't expect much success from anything else.

And when it comes to exclusion, remember they can climb, dig (tunnel their way in and under your coop) and slip through anything greater than 1 inch. So that is top, bottom and all sides. And remember, unless it is metal or concrete, they can chew their way in. A true rat proof structure is not easy to do.

When it comes to rat proofing, hardware cloth, tightly fitted metal siding, metal roofs and cement floors are the gold standard.

 

[Stacyoung13]

One more thing I would add about mint oil, etc, do not rely upon that alone. You are still going to need to work on rat proofing the coop, etc. meaning exclusion. Physical barriers to keep them out of any food, water, chicken droppings, eggs, etc. that draw them to your birds in the first place. So anything like mint oil, ammonia, etc. is in addition to, not in lieu of, rat proofing.

But that applies to all other kill options as well, including baits. Until you get exclusion under control, don't expect much success from anything else.

And when it comes to exclusion, remember they can climb, dig (tunnel their way in and under your coop) and slip through anything greater than 1 inch. So that is top, bottom and all sides. And remember, unless it is metal or concrete, they can chew their way in. A true rat proof structure is not easy to do.

When it comes to rat proofing, hardware cloth, tightly fitted metal siding, metal roofs and cement floors are the gold standard.

I haven't had any mice or rats in my coops. I have never had food in there. I have not had to use anything else besides the peppermint extract. Why would I want to go through all of that, with the poisons and traps, spending all that money on metal and stuff when the peppermint extract got rid of them. I no longer have a rodent problem, I haven't even seen a rodent in over 2 weeks. It just seems pointless to spend all that money, or have to worry about trap or poisons with all the other animals. The PEPPERMINT EXTRACT works on it's own. I'm not telling anyone to NOT do it, I'm just saying that in my case, it would be a waste of time and money.

 

[Folly's place]

So, what does the peppermint extract cost, and how much for a 300 sq. ft. coop/ run combination? How often? Just wondering. And how strong is the odor?
Mary

 

[Stacyoung13]

So, what does the peppermint extract cost, and how much for a 300 sq. ft. coop/ run combination? How often? Just wondering. And how strong is the odor?
Mary

A 2oz bottle at Walmart is darn near $4, but Walmart.com has 5 2oz bottles for $5.77. I sprayed every night for the first week then every other night, Then just 1-2 times a week. I can't say for sure how much for 300 sq. ft. I only sprayed around the feed stations and in front of the coops doors, on the outside. I never sprayed the whole run. Since they couldn't get to they food, they moved on. The smell is kinda strong but not so much that it's bad. It's just something that irritates their sinus cavity.

 

[blackandtan]

A pallet of wolfbait from the abbatoir last winter left me with a rat infestation in the coop/woodshed. My coop is raised off the ground and insulated all the way around, which was a perfect haven for the little buggers, especially with all the spilled grain around. I was able to shove poison blocks and pellets under the coop and board up the holes so no worries about the blocks moving; above the coop there’s a crawl space where I placed pans of grain soaked with antifreeze.
I used a game camera to get an idea of how many there still were....I knew they would stay around the coop as long as it was -30 and I was so afraid they’d move out as it got warmer!
The poison took too long so I spent many...many......MANY hours at night in the woodshed in a “hunting blind” lol shooting with a .22; it took a couple weeks but I ended up with a bucket of dead rats - and haven’t seen even one in a year yaaaayyyy!!!!!

 

[Stacyoung13]

A pallet of wolfbait from the abbatoir last winter left me with a rat infestation in the coop/woodshed. My coop is raised off the ground and insulated all the way around, which was a perfect haven for the little buggers, especially with all the spilled grain around. I was able to shove poison blocks and pellets under the coop and board up the holes so no worries about the blocks moving; above the coop there’s a crawl space where I placed pans of grain soaked with antifreeze.
I used a game camera to get an idea of how many there still were....I knew they would stay around the coop as long as it was -30 and I was so afraid they’d move out as it got warmer!
The poison took too long so I spent many...many......MANY hours at night in the woodshed in a “hunting blind” lol shooting with a .22; it took a couple weeks but I ended up with a bucket of dead rats - and haven’t seen even one in a year yaaaayyyy!!!!!

heck yeah, sounds like fun. can't shoot my .22 here, but I have a nice pellet gun that shoots at a .22 velocity.

 

[h2oratt]

Any rat poison is POISON, although some may be more survivable than others. I use bait too, carefully, and keep my animals away from it, and the rodents. If traps alone worked, that would be wonderful, but they don't.
Vitamin D3 is pretty toxic too, hence it's use in bait. Being very careful is the most important thing here. And getting rid of those rats!
Mary

Hi folly

 

[ChocolateMouse]

There's a pelleted bait called Rat X that contains mainly salt and corn gluten meal. Can anyone comment on this? Supposedly not toxic to other animals, but I assume if chickens found it, it would kill them as well.

Hello. I have used this. It did NOT get rid of the infestation, but they did take it. I did find at least one dead rat after using it, but was that just coincidence? Who knows. I didn't find any before using the Rat x or after stopping using the rat X.

As noted, this is totally harmless to chicken. it IS deadly to rabbits and other animals that are unable to vomit/regurgitate. It only works BECAUSE they can't throw up.

 

[Howard E]

Hello. I have used this. It did NOT get rid of the infestation, but they did take it. I did find at least one dead rat after using it, but was that just coincidence? Who knows. I didn't find any before using the Rat x or after stopping using the rat X.

As noted, this is totally harmless to chicken. it IS deadly to rabbits and other animals that are unable to vomit/regurgitate. It only works BECAUSE they can't throw up.

There were products that worked that way......the red squill (a plant) mentioned in the rat killing video was one of those. Some have attempted to use baking soda the same way......something they found in the Internet. I don't think it worked for them. Same with feeding them plaster of paris mixed with peanut butter. Folks have tried it and it didn't work.

As per this site that sells RatX, ingredients are a mixture of salt and corn gluten and somehow shuts down the sensors that tell the rat to drink water. This then causes a response where they go into a fatal dehydration cycle triggered by the toxic levels of extra salt in their system.

https://www.domyown.com/rat-p-4482.html

Since the main active ingredient that does the damage is salt, it is said to be safe for all non target species....at least in the quantities they may ingest.

I suggest anyone interested in this to read the information linked to above......product descriptions and reviews. Then if anyone thinks this is the solution for them, try it and report back as to how well it worked for you. I have no experience with it and have not talked to anyone else who has either.

As noted, C-Mouse says it did not work for them.

 

[SongBaby33]

A good homemade rat poison is Peanut butter mixed with bicarbonate of soda