Rat infestation in the run

[bevis]

put the birds up in a different pen, and pull thier feed at night. Then in the old pen put Decon feed containers and watch the little scavengers gag!

i don't have the room to move 26 hens to a new place to live
if i had that room , i would absolutely kill the rats off in short order

 

[Egghead_Jr]

One station is right in the run. You place them in corners or along walls or under the coop, ya know, where rodents travel. I've never seen that gel pack posted above. I'd not use pellet decon stuff as that gets littered about making it dangerous. Chunx gets chewed off therefore not littered but in the cheeks of intended animal that then brings it to feed the brood. There wont be bits of poison in the run with chunx. 99.99% of the time the rodent dies in it's hole in the ground and of course all the new born so the next generation boom is taken care of. We were once inundated with rodents. Nightmare as they made it to the house. Ugh...It took a few weeks for the rats to start taking the bait but once they did it went quick and you'll go through a good amount for few weeks then it stops. Yup, you killed the colonies of rats. Hundreds apon hundreds that you'd never get under control with any other method. I keep only two bait per station most of the year. During spring and fall they are filled up when rodents are on the move. You'l go through a lot those times of year but almost nothing the rest. Rodents are always about but these stations keep them from making your coop, run or home their home.

We've started on our third pail in 4 years. That's two stations and taking care of a huge infestation from first use. And squirrels chewed a hole in lid last year to rob and store elsewhere before they died. It's cheap to maintain bur the initial costs of stations and poison is a bit steep. A pail should last two or more years when maintenance but you'll go through half your pail or more to rid the initial infestation.

 

[bevis]

One station is right in the run. You place them in corners or along walls or under the coop, ya know, where rodents travel. I've never seen that gel pack posted above. I'd not use pellet decon stuff as that gets littered about making it dangerous. Chunx gets chewed off therefore not littered but in the cheeks of intended animal that then brings it to feed the brood. There wont be bits of poison in the run with chunx. 99.99% of the time the rodent dies in it's hole in the ground and of course all the new born so the next generation boom is taken care of. We were once inundated with rodents. Nightmare as they made it to the house. Ugh...It took a few weeks for the rats to start taking the bait but once they did it went quick and you'll go through a good amount for few weeks then it stops. Yup, you killed the colonies of rats. Hundreds apon hundreds that you'd never get under control with any other method. I keep only two bait per station most of the year. During spring and fall they are filled up when rodents are on the move. You'l go through a lot those times of year but almost nothing the rest. Rodents are always about but these stations keep them from making your coop, run or home their home.

We've started on our third pail in 4 years. That's two stations and taking care of a huge infestation from first use. And squirrels chewed a hole in lid last year to rob and store elsewhere before they died. It's cheap to maintain bur the initial costs of stations and poison is a bit steep. A pail should last two or more years when maintenance but you'll go through half your pail or more to rid the initial infestation.

I know for a fact that they are living under the chicken house. Its 10' X 16' and theres 2x6 floor joists and i have seen them under there and i have seen them run through a hole in the 1/4" hardware cloth that goes around the bottom of the house inside the run. i have not fixed the hole as i dont think that will change anything. they will just come through somewhere else. When i go out in the late afternoon to clean the house, i can hear them under the house. This morning i saw at least 12 on the camera in the run and they were hanging on the waterers. I have been removing the food at night . I wonder if i can put the bait station under the house and not in the run. Im paranoid of the bait station being in with the girls.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If you're paranoid then how about pulling back some of the hardware cloth to put a station under coop and cover with lattice or chicken wire or whatever. It needs to be accessible to refill. That would be for your mindset. The stations are locked and only a chick can get in them so I do take them out of run if chicks in there. But otherwise the birds stand on it, poop on it and generally use it as a small platform.

 

[bevis]

i'll put one under the house and one along the wall in the run. thanks for all youre help with youre experience.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm dealing with rats at my coop too, and in the past had them in my barn. It's safer to use a anticoagulant poison, rather than bromothalin, in case of accidental poisoning of a non-target critter. Surviving bromothalin, with aggressive treatment, is pretty rare, while surviving vitamin K responsive poisons happens often. Mary

 

[bevis]

I'm dealing with rats at my coop too, and in the past had them in my barn. It's safer to use a anticoagulant poison, rather than bromothalin, in case of accidental poisoning of a non-target critter. Surviving bromothalin, with aggressive treatment, is pretty rare, while surviving vitamin K responsive poisons happens often. Mary

specifically what anticoagulant poison are you referring to ?

 

[ChelseaBurns]

The only way to keep rats out is to block the way that they are getting in. I learned that info at the link below while searching for natural ways to protect wild turkey nests from predators. Good Luck!

http://www.wildlife-removal.com/ratrepellent.html

 

[Folly's place]

I still have some broudificon, and am using that first. TSC only had diphacinone in blocks, so I bought that this week. No poison is safe, but the anticoagulants can be managed in a pet (or child!), as bromothalin can't be managed. In my experience, trapping rats won't eliminate the problem. Mary

 

[BYC910]

I use guns and cats . I had rats so bad it was awful . And worse I had no ideal of the numbers I'd go out the chickens coops at night to gather eggs when I worked late and they would run out in droves . DW and DD won't let me poison them because of the grand children and the pet cats . So two 22cal pistols loaded with CCl bird shot and a 410 shotgun loaded with # 8 target loads for when they were high in the trees . A Bushnell 300 lumen spot light for hunting and shoot them in the dark . And for a while I went out every night. I would walk out in the dark wait till I got close to the coops and turn on the light and they would scatter. I would empty both pistols and the shot gun. I've killed hundreds . I don't have to do that now . I set plastic rat traps the kind with the bait well filled with peanut butter and sunflower seeds will kill two or three times on one baiting. There are mice but the little gray cat hunts them . And he's better than a bird dog for letting me know where they are . He points them I flush them out and he gets em .You know for a while there was a possum that would follow me around and eat the rats I shot . When the numbers went down it disappeared. I kinda miss that possum .