Rat problem

[KrisCVT]

I just went through a rat issue....lots of burrows and tunneling. Rats were burrowing into my run were my ducks sleep and eating the food. I also have chickens and ducks- so a treadle feeder was not an option. I emptied my PVC feeder and fed the ducks up by my basement door only, and the hens got small amounts of food at a time in a large fortex basin. No treats dropped on the ground.
I installed an apron of hardware cloth around my run (my coop is raised).

After trying DIY traps, glue traps, snap traps, electric traps- and never catching ONE rat..I finally caved in and bought 2 1lb blocks of "Just One Bite" poison. I put one block under my duck house, and 1 block behind my coop (and blocked off from the birds and dogs).

I checked the blocks- and they were eaten away over a period of 5-7 days.....In about 10 days, there were no signs of any rats. I have been (knock on wood) rat free since.

I was adamantly against poison. But fighting with the rats for almost a month, and spending over $60 on various traps, and worrying about the spread of disease, it was my last option. And the most effective.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats are VERY smart, but will eat poison bait. Mary

 

[smarsh00]

I recently noticed a few burrows going in and out of the run. And also burrows going under the coop which is a converted shed. I placed 5 or 6 2in blocks of rat poison under the shed where the girls can't get to it and in less than a wk I found 2 huge rats dead near the burrows by the shed. Since then the burrow are starting to look abandoned and starting to fill in. I will also be getting the a Theadle feeder and ordered bob cat urine to put around the area periodically as well. Good by rats!!!!

 

[mammajen]

I just came on the site specifically for your same problem. A thread from 2009 lists Plaster of Paris and peanut butter, in equal parts, mixed with a little vegetable or olive oil. Roll them into little balls and put them where it's out of reach of our chickens and from what people are saying, very effective in getting rid of the rats! Good luck.. I'll be putting that out tomorrow!

 

[eagrbeavr]

What you don't realize is, when rats die let let off a pheromone so if you just change the bait, or even the trap, the smell is still there. Now you've educated your rats. DONT EDUCATE THE RATS. If we were smarter than them theydve been gone hundreds of years ago. We use them for drug testing, they're brains are so similar to ours. Using a trap that electrocutes them stops the part of their brain that releases said pheromone. With any trap you use, let them feed off of it for a few days first. Get them comfortable. The lower ranking rats will feed off it first. You want Big Mama and Big Daddy. When you catch one, use some gloves and look at what they are. Male, female, juvenile, adult. Keep track of what you're catching.

 

[eagrbeavr]

I think that pheromone sets off the cannibalism too.

 

[Cddoubletrouble]

I have had a rat problem as well and I got some little things that they can crawl in and eat rat poison and come out but my chickens couldn't get in the poison so it was ok for my chickens to stay in the coop. This has gotten rid of my rat problem. I hope that it will help you too.