Rats

[RonP]

My understanding is that rats are everywhere.
They will congregate and breed where there is available food.
Look closely around any fast food restaurant and you will see rat traps.

They will eventually come, the idea is to prevent them from establishing a colony.
If you see 1, there are probably fifty.
If you see two or more holes, expect dozens.
Keeping a rat trap/poison station bated 24/7 hopefully keeps the population from establishing near your food source.
Once established, they are very difficult to eliminate.

Remember, chickens don't attract rats, food does.

That said, I fabricated black 6 inch circular x 18" long drainage plastic pipe as a bait station.
Placed along the outside of my coop, looks like drainage pipe (not unsightly).
I put a t fitting in the center, capped, for easy viewing once a week.
Inside I maintain commercial rat poison.

My run has food scraps 24/7.
My coop has food access 24/7.
Water access 24/7.

5 years, no sign of rats...

 

[philipchickymad]

If you feel the problem is small enough, i.e. just the one rat (although usually it's not that simple), and you don't want to kill it, put poison out, or anything like that I may have a solution for you.  We had a problem with rats a couple of years ago.  There were a lot at the time, so I did put out some poison bait to at least cut down on the numbers.  But then I planted mint all around my coop and run.  Once the mint began to take over (and it doesn't take long), no more rats.  No tunnels, no spilled out food, gone.  I don't even see mice anymore.  And we live in the woods where there are plenty of little rodents running around.
Mint spreads very quickly, grows fast, smells good (to us anyway) and has many medicinal and culinary uses.  You'll only need a few plants, maybe one for each linear yard you want to cover.  I first heard about this on this site a few years ago.  It worked for others, and it worked for us.  Might not hurt to give it a try.
Good luck.

do u plant the mint in pots or directly into the earth :

 

[mydeeone]

We have mint everywhere, because yes it took over. But still have rats

 

[OhDear]

My chicken coop is located in the corner of the backyard, surrounded by fence and chicken wires. There is a big orange tree in the middle, which gives good shade during hot seasons. The chicken feeder is right under the tree. Few days ago, I went outside during the night. I heard some noises from top of the tree. I thought it was birds or squirrels. So I tried to scare them by tapping the tree, but I saw rats! 4 of them coming off the tree, ran away along the fence! I am sure they are still there

.

By reading the postings, people suggest to clean out chicken feeds/grains during the night. I am wondering how that practically possible? Chicken split feed everywhere, it is hard to clean them totally. And I usually fill up the chicken feed enough for 3, 4 days. There are always feeds spreaded around. Also how could I plan Mint? 2 sides are fences with neighbor, 2 sides are chick wires. Is poison the only choice for me? Question is: will they come back after this around since there are always some chicken feeds there..

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[aart]

My chicken coop is located in the corner of the backyard, surrounded by fence and chicken wires. There is a big orange tree in the middle, which gives good shade during hot seasons. The chicken feeder is right under the tree. Few days ago, I went outside during the night. I heard some noises from top of the tree. I thought it was birds or squirrels. So I tried to scare them by tapping the tree, but I saw rats! 4 of them coming off the tree, ran away along the fence! I am sure they are still there

.

By reading the postings, people suggest to clean out chicken feeds/grains during the night. I am wondering how that practically possible? Chicken split feed everywhere, it is hard to clean them totally. And I usually fill up the chicken feed enough for 3, 4 days. There are always feeds spreaded around. Also how could I plan Mint? 2 sides are fences with neighbor, 2 sides are chick wires. Is poison the only choice for me? Question is: will they come back after this around since there are always some chicken feeds there..

Thanks for any suggestions!

Only put out enough for the day...then the chooks will clean up what's on the ground.

 

[Manningjw]

I snare them with picture hanging wire if you try the snap traps you do not need bait just set them where the rats are running and you will catch them I also use a # 1.5 Longspring trap and 110 conibear bodygrip trap no bait just in the trails /runs they move in.....

daisy 880 works well 25 feet and closer

Oh how alike we are... I will often set out some bait and a perimeter light to watch it with my trusty pellet rifle. Obviously this method isn't quite as effective as the snap traps.

110 conibear huh? Would have never thought of that for a rat trap but you gave me a great idea. I am terrified of my chickens or small dog potentially getting into the trap so I think i'll put it in a box with an opening on each side so the rats can run through it. How do you set up your snares?

 

[Manningjw]

I had a big problem with rats as well. The important thing to understand with rats is they can climb, dig and squeeze their body in tight spaces. My solution was wire netting over any opening large enough for them to get through and closing the coop each night (where I keep the food at). I haven't had a rat in the coop since I did this. I like to set up their feeder for 5-7 days at a time, I like low maintenance. Because I leave for work in the summer prior to the sun going down (I work nights) I had to devise an automatically closing chicken coop door. When the chickens roost at night, their weight counters a lever weight and the door automatically closes each night.

My friend came up with his own solution to his rat problem, a chicken feeder that is only open when the chicken steps on the lever to get ready to feed. Rats are too small to activated and the food can be left out of the coop itself with this method.

 

[chickenpatch]

Rats multiply like crazy. Trust me, if you don't do something about them now... You'll regret it.
I understand your concern of poisoning them, but they are better dead than alive. Live rats can spread diseases deadly to your chickens, ruin bags of feed and attract snakes. Killing them off shouldn't be much of a problem if you have a small infestation.
The mint idea sounds great. I'll have to give it a go.

But if decide to give the mint trick a go, make sure it does work. Don't assume it will definitely work and leave the problem, because in a few months you'll be dealing with an army.

 

[snhchick]

I know that this thread has been going for a while but thought I would try asking my question. I am building my coop inside of one of my barn stalls. I have all of my horse grain in aluminum barrels but had rats in the horse stalls some time ago. I'm not 100% sure that they are gone, although I did put poison in their holes and haven't seen any for a while. The barn has a dirt floor with concrete footings (which are not in the doorways). My chicks are 4 and 7 weeks old and will initially have a fairly small coop. If I put welded wire with 2x4 openings along the floor of the coop will this keep rats out or are the openings too large? My thought was to put down the wire and then cover it in shavings. Thanks for your help.

 

[aart]

I know that this thread has been going for a while but thought I would try asking my question. I am building my coop inside of one of my barn stalls. I have all of my horse grain in aluminum barrels but had rats in the horse stalls some time ago. I'm not 100% sure that they are gone, although I did put poison in their holes and haven't seen any for a while. The barn has a dirt floor with concrete footings (which are not in the doorways). My chicks are 4 and 7 weeks old and will initially have a fairly small coop. If I put welded wire with 2x4 openings along the floor of the coop will this keep rats out or are the openings too large? My thought was to put down the wire and then cover it in shavings. Thanks for your help.

1/2" hardware cloth is often called 'rat wire' for a good reason.
Rats will go right thru 2x4 welded wire.