Sweet Smells and Rats

[PETLOVER07]

I have a rat problem, after my neighbors behind me moved in and out. I never had this issue before they moved in a couple years ago. Apparently, their house was infested with rats, and the did some kind of eradication. Now they all live under my house. LOL.. My question is.. Are chickens attracted to sweet smells. I read the rats are attracted to sweet and meat. I have caught quite a few of them in traps.. But they seem to be getting smart on my lures. I have some old Maple bacon in the freezer. I have tried all the other stuff. It only works once or twice, like they have a genetic warning to others, to not go after what has been there before. Peanut butter, pop corn, peanuts... This will be all new to the rats. Haven't seen one in MONTHS! until tonight. I have 2 different kinds of traps. They are basically the same, but my newest ones are enclosed from other animals. But if a chicken was wondering what sweet meaty treat was inside, would it get snapped? It is Maple flavored bacon. Very aromatic.. Would my chickens be enticed to stick their heads into a 3 inch tube to see what was inside? I guess I could do a test sample.. Just bait the trap, but not actually set the trap.. I will update with results... Anyway.. The rats are always trying to eat my chicken feed. I don't have any issues with them bothering my chickens, they will just eat them, if they go in their coop, but just wondering if chickens are attracted to sweet or meat smell. I have 6 snap traps. I will not use poison, due to the chickens possibly eating them, or them dying under the house, causing odors to waft up.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

Hello, I use two types of chicken safe rat traps.
Here is the first one, it's a bucket trap that has tons of tutorials on YouTube. It's rather simple and does the job imo

And this is the second it's a very good and successful however I make a cage attachment for a "bait rat" because they are social animals and have an infinitly higher chance of going into a trap when there is another in it.

 

[chicken1234]

You can buy 'rat/mice out' pellets, safe for other pets. I have read about some home made rat recipes as well that will kill them but is safe for other pets. Equal parts of plaster powder & flour. The other had peanut butter, salt and seeds, maybe the salt poisons them? I think it dehydrates their insides so I am not sure if it would smell.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You are focusing on the third recommended step for dealing with a rodent infestation; elimination. The first two steps are sanitation and exclusion. If you do one of these first you have eliminated the need to do the other two steps.

Sanitation is by far the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable step. Bulk feed in a metal barrel, purchase a treadle feeder that is actually rat proof (read the negative reviews first, those are the folks that had the rodent problem and if the feeder didn't work for them look out), and clean up all pathways that rodents can use from your coop to their nesting site so the natural predators can go to work.

Trapping and poison are the never ending process. IF you could clean them out other rodents would quickly move into the now vacant territory.

Four words tell how to solve your problem

Stop
Feeding
the
rats

As long as you have some full sized birds so the small breeds like bantams and silkies can eat, a proper treadle feeder with a spring loaded door will solve the problem. Not a grandpa feeder or any of the other Chinese made feeders. Read the forum, another poster wrote about having to put a brick on their grandpa feeder to keep the rats out. And always read the negative reviews first. Those were the folks with a rodent problem, the rest probably just had some wild birds or no vermin at all. Even a poor treadle feeder helps hide the feed and might prevent a rodent infestation if you are lucky.