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Omigosh, I am scrubbing it out every day! So a swish with the hose and refill would be ok 6 days out of 7? Sometimes I detect a smell like my goldfish bowl used to get when I was a kid and didn't clean it. It freaks me out and makes me feel guilty. But maybe a full scrub isn't needed every day...

For those not using nipple or water-cup systems, how often do you clean out the waterer? With the colder weather and busier season, I guess I'm going through a bad attitude period regarding water chores.

We don't freeze very often. Maybe 3 or 4 times a winter, for a couple of days. I built a water heater base from a cookie tin and a light bulb and it works well. Search YouTube and you'll see lots of options. During freeze I put water in a thick glass bowl, holds about a gallon. (Flock is under...

It's not like I see a hole every 10 yards, but I do find them here and there. Just as often, I find owl pellets under trees. The worst thing I could do in my opinion is to poison the very creatures that are helping us keep the rat population down. I don't understand how you can think...

Thanks again, Howard. I look forward to exploring some of your suggestions. Here are some pictures of my set up, with the chicken moat. The run is covered with wire on top throughout, and with roofing over the corner where their food, water and coop entry are. The garden is inside the rectangle...

I like the idea of using pavers! Of course it's not possible for me to keep the area completely clean without nightly sweeping up, which would drive me crazy. I bought a "rat proof" feeder a few months ago. This one: http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html (The money...

I wish it were so quick as well! I don't even know if strychnine is used anymore. The poison in rat bait is an anticoagulant of some kind, so they bleed to death of the course of some number of days. We have a lot of owls here. I was just outside and heard them calling to each other. Wouldn't...

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really do appreciate it. I'm afraid the plaster of paris method has been eliminated. Believe me, I'd love to have a method that is so simple, so sustainable, and so hands-off. But all my research indicates that this method creates a very painful, lengthy...

I appreciate the suggestion very much. But as I have said before in this thread, I'm not interested in 1) causing a painful death that will take many days to occur, 2) poisoning the owls, raptors, and neighborhood pets who might eat the dead rat. (Secondary poisoning.) One border collie in our...

Well, at dusk I finally decided that I must act. Here is my bucket trap, with about 10" of water. The soda bottle is drilled with a slightly larger hole than the diameter of the coat hanger. I chose this huge work bucket thinking it would be better because some rats can reach the middle of a 5...

Drowning seems to be a much kinder end according to the research I've been doing. For example, this link: https://www.ratcontroltricks.com/rat-traps/ says, "Most rats will drown within two minutes, although Norway rats are strong swimmers and it could take far longer for them to exhaust...

The trick is to put peanut butter on the "stairs" as well, not just in the kill chamber.

I believe it takes 3-4 days. Agonizing days. Per rat. So for my situation I don't think poison is going to be an option. But thanks!

Flock master, That's intriguing!

Wicked chicken, Thank you so much for taking the time to elaborate! It is incredibly kind of you. Chicken people are the best! Graphic indeed, but I did appreciate your descriptions and the picture. I am actually pretty heartless about the killing, but the thought of the suffering just...

Thanks for the very interesting post! I am considering one of these (not being handy at soldering as you seem to be): http://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=31411 I would then be faced with submersing the trapped rats under water for 2-3 minutes, which I think I...

Thanks so much CarlF for your input! I really appreciate it. deCon would be a dream come true if we didn't have so much wildlife I'm trying to protect, plus other pets who do stray onto our property. Secondary poisoning is just too likely. In fact our friends down the road who raise sheep...

Thanks, Flock Master. Have you observed how long it takes for them to drown? Pardon my lack of courage, but if I went out to the chicken run in the morning and heard rats splashing around and struggling to stay afloat, I think I might have nightmares for a month. Combination of having had pet...

I. Miscellaneous background info: At night I can see half a dozen rats crawling around our run in the beam of my flashlight. Between my dog and me we've scared a fair few but they persist. I have tried: snap traps, electronic trap, cat, and various products from predatorpee.com. These...

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the ideas. I'm not sure what I'll do at this point, since an acquaintance nearby might want her for raising chicks. So in the meantime... she won't starve if I don't keep hauling her out of there. That's good. But I just have to ask... if nothing is done...