A Rat Story

[TripTrapMtnHomestead]

During the fall we had our Mama hen and 3 chicks in a separate pen with a little dog house coop. When they were about a week old one chick mysteriously disappeared. The only evidence was a hole. We figured snake or rat. I filled the hole with a big rock and moved the birds into our main coop.

A few days ago I moved things around and decided to move the dog house. Underneath I discovered a dead(1/2 decomposed) rat!!!!!!!!!! Apparently, when I put that rock in the hole the rat never figured out another way out. He had a nice little lair under there... I bet he lived for awhile with a belly full of chick. My 3 little kids and I had quite the time investigating the crime scene.

Here's a picture of the hole. I didn't have my camera when we found the lair.

 

[Kevin565]

Sorry you had to lose your chick

.

 

[alessano1]

Cement it.

 

[christineavatar]

I am also having rat problems. There are several recommendations from $60 each battery operated traps that zaps the rat with an electronic jolt which kills to steel wool pads which the rats will eat and then die from - all kinds of devices and poisons in between. I have tried poison on one side of the coop where they first showed up. It worked and they disappeared from there. But now they are coming through along the other side and I can't use poison there as the chickens have access to it. At present, I am contemplating using steel wool. I need to find out how to get it into the hole in such a way that the chickens can't get to it.

 

[Vamvakas]

Put a rat smoke bomb in the hole and cover it with a rock, that should kill them.

Edit: dont think they sell the rat smoke bombs in NC, sorry. Could try to pour a bottle of bleach down the hole.

 

[dandydoodle]

Do they live in the holes during the day?

 

[Buxton Ducks]

I had a huge rat get in our coop this year and bit huge chunks out of all the poultry while they slept! I have never seen anything like it. My poor royal palm turkey hen and one of the barred rocks took it the worse but recovered. The rat was still in the coop with my big tom turkey keeping him in the corner. Showed my dog the rat and now there is no more rat.....

 

[jnjmoonsfishing]

I'm looking for some ideas on getting rid of some rats or mice. They have gnawed holes in the side of my coop, dug many holes under the coop, and I saw 2 large rodents tonight as I took the scraps to the ladies. I might try bleach and steel wool. thanks