Anti-Rat Coop??? Scared and confused.....O.O

[halo]

I like the idea of the snap traps even better; maybe Ill use them instead of poison, and put them in my crate.

 

[shelleyd2008]

We have finally 'almost' gotten rid of our rat problem. I've lost untold numbers of chicks, quail, pigeons, at least 5 full-grown bantams, and a LF leghorn hen, all to the rats KILLING and EATING them!!
Hardware cloth around the walls of your coop will not hurt the chickens at all, and *should* keep rats out. They are usually more interested in the feed at first, but when the population gets out of control or food gets scarce, they will get the next best thing...your birds.

I'd tried several 'safe' killing methods for them--plaster of paris, soda, traps---and finally resorted to plain old poison. I put some out 3 days ago, and most of it is still there. I have 1 full tub of poison left (out of 4 tubs) and maybe 3 bars left in one tub. I've been putting poison out every day at first, then every other day, for 2 weeks.

 

[BWKatz]

Lifelight, I live in Chapin( just outside Columbia) If u don't protect your chicks, you will quickly lose all of them. Those precious lifes will be gone because of you. We have hawks, bald eagles, fox, coyote and racoons , also ur neighbors cats and dogs and yes rats & mice. All are out to get ur chicks. Freedom is relative . We are free to come & go but we go home at night to rest, so do our chicks. I free range mine in a tractor (8x10 pen)everyday because hawks and eagles circle around overhead. At night they parade of their own free will to their converted doghouse in my garage. They hop up on their roosts and I shut them in for the night. In the morning they parade after me to wherever I have put their tractor for the day. They reward me for my diligence in protecting them by enjoying their life. I know u are new to this and have an idealistic view. Don't let ur chicks suffer. Please continue to read the forum . Read The Learning Center at the top of the page. That way u will be able to enjoy ur chick for many years to come.Welcome to BYC and to a new adventure.

 

[kano]

I have a big pen (40 mts2) (450 f2 ???) where the chickens live. I know rats visit the feeders, because I have seen them. I 've put bricks all over the place where the food is and I know there are a lot of tunnels under. So my only way to figth them is poisson. On the other hand, I also have an aviary , were I put the broody hens,here is cement on the floor and hardware cloth from the ceiling to the floor very secure. It's the only way to keep the chicks away from rats. Mice, they are afraid of chickens. Have you haver seen a chicken chasing mice? It's very interesting...

 

[mcostas]

I lost one of my chicks the first night to what I think was a rat. I say that cause I found the dead chick with it's head eaten off in the middle of the run. There were no gaps big enough for anything but a rat to get in so that's the conclution I came to. I'm guessing it was a chick about 4 or 5 weeks old.

The rats here aren't very big, not sure what kind they are. I've seen them hop from my garden to the woodpile in the middle of the day! I've been bringing mine in at night but am going to shut them in their coop as soon as I make a door. The chicks are bigger now but they still insist on cuddling up on the ground to sleep, usually next to the wire. All they do at night is sleep, I don't think closing a coop constitutes cruelty to animals.

Getting rid of excess vegatation has really helped but we feed the birds and have a compost pile so I guess I am doomed to have rats running around outside. I'm going to try what another poster said and put some poison in a safe place so only the rats can get it. I killed one in a trap I put in the garage last week, maybe I got the chick murderer.

 

[tom e]

We have a hundred year old wisteria vine here that does house rats. All around us are lemon and avocado orchards that house and feed rats. When I'm outside at night I can hear them playing or fighting chasing each other through the canopy of the lemon trees. I see their gnawing on the occasional avocado. I know they were here long before my chickens, but I do try to make sure that I'm not compounding the problem by adding more feed to their environment.
It did get out of hand for a bit, had a couple even get into the house. That's the only time I resorted to poison. I really like that we have owls and hawks and coyotes and everything else here (LOTS of gopher snakes) and don't want to get poison into them.

We recently discovered the rat zapper. Has anyone seen this? Killed many rats with it. My rat solution has been to put up food after the chickens go to bed, keep two rat zappers loaded in the wisteria, bait (poison) only in the crawl space and attic of the house (in case they come in again) and make sure I am keeping brush/ wood piles cleared up as soon as they happen.
Could be the rats even keep the predators satisfied. I have seen coyotes eating fallen avocados, I've found evidence of them killing rabbits and gophers and assume they must get rats too. But they've never gone after my chickens except for having dug up a rooster who died and was buried.

 

[tom e]

Actually I should add, it probably helps with the coop that we aren't the smorgasbord around here, rat food is free and easy in these trees. I'd probably need a very different approach if my coop was the main attractant.

 

[joeyg4583]

Oh man I never thought about worrying about rats. I guess I will need to put some thought into keeping my girls safe. Has anyone used the PVC feeders and noticed any positive/negative effect on rats and mice?