Awww, RATS!

[StevenMNielson]

Just got home from the night shift, went out back to perform my nightly head count (1...2...3)... Flashlight in hand I pointed it toward the chicken run to do a perimeter check and door check... there, about 3 feet up the 6 foot chicken fence was a rat staring into the flashlight... Keeping the beam on his face I kneeled down to pick up a large rock in an attempt to bash his little head, and POOF, he jumped down and under the shed...

Where there is one, there are many. NOW, I leave my coop open at night so the chickens can come out into the run early... do I need to start locking them up at night to beat back the rats?

Should I throw some rat traps under the shed? Or should I put some metal cloth around the bottom of the shed to keep rodents from stopping by?

BTW, My coup is inside my shed.

Thoughts?

 

[Domestic_goddess]

Quote:
I would do all of the above honestly! Good luck.

 

[TomKat]

You have to kill the rats. Just putting up some metal cloth will cause them to chew through somewhere else. Definitely put traps out, both the old fashion snap traps and the glueboards. I also found that taking the food out of the coop at dark and putting it back in the morning reduced the food incentive the rats had for visiting the coop. Poison is always the very last choice and only if you are sure your birds won't be accidently exposed to it. Good luck.