Bad bad rat problem! Please help!

[asher]

OMG! I went out to the buff cochins cage and there were rats EVERYWHERE! The pen is clean, they're just eating feed, I assume. I went in the barn and rats went running all over. Picked up a nest box and some came running out. Killed two behind one nest box. Guessing a bunch of babies were born and this is the results. DANGIT! They live under the barn. They've eaten holes in the barn floor. (it's solid wood). WHAT can I do? Just pour rat poison down their holes or what? I haven't done that, yet due to the fact that I don't want the chickens or cats to get it, but I am SICK of this!!! I have FOUR cats that were for the rats and now we have even more rats! I'm going to lock the two boys in the barn today/tonight (the female cats are ferals that I adopted as barn cats and we can barely touch them, much less contain them in the barn).

I LOVE animals, but oh my!!! This is CRAZY. They aren't touching the eggs now, but I'm worring about my two broody mamas and if those babes will get eaten when they hatch.

YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK! Did I mention YUCK?!

 

[MNKris]

Our best method to get rid of the rats is snap traps with peanut butter as bait. if you have to build a box over something over the trap to keep the chickens away from it, it is worth it. We built the box over the hole they chewed through our wood wall!

Bait the trap for a few days before setting it.

We also tried glue pads, plaster of paris with sugar, my husband has actually shot one

even. All and all, the best by far has been the traps...

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

barrel or tub of water with food floating on top. vaseline or lotion to prevent them from climbing out and they will drown

 

[asher]

How big does the barrel need to be?

I'll check at the feed store for rat traps tomorrow. I know Wal-Mart only carries mouse traps. I did kill two, the smaller ones seem to be slower and not know what they're doing as much. I'm so keeping the cats in the barn for a few days. YUCK!!!

 

[MRNpoultry]

If you set rat traps make sure the chickens can't get to them.

 

[MissPrissy]

Go to walmart and get yourself a box of plaster of paris - about $5. Get a bag of confectioners sugar. Mix them together in a small dish and bait it with a slip of cooked meat or some dog food chunks. Put it in your hen house but up high in a small place where the chickens cannot get to it. The mice will find it, eat and when they crawl out to die if your chickens eat them they won't be poisoned.

This is probably the simplest, quickest way to get rid of a lot of them with harming your chickens, cats, dogs and children.

If your barn is infested put out several dishes of the mix and refill them as needed until you get it under control.

It does exactly what you think it does. It draws their internal fluids into itself and hardens like a brick.

 

[mcg30_40]

I have gopher rats that come in out of the fields. My chickens are confined so I put block poison inside the barn/shed where the rats go that the chickens can't. All else fails, have an old fashion "rat killin". If you have that big of a rat problem I can't imagine how often you would have to set and clean out traps....uggg

 

[MissPrissy]

mcg - when rats eat poison they usually crawl out looking for water - it is the nature of most rat poisons. It is very unsafe to have poisoned rat bodies that could get into your chicken pens. If the chickens eat them they will in turn be poisoned second hand.

 

[asher]

We also share a driveway with a large wood company...but they mainly just store their wood here...so I know that's part of the problem, too. When we got the chickens, they found a source of food and decided to forget their homes over there.

Have I mentioned yuck?! hehe

I may just send my boys out there with baseball bats.

(Kidding, but I WILL do everything and anything I possibly can that is mentioned in this thread just to get rid of the darn things.)

 

[d.k]

*are you sure your cats are rat-killers??? A whole lot of cats will NOT mess with full-grown rats-- tho they may take out young ones. . .