Bad bad rat problem! Please help!

[asher]

No, I am not sure. *sigh* But a bunch of these ARE babies. Heck, maybe I'll have hubby lock ME in the barn with them tonight!

 

[MissPrissy]

The plaster of paris and sugar works. You don't want those mice to leave the barn and get into your house! They can do so much damage in no time at all with their nawing. How close is your house to the barn? You might want to mix up a big batch of the mix and set it out in places where other animals and kids can't get into it as well.

 

[asher]

Close enough.

I say barn, but it's really a "mini barn"...looks like a shed. hehe

How high up should I put the dishes to get the rats to be able to get it? I'll build shelves in there to put them on if I need to.

 

[MissPrissy]

Just put it in places where you know the rats and mice can squeeze in to get it but your chickens won't be able to do the same. If you put it high your chickens can't fly up and hold on and eat it but the rats can climb and sit and eat it. And they will eat it. You'll see the little feet prints where they will walk in the powder.

 

[mcg30_40]

MissPrissy - that may be a problem someplaces...luckily it's one I've never had I will keep it in mind and keep watch over the chicken pen.

 

[Moonwalker]

You can put traps, poison or the plaster mix into a dog crate, the cage type that is large enough the chickens can't reach into the middle. That way you can leave it in the open at floor level, and the cats, dogs, adult chickens etc cannot get to it. Just secure the bait pan to the floor of the cage with wire, so they can't move it to the sides. If you are putting it where the chickens can't reach, it can be a smaller cage. I usually put a small padlock to keep kids or others who might accidentally leave the door unlatched, out.

 

[jjthink]

Cindy, This idea is very different from the others but my rat brat problem was solved as soon as I covered the coop floor with hardware cloth (then put straw back on top of that). They could no longer come up through the floor after that and I never saw them again. I wrapped the hardware cloth a few inches up the walls while I was at it. "Stapled" it all in with those "U" shaped staples that you can hammer in. It was a permanent solution and immediately solved the problem. Now my coop wasn't very large - just more or less shed sized, so it was doable. Folks with a large barn - that would be a much larger task. I also didn't have a lot of possible entry points for rats - the entry was essentially from below where they had chewed through the floor, and hence once they no longer could do so, they gave up. Now you will still have the ones that are already in there but once they can't get back out through the floor to access the outdoors they will leave out a regular door and probably not seek to return. That's what happened with the ones that were still inside when we made the "repairs". It's more labor intensive than the other methods but is permanent.
JJ

 

[asher]

I am going to do that as well. I have quite a bit of hardware cloth hanging around so might probably need just another roll or two at the most. I was just wondering if they would climb UP the walls, but maybe not? So then I just have to get them killed so they don't come to the house. *sigh* I'd definitely rather have them in the barn than the house if I had to make the choice! heh

 

[d.k]

* Pretty cool, jjt- I'll have to remember that if I EVER get a coop BUILT!! I use traps cuz I NEVER wanta have a rat crawl off & die like one did inside a wall. Dead rat plus Florida heat plus THOUSANDS of icky green flies was the yuckiest 2 weeks of my life!!!!!!!!!

 

[Princessferf]

I love the plaster of paris/powdered sugar idea. Question though... I can easily keep it away from my chickens, kids, dogs... but my question is about my barn cats. The location where I would be able to put this is accessible to my outdoor cats.

Will cats eat this mixture?