Baking soda for rat control

[Malquid]

I’ve got rat issues in the coop. Does anyone have any experience with baking soda? I see recipes for baking soda “poison” which is not correct. It kills the rat because they can’t burp or fart. You know, like moderators..
Seriously, looking to discuss this.
if this is too graphic, please remove.

 

[Howard E]

Pretty sure both the baking soda and plaster of paris tricks are both Internet myths. It has been discussed on here before, and can't recall anyone having any luck with either one.

What does work is remove all sources of food they have access to, which is why you have rats in the first place. If you can do that....starve them out.....they will be forced to leave or die. This is the first step in getting rid of your rats, which is sanitation. BYC member Al sells his rat proof chicken feeder, which I use, and which does a good job of limiting feed to the birds and none to the rats. No spillage either. That alone may do it, but you also have to keep them out of bulk feed in storage, and the hard core rats may try to eat eggs, or even droppings to survive.

But if they are that hungry.......they will then be receptive to the poison bait blocks, which are ALWAYS served up from secure (meaning locking) bait stations, so only rats and mice can get at the blocks, and bait blocks are also pinned in place in the bait stations, so rats can't pull them out to carry them off. This is the elimination part, which always comes last.

And in case you are wondering, trapping doesn't work either.....will barely put a dent in them. Can be used to monitor the situation (but so can a game camera).

 

[cmom]

I tried several different things and this is the one I have had the best luck with. I had a coop that was infested. I renovated the coop and when I was taking out the walls and ceiling I had dozens of rats of all sizes pour out. I set rat bait boxes in my barn behind the coops and put the bait in them that came with the bait boxes. The rats turned their noses up at it so I tried a different bait. No more rats. My bait boxes have a little window above the baits so I can check the baits and other critters can't get to the bait. This has worked for me. I didn't find any dead rats around so I think they went into their tunnels and died. I did see some tunnels by the coops. I check the bait boxes daily and the baits haven't been touched in quite a while and I haven't seen any rats. I don't like to use poison but I hate rats.

 

[Howard E]

Marketing aside, when I read Al's accounts of history he has had with multiple users of his feeders, I see where he is coming from as far as his notion that by limiting feed....you can get control of the rat population. They are attracted to and depend on the feed, so if you can limit access to the feed, you can literally starve them out. He has actual experience and history of just that.

Interesting bit of related news a few weeks back where rodent control experts in some major cities were documenting mass urban rat movements as their normal food source (restaurant food scraps in dumpsters) had dried up due to covid 19 imposed restaurant shutdowns. Rats were on the move and dominant groups fighting it out with established colonies as they were all desperate for food. So theory holds up.

So for BYC folks reluctant to use poison bait blocks, there is your solution. And even if you are willing to use bait blocks, they will be much more effective once the feed source dries up. Much more likely to go after the bait when they are starving.

BTW, I have been using one of his rat proof feeders for about 4 years now. I never had rats, but did have infestations of mice due to the spilt feed. Since my birds were wasting more than they ate......dragging it out......I also ordered the extension (which I still have and if I looked all day, might be able to find it) assuming my hard case birds would need it. Not so. Feed loss from birds went to zero with just the feeder alone.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Lol I got half way through the above post and thought what does this guy sell feeders or what?
Got to the bottom and saw the link.

The baking soda doesn't work. I tried it with what seemed like no success. Then I ended up trapping two alive. I kept them alive for a week or so continuously feeding them the baking soda. It didn't do anything to them.
Buy one of those feeders if you want it sure wouldn't hurt but what I found was the only answer was poison and yes I didn't put my feed up or change feeders. What I did was poison heavy. I put out a ton because I wasted so much time trying the other ideas that they were way out of hand.
I continued to put out a lot and switched brands/kinds once a week for about a month and had no more rats. Ive use bait stations now and still switch brands every few months.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I got halfway through your post and thought, does this guy sell poison or what?

If you have chicken feed out and poison it is a miracle that any rodents chose the poison. Switching poisons was a good idea but in nearly all cases rodents learn quickly to avoid the poison unless they are flat out starving.

But say it works, you have cleaned out the population and a new population is going to find the chicken feed and you are right back to where you started except you have also poisoned many of the natural predators of the very rodents you are trying to control.

Or you can just control the feed.

Which way makes more sense?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Lol about the poison salesman. Too funny.
I like the idea of your feeders but I have over 500 birds right now and a lot of pens between breeder pens and grow out pens. It wouldn't be cost efficient for me to buy a feeder or feeders for that many pens.
I think its been well over two years maybe three since I had the rat problem so just maintaining stations seems to be working and isn't very expensive.
I totally agree about how smart rats are and agree you can never trap them gone.
I think the reason poison worked well for me was because I put so much out at a time. Plenty for every rat and then some and then I switched poisons often. I think that gave the opportunity for so many to take the poison before getting smart to it.
Rats breed fast, really fast. You have to have a plan that eliminates them faster then they breed. Or I guess you can buys some of the feeders and hope they move on.

 

[Howard E]

Curious how the commercial poultry farms keep rats under control?

I know I see bait stations outside the doors of Orscheln, and perhaps some even inside. Probably the same at many feed plants. I was at a nut processing plant in CA a few years back and they had both traps and bait stations out throughout the facility. So bait is what most professional exterminators use.

But it also seems that 90% + of BYC members have both small flocks AND a bias against the use of bait blocks. So if they are not going to be using them, they need an alternative, which is where rat proof feeder enters the picture. Cost should not be an issue for them.

Probably the most effective strategy of all is to use both......the rat proof feeder plus a few bait blocks to pick off the stragglers. Once you get them under control, the feeder will keep the population down, nullifying the need for bait blocks as a general practice. But if left in bait stations, and nobody is eating it, leaving those out there does nominal harm to anything.

 

[Howard E]

Thanks Al. Can you recommend a brand?

Al makes and sells his own. Look under his signature for a link to his website.

If he wants to elaborate, he can, but my take is he ran into a problem with rats while raising his own chickens, and being familiar with things mechanical, set about to make the rat proof feeder, which he later started making and selling.....as a small sideline to a larger, different business.

I would also suggest that in doing this endeavor, he has done something much more produtive than most of us......who mostly offer advice.......both good and bad......but otherwise nothing constructive.

 

[Howard E]

Search for "secondary poisoning from rodent bait blocks". Seems to be rare, but there are plenty of BYC members who get their knickers in a bunch about it, especially when it comes to raptors. Owls and such.

And if that is a concern, there are bait blocks that do not have this side affect.......like Terad.....with vitamin D3 as the active ingredient.