Chicken proof rat traps ???

[speedy2020]

Have anyone try Snap-E rat trap? I caught some with the Victor wooden one, but the rat getting smarter. The peanut butter and barbecue meat left over work very well. There are few more that I need to get rid off. The folk live few house down tend to leave food out for their dog so I never able to get all the rat.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:

 

[Jstall]

The best rat control is a 2 1/2 to 4 inch pvc pipe about 4 ft long with rat poison (the bar bait type) in the middle of the pipe, placed along the outside edge of your coop. A rat or mouse will run down the outside edge of a building before interring. It will not pass up a tunnel. I am a retied poultry producer of 30 years and rat control is an on going process. Bait stations in the attic of your coop is added insurance. Just a box with two holes in each end, or a short pvc pipe will work but you have to make sure they do not push the poison out of the pipe.
This i not my invention it came from many seminars I attended on rodent control.
Try it you will like it! Good luck

 

[Debbi]

An easier fix might be to remove the rats' food source. I notice your hanging feeder doesn't have a lid?? Put a double ended clip on the chain so you can easily raise the feeder higher off the ground at night. Then make a cone of sheet metal/ tin flashing and wrap it around over the open top and chain. When they come down the chain to the lid, it will wobble and because it's slick, they will fall off. Make the hole at the top of the cone so you can easily raise it to add feed to the feeder, but small enough that the rats can't get in. I also like the garbage can idea too, you could use that one inside the coop. Drop the feeder into the can, leave the chain hooked to the ceiling, but unhook it from the feeder. You may have a can full 'o rats in the morning to give swimming lessons to!

 

[avery0012]

why not try to use rat proof chicken feeder?
if your interested to purchase just visit this link http://thecarpentershop.net/
they sell low cost and well made rat proof chicken feeder. It works great.

 

[avery0012]

opppsss..I made a mistake copying the link...
http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html
this is the right link..i'm sorry... also their rat proof chicken feeder is made up of galvanized sheet metal

 

[midwestbest]

So im on night two of rat war.
I have seen two so far.
I have a huge dairy barn with 9 cute 20 month hens in a corner stall. They have a pop hole to an outside run.
I have been sitting outside and shooting them as they run in front of the pop hole.
My girls are roosting about 6feet from the floor.

I just put 24 sticky traps around the whole barn.

I'll give you an update in the morning

 

[Teery]

Google or you tube "bucket rat trap" I seen one guy use a trash can and another use a 55 gallon drum...looks like it works pretty well for massive rat problem. Cover it during the day when the chickens are out..

 

[SnappyJo]

Just wanting some feedback on an idea I have.

Naturally, when I/we have a large feeder hanging in the pen, and another inside the coop, it will be, (and IS), a rat attractant.
I have noticed Rat droppings inside the coop, and also have seen, on occaision, a rat at night around the pen, on the fence, or getting the dogs all riled up and barking.

Although I would enjoy being able to sit out each night with my magnum powered, (Air), pellet rifle, and dropping them off one by one, ...
That is just not a very sure fire way of getting them.
(and besides,... if I tried to convince my wife that I wanted a Night Vision Scope, to mount on top of my pellet gun, she just might think I've fallen off the Turnip Truck, and bumped my head !)
also there is the issue of them, (the rats), not being there when I am,... or missed shots,.... or looking like some sort of night time villan/vigilante to the neighbors.
I don't need to be explaining to the Police, why I am sitting in the darkness with what looks like a Sniper/Deer Rifle !

SOOOoooooo,.....
what I'm thinking is,....

to build a plywood box with a hinged lid.
Maybe 24"wide x 24"long x 8" or 10" tall.

Then in one or two of the sides, have a hole maybe 2" to 3" in diameter. (something a rat can easily go through, but a chicken can not get into)
Then putting in a bunch (5, 6, 8 ), of baited snap traps inside the box, and far enough back from the "Rat openings", so that a chicken cant get their head in and near a trap.
maybe even screw the traps down to the bottom of the box, so they can't accidentally get pushed near the opening.


With a hinged and latched lid on the box, the chickens would be safe from the traps, yet a rat could easily get insie to find his fate, and meet his maker !!!
The lid would allow me access to collect any dead rats, re-set, and re-bait the traps, and it (when closed/latched) would prevent the chickens from getting near the traps.

I think this might be an effective way of having safe, nonpoisionous, 24/7 rat protection, both in the pen, and even inside the coop.

so what do you guys think ?
would this work well, or,...

Should I start cruising EBAY for a Night Vision Scope, w/ Laser sight ???
A Ghillie Suit,... and some Camo Face-Paint ?????

I don't like rats !

I have made exactly what you described. And at first it was fairly successful. Two snap traps inside, baited with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. Problem is the rats which eat the most, leave the largest poops, have witnessed the outcome of the lure of the peanut butter box. Rats go in, but don't come out. So they have learned to avoid that lure. Occasionally I find a young rat snapped, naive to the dangers of the night. I now only bait 1 snap trap inside it.
I figure if 1 trap gets triggered, whether it gets a rat or not, just the commotion alone will deter any other rat from entering. So I try to place the snap traps along the ledge of walls where I find rat poops. But make sure there is something leaning against it (the wall), blocking direct access to the trap by a chicken or my rabbit who runs loose in the chicken yard. The bottom line is this: If you go out to your coop at night, shine a flashlight and see those sets of little shiny eyes, you've got rats. And rats make rats. And a few snap traps will not be enough. You need to find the nests, poke a steel rod in covered places, under tarps, anywhere there seems to be an accumulation of leaves or debris, and stop and LISTEN. If you hear scurrying, scratching, or faint squealing, BINGO! There will likely be between 6 to 8 babies you can easily get rid of. That is 6 to 8 rats less to deal with.

 

[Al Gerhart]

What an old thread, from 2013, when our ratproof feeder was made out of plywood and just starting to be produced.

The poster above is right on track. The solution isn't traps though, it is to stop feeding the rodents. A good treadle feeder, narrow and distant treadle, all metal construction, inward swinging door with a heavy spring or springs pre loading the door so a rat cannot just push the door open, bulk feed in metal containers, scraps feed sparingly so they are all consumed quickly, and to clean up all the pathways from the food source to where the rodents have their nest so that natural predators keep their numbers down.

So this sanitation is the first and most cost effective and the most effective method.

Next is exclusion, hardware cloth, zero gaps, no free range.

Next is poison and traps which rarely work for very long till the rodents get wise. Unless you have a treadle feeder and their food source is suddenly gone, they will take bait and poison if they are starving to death.