Continuing Rat Problem

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As usual, Howard E. nailed it. Putting poison out when there is a huge supply of chicken feed isn't going to work. I had a family of mice move in my house this fall and they got out of control quickly because of that big old sack of dog food that I used to keep upstairs in a sealed tub. I had put out a half dozen of those green tom cat brand bait blocks but the rats wouldn't touch it. Finally got the dog food put away like I should have been doing and within days the rat bait had been chewed on and the mice were gone quickly.
People that try to poison first are in the same boat. The rats are not hungry enough to risk something strange. Once their regular food supply is gone the poison works much better. Same with chickens, like Howard said, sanitation before elimination.
 
I posted here a while back and utilized all of the recommendations from you kind souls. Now I am trying to tweak the new gadgets and need your help again.
1) I got an electric rat zapper. The one that got the best reviews. I have had it set with peanut butter for about 10 days. No rats were killed so far. In fact, the rats seem to be having a jolly good time moving around my zapper. In their latest escapade, they even turned off the zapper somehow as there is no red light on it anymore. Any suggestions about tricks to set up the electronic zapper? I followed the directions on the box.
2) I got a feeder that only opens up when a chicken steps on the bar and activates the weight. So far in one week none of the chickens have figured out how to step on it to get food. Can the weight be adjusted?
3) I put garbage cans over my round red and white feeders and large potting trays under them for a tight seal at night. This seems to be working.
4) I dispense all chicken pellets into large heavy duty garbage cans with lids to keep out rats. This seems to be working as well.

Yesterday night I went in the coop after dark and saw probably 30 rats! The last time I counted 12. Any suggestions for getting rid of them? I have some regular traps I can try as well. They are smart about the electric zapper, so I hope they aren't so smart about regular wooden snap traps as well. Please help!
I did have a bunch of rats show up also. I finally went on Amazon and ordered Rat poison called "One Bite" We put this out under places my Hens could not get to it. The next 2 days we were finding dead rats every where. We picked them up and bagged about 30 dead rats for the trash. This stuff works!!!
 
I posted here a while back and utilized all of the recommendations from you kind souls. Now I am trying to tweak the new gadgets and need your help again.
1) I got an electric rat zapper. The one that got the best reviews. I have had it set with peanut butter for about 10 days. No rats were killed so far. In fact, the rats seem to be having a jolly good time moving around my zapper. In their latest escapade, they even turned off the zapper somehow as there is no red light on it anymore. Any suggestions about tricks to set up the electronic zapper? I followed the directions on the box.
2) I got a feeder that only opens up when a chicken steps on the bar and activates the weight. So far in one week none of the chickens have figured out how to step on it to get food. Can the weight be adjusted?
3) I put garbage cans over my round red and white feeders and large potting trays under them for a tight seal at night. This seems to be working.
4) I dispense all chicken pellets into large heavy duty garbage cans with lids to keep out rats. This seems to be working as well.

Yesterday night I went in the coop after dark and saw probably 30 rats! The last time I counted 12. Any suggestions for getting rid of them? I have some regular traps I can try as well. They are smart about the electric zapper, so I hope they aren't so smart about regular wooden snap traps as well. Please help!
I. Understand your frustration. I have had to deal rats for a few years now. They invade my barn when winter comes around,last week I caught 8 of them. The traps will work for a little while then you won't catch anything for weeks. I have been using scratch as bait in the traps and that seems to work pretty good. Look for the droppings and set the traps near the droppings if you have rats inside your barn. The rats have a tunnel system all over my chicken yard. I look for all the holes that I can find and block them with dirt then I put the garden hose down one of the holes and let it run. Be patient it usually takes me around 20 minutes to flood the tunnels and when they try and escape you play whack a rat. They breed so quickly and have large litters so it is pretty much impossible to totally get rid of them.
 
I did have a bunch of rats show up also. I finally went on Amazon and ordered Rat poison called "One Bite" We put this out under places my Hens could not get to it. The next 2 days we were finding dead rats every where. We picked them up and bagged about 30 dead rats for the trash. This stuff works!!!
That worked good for me except I did put it in rat bait boxes. I only found a couple of dead rats but did notice some tunnels. I'm pretty sure they went into the tunnels and died. The bait boxes have a little window above the bait so it can be checked often. I replaced the baits a few times then eventually less and less. It works.
RatBait.jpg RatBaitStationRev.jpg
 
Yep. It's a good rat killer. No more Big Rats. And I have even noticed my hens food is still in the pans the next morning after, because sometimes I forget to pick up the food.
 

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