Continuing Rat Problem

[Al Gerhart]

Er, it's really not that easy to prevent. I have all my pellet feed in metal bins, but the rats still find food because there's wild areas out there, neighbors I can't control, etc. And then when they can't find food they dig deep in search of it, oftentimes attacking larger livestock (like my rabbits) or moving into houses. That's what happened here. Some people have had them attack adult chickens before on the roost, biting their feet and even killing them. Forget about having chicks or baby animals with rats around. You might as well kill them yourself the day they're born. And the rats being hungry doesn't fix that problem.
Not to mention if you have animals that require hay or straw you're boned. That's literally a food and nesting breeding ground for rats. And don;t even get me started on gardens and trying to grow your own food with rats around. Or how they eat eggs....

So, no it's not. As for snakes a majority of them don't touch the dead rats either because they're, well, dead and cold instead of alive and warm which is what most snakes look for. I've kept enough of them to know. And even studies show snakes are on the bottom of the list for percentages of animal deaths due to rodenticides.

https://www.pctonline.com/article/secondary-poisoning-concerns-with-rodent-baits/

Actually it is that easy to prevent. There are wild sources of food but it takes constant work for the rat to survive and even then it cannot overpopulate the local food sources before famine sets in for all the wild mice and rats. Plus the risks of foraging in the wild from predators. Within days of eliminating the feed source, the chicken feed, most rats will have no choice but to move on. Nesting sites are a dime a dozen if you are a tunneling rodent, consistent food sources are another matter.

Rat infestations are caused by humans leaving waste or food in large quantities. Put the feed in a metal bin. Buy a proper treadle feeder. Problem solved in nearly all situations. Colonies of rats do not survive in the wild nor will they survive unless careless humans leave feed available for them to build up numbers.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Actually it is that easy to prevent. There are wild sources of food but it takes constant work for the rat to survive and even then it cannot overpopulate the local food sources before famine sets in for all the wild mice and rats. Plus the risks of foraging in the wild from predators. Within days of eliminating the feed source, the chicken feed, most rats will have no choice but to move on. Nesting sites are a dime a dozen if you are a tunneling rodent, consistent food sources are another matter.

Rat infestations are caused by humans leaving waste or food in large quantities. Put the feed in a metal bin. Buy a proper treadle feeder. Problem solved in nearly all situations. Colonies of rats do not survive in the wild nor will they survive unless careless humans leave feed available for them to build up numbers.

Funny, that's not what every farmer and rat removal professional I've spoken to has said. But OK.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Funny, that's not what every farmer and rat removal professional I've spoken to has said. But OK.

Glad I could teach you something today. There is a guy that comes on here on occasion, has a bunch of small dogs that deals with rats on organic farms. When he gets overwhelmed with work he said he recommends our feeders for the farms that have chickens and every time it solves the problem and he doesn't need to make a visit to that farm. Chickens don't bring rats, flock owners that don't have the proper equipment bring rats. No massive quantities of feed, no massive quantities of rats. It is that simple.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Glad I could teach you something today. There is a guy that comes on here on occasion, has a bunch of small dogs that deals with rats on organic farms. When he gets overwhelmed with work he said he recommends our feeders for the farms that have chickens and every time it solves the problem and he doesn't need to make a visit to that farm. Chickens don't bring rats, flock owners that don't have the proper equipment bring rats. No massive quantities of feed, no massive quantities of rats. It is that simple.

Have a link to your feeders?
How's their price compared to the price of poison?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Glad I could teach you something today. There is a guy that comes on here on occasion, has a bunch of small dogs that deals with rats on organic farms. When he gets overwhelmed with work he said he recommends our feeders for the farms that have chickens and every time it solves the problem and he doesn't need to make a visit to that farm. Chickens don't bring rats, flock owners that don't have the proper equipment bring rats. No massive quantities of feed, no massive quantities of rats. It is that simple.

K

 

[Al Gerhart]

Have a link to your feeders?
How's their price compared to the price of poison?

I don't post links out of respect for the advertisers on the site but looking around or doing a search will turn up a link that others have posted.

The price of poison, does that include any dead pets or harming wildlife? Long term, I'd say that you would spend less on a good feeder than having to keep poison out to deal with rats.

 

[Folly's place]

Al, your feeders are very nice, but not for my bantams or chicks. Good flock management is one thing, coping with serious rodent infestations is another.
Mary

 

[Al Gerhart]

Al, your feeders are very nice, but not for my bantams or chicks. Good flock management is one thing, coping with serious rodent infestations is another.
Mary

You are right Mary. Bantams and chicks can't use treadle feeders without negating the rat proof functions of a treadle feeder. You have to have reach and weight difference between the vermin and the bird. Short of some sort of vision recognition system and the cost and fragility of such a thing, no feeder is going to feed small birds and chicks without feeding rats.

However, chicks are only chicks for a short time of their life. And rats aren't going to colonize a coop in six weeks. Responsible flock owners are going to be using treadle feeders so that the rats never come around, then you are going to be able to feed a batch of chicks and have them to size before the rats find the feed.

Bantams, if you have other full size birds they will learn to eat when they can. If all you are raising is bantams, yeah, you are gonna have problems.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

I see two things I might add here, having fought rats without poison many times in my life. Rat poison adversely affects our birds of prey and it is just too risky for me to use.

First, how are you welcoming the rats to your place? What sorts of wonderful unintentional nesting areas and food sources are you providing for them?

What food are you leaving out? Do you have a rat-friendly compost pile? If so, would you consider enclosing your compost pile(s) in a predator-proof area like a chicken run? Something they can't dig under or chew through? That's my compost solution for city-life and trying to garden. Keep your compost pile completely off-limits to animals except possibly your chickens! And build predator-proof worm bins...That can be a great help, too. When you do remove their source of food and housing--they will look elsewhere.

Secondly, there is a product that currently only exterminators have access to (as far as I know). It is a sterilization bait. I think this is genius because rats are territorial. If you poison them, new rats simply move into that freed up territory and reproduce at crazy rates. If you sterilize the rats instead of poisoning, the sterile rats live and hold the territory without multiplying. This produces an overall decline in population which poisoning does not produce. I think the future is in sterilization bait. Here's an interesting article about it. My neighbor uses it and although I have not had any signs of rodents for quite awhile, I'm interested in getting it. https://www.wired.com/2017/04/nycs-newest-weapon-rats-sterilization/

I wish you success in resolving your difficult situation!!

 

[Folly's place]

I've had to use bait twice here; once in the barn, when rats invaded, and my barn cat figured it was my problem, long ago. then a few years ago, when rats and MANY mice colonized the (foolishly) insulated walls of my coop. Three dead pullets, and many eaten eggs later (in a couple of weeks!) we removed the insulated walls and added poison bait stations. No rats, no more mice, and problem solved! We have hardware cloth everywhere, and monitor the mouse situation much more aggressively, and are now doing fine.
We never found a dead or dying rat, nobody else got sick, and a few mice were found and removed.
Sometimes you just have to do the bait stations, because it's the only way.
In a perfect world, maybe not, but everything isn't always perfect.
Mary