Declaring war on rats

[chantels1]

I have a small backyard flock, and dear hubby didn't build the coop rat proof. There are many gaps where they can get in. There is ivy on the shared fences around my yard. The rats love to hide in it. I have tried the 5 gallon buckets with bait. They won't touch it.

My girls are molting, so I have added black sunflower seeds to supplement some extra protein.

Now the rats are really making themselves known, with piles of empty shells throughout my coop.

I am declaring war. I ordered some traps from amazon. I look forward to their arrival. I am also working on filling the gaps where the rats are getting in, but since my coop has the small 1" chicken wire, and not hardware cloth, I am sure they can still get in.

My cat helps, but she is out numbered and getting very fat. She spends her nights out by the coop, and occasionally brings me a live sacrifice!

Long story, I apologize. I will get to the question... what is your favorite method to controlling the rat population.

 

[sourland]

I used to sit and shoot them with my 22. Snap traps will work for a while until they become educated. I have also had good luck with Hav-A-Heart type live traps.

 

[chantels1]

I wish I could shoot them. I doubt my neighbors or the cops would approve!

Live traps? To release them elsewhere? I don't know if I wanna put that kind of effort into it. Will have keep rotating the locations of the snap traps so hopefully they don't get used to them.

 

[Cacique500]

I had to shoot mine...nothing else worked. I would highly suggest and recommend CCI Shotshells (for whatever caliber gun you have). I use them in a .22, and their like a little shotgun round. Their also not near as loud as a regular round.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

Does a bb gun work? I've used it on mice and voles... are rats too big(thankfully I've not seen any rats around)? A small gas powered pistol might be small and unnoticeable for the neighbors and not so noisy

 

[TroyerGal]

I have a small backyard flock, and dear hubby didn't build the coop rat proof. There are many gaps where they can get in. There is ivy on the shared fences around my yard. The rats love to hide in it. I have tried the 5 gallon buckets with bait. They won't touch it.

My girls are molting, so I have added black sunflower seeds to supplement some extra protein.

Now the rats are really making themselves known, with piles of empty shells throughout my coop.

I am declaring war. I ordered some traps from amazon. I look forward to their arrival. I am also working on filling the gaps where the rats are getting in, but since my coop has the small 1" chicken wire, and not hardware cloth, I am sure they can still get in.

My cat helps, but she is out numbered and getting very fat. She spends her nights out by the coop, and occasionally brings me a live sacrifice!

Long story, I apologize. I will get to the question... what is your favorite method to controlling the rat population.

Awwwww... But rats are so cute! Control them by snuggling them :3
Lol, kidding... RAT TRAPS

 

[New Hampshire]

I had to shoot mine...nothing else worked. I would highly suggest and recommend CCI Shotshells (for whatever caliber gun you have). I use them in a .22, and their like a little shotgun round. Their also not near as loud as a regular round.

I just wanted to throw out a warning about these. I have heard that these will beat the hell out of the rifling of the gun.


As far as a BB gun, that would not be strong enough. However, a pellet gun would. I picked up this recently. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ruger-Impact-.22-Pellet-Rifle-with-Scope/35599438 .22 cal break barrel pellet gun. Took down a couple of grey squirrels with it. It has a built in silencer, so noise wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Cacique500]

I just wanted to throw out a warning about these. I have heard that these will beat the hell out of the rifling of the gun.


As far as a BB gun, that would not be strong enough. However, a pellet gun would. I picked up this recently. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ruger-Impact-.22-Pellet-Rifle-with-Scope/35599438 .22 cal break barrel pellet gun. Took down a couple of grey squirrels with it. It has a built in silencer, so noise wouldn't be an issue.

If you shoot hundreds of rounds it will... But dispatching a few rats won't matter in the least. Way higher chance of hitting them as well vs. a 22lr or a pellet.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

I just wanted to throw out a warning about these. I have heard that these will beat the hell out of the rifling of the gun.


As far as a BB gun, that would not be strong enough. However, a pellet gun would. I picked up this recently. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ruger-Impact-.22-Pellet-Rifle-with-Scope/35599438 .22 cal break barrel pellet gun. Took down a couple of grey squirrels with it. It has a built in silencer, so noise wouldn't be an issue.

How accurate is that thing?

 

[New Hampshire]

I've had pretty good luck with accuracy so far. I use the iron sights, so aiming takes a little more skill. The rear sight is adjustable up, down, left and right. There is probably some variation in accuracy among the pellets as well. The scope that it comes with is a no-name cheaper scope.