Eeeeks....rats in my coop!

I'm having the same problem here! They come out in broad daylight and eat the ladies' food; dig holes all over our yard; they are out of control!!! It is about time for our ladies to start laying, but I'm worried that I won't even know once they start because the rats will get to the eggs before I do!

 

Best thing we did to get rid of rats was to clean up the yard; vegetation needs to be up, off the ground so that you can see under bushes. Remove excess fruit from trees, clean up after your dogs, don't leave any water around; keep food in tightly closed containers. Make sure the coop has no openings larger than a nickel--rats can get through any holes larger than that (yes, that is smaller than the openings in 1" chicken wire--they can definitely get through that).

 

Oil of peppermint (the real thing) and cottonballs... throw the cottonballs down any holes or in paths.. (away from cats).. this will make them leave... REALLY

 

Can rats climb walls?.. I have 1/4" chicken wire 2' off the bottom hoping to aleviate mice and rats, but if they can climb that then they could fit through the 1" wire that I have above the 1/4".

Just curious...

 

Mice and some if not all rats will fit through 1/4" holes.

 

Snap traps set in areas where your chickens cant get to them has always worked best for me. It can be messy but they rarely ever miss. Good luck! Hope you can get them under control.

 

You should come up with some type of rodent control program. I spend about 10.00 a month. I place poison in five gallon pails with a 1" hole in it, some snap traps in the coop where I store the feed in aluminum trash cans, and bait packs. I also have a pellet gun that is deadly on any varmit I see. Its quiet and powerful. Chipmunks steal as much food as they can carry and your feed costs will go sky high.. If you do nothing, there will be millions of them. Mice? Pheasants eat mice, lol.

 

Invest in a couple of free kittens and raise them to be barn cats - haven't seen a mouse, rat, or mole alive in 9 months! And also, they are the sweetest most personable kitties I have ever known. They come running at treat time to eat with the hens.

 

For mice the best I have found has been chickens... they will tear them to shreds and fight over them like crazy in my barns. As for the rats I really don't know what to tel you since I have not ever had that problem.

Steve