HELP!! Anyone successfully dispatched all rats from their coop? HELP!!

[woodmort]

I tried traps and poison to no avail then, suddenly, they all disappeared inside of 2 months. I was thrilled until the reason for their disappearance--a weasel--started on the chickens. He did a good job but after he cleaned out 15 of my 18 birds I'd have preferred the rats.

 

[sandiatonimarie]

Yeah, we have cats... They run from my chickens

We must have cats who are related... one of mine was cussed out by a mouse in the house one time...

When I built my coop I buried the hardware cloth about a foot below the ground - this really seems to work to keep out digging or burrowing beasties, big or small. I used the hardware cloth with 1/2 inch squares​

 

[Silverduck]

I read the other day, if you will put ammonia on a used dryer sheet and put it in the rat hole and cover it, this is supposed to kill the rats. We are going to try it.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

Quote:
I will agree with you 100% it was POWERFUL!!! Like I said, I had to clean up all the carcasses the next morning. Its not for everyone or every situation. If you have wildlife its probably not good for you, but I just have rats....yuck....so it was great for my situation.

Rats.....

There were so many....

 

[chickensioux]

I was having the same problem and worried about poisons and traps didn't catch a thing. I read on the net about using pure peppermint oil. I doused some cottonballs in it and put them down the holes......haven't seen a rat or evidence of a rat since.....


Oh and I got the peppermint oil from GNC.

 

[NewHen]

Quote:
Has anyone tried planting peppermint or spearmint or just plain old mint around their coop or run? Someone said chickens don't like it but I have to chase my chickens away from my mint. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to try that...I don't have rodents but it might freshen up the area a bit. Also, I thought I read somewhere that insects don't like mints.

 

[ZooMummzy]

I have all kinds of mint planted around my coop; doesn't work for me

 

[Malpower]

Just in past few days I have noticed big rats are coming out during the day and eating the hens' feed. They used to just come out at dusk after I'd locked the hens and their feeder in the coop for the night. Coop is pretty secure with a concrete block floor, so far no critters have managed to get inside it at night. But there IS seed all over on the area just outside the coop where I put the feeder during the day (I do sweep it up once or twice a week). Have to be careful of poisons cuz we have hordes of crows, birds, and squirrels during the day and raccoons and skunks at night -- I don't want them around but I don't want to kill them either. There used to be two neighborhood cats that appeared at dusk and I think they took care of the rat problem, and the bait boxes we have stationed around perimeter of enclosure also helped. For quite a while we didn't see rats, but obviously something has stopped working recently -- I do hate seeing the rats during the day. We seem to be just overrun with small wildlife these days and not sure what to do about them all -- during day when coop door is open so girls can go in to lay, I see that the birds and the squirrels have been going inside and making themselves at home -- if I'm not quick there are often eggs with bites out of them. I spend a lot of time running out and shooing critters away, but I'm not always here. Can't think of any solution. Think I'll try the cotton balls with peppermint old stuffed under the spots where I think rodents are lurking -- certainly worth a try.

An additional problem is that I am trying to find some sort of feeder that squirrels can't eat out of, chew up, move and tip over -- they even have opened the metal garbage cans I keep feed in. I have the feeling it's probably as hard to get rid of them as the rats once they've found this goldmine of feed!

 

[ondreeuh]

We put some poison in the woodpile (where they were nesting) and they have been dropping in their tracks since then. One crawled up onto our workbench table to die and it took a while for me to notice.

If they are digging into your coop, then you could pour concrete or otherwise fashion a solid floor, and/or extend an apron of hardware cloth around the perimeter.

 

[Ravishaw]

i have gophers.

i hate gophers.

They eat the roots of my baby trees.

Saturday morning I was watering my trees and one stuck his head out of the ground... I spotted him and drenched him. He had nowhere to go, his hole was flooded so he tried to run for it and I just stepped on him for a while, when he was still i got a shovel to finish him off for sure. One things for sure, I wouldn't touch varmits with my bare hands. Their teeth can do quick damage and they carry a lot of diseases. That's another reason I don't want them around.