Help me get rid of my nightly visitors!!!!!

[thomathacker]

Thank you so much. I was afraid of going that route because I could never forgive myself if I accidentally killed one of my babies. (Yes I know they’re supposed to be farm animals, but they are really more my feathered kids than anything else!!)i think I am off to tractor supply to get some rat killer!! Wish me luck

look for something called "Just One Bite". But pick it up during the day, because the squirrels and chipmunks will eat it too.

 

[Double Yolked]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

Look for a YouTube channel called MouseTrap Monday. Shawn Woods has done more video taped and tested methods of pest control than anyone I have ever seen. I've tried his rolling log trap and his water wasp trap both and they work beautifully.
I have an on going rat problem so traps and poison are part of my normal routine. I do suggest a couple of things.
Rats like to burrow under any object. And by any I also mean paving stones, feed sheds, random lumber, darn near anything sitting on the ground including just hard ground. They love a crust of hard ground to put a burrow under. Remove any object or structure they are using to hide their burrow. I found a huge warren of them once under a scrap lumber pile, and another under my feed shed.
For poison? Find the burrow and place a cover over it and put poison bait inside the burrow entrance. I use an inverted small metal trash can as a cover. The cover keeps other creatures from getting at the bait. This is vital as you don't want anything except the rat getting the bait. If you decide you don't want to poison them and some people feel squeamish about using poison, then try one of Shawn's traps. Hopefully the link below works. I haven't tried to link to a YouTube channel here before.

This flip top type of trap works really well. Put oily water in the bucket. You need at least a 5 gal bucket 1/3d full of water with oil to drown rats. The oil keeps them from getting out and yeah they can and will climb out if you don't have a deep enough bucket.
Good luck! I hate rats too!

 

[Amberblue111]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

We dug up the whole run and laid hardware cloth down and covered it back with some additional fresh soil . likewise we covered the coop floor and up the sides with hardware cloth and put way clean laminate sticky tiles over the wire. It was a lot of work but it’s a serious war with those rats once they get going - and the hens were terrified - anyway it looks like we won! it was worth it

 

[blueskys]

We had the same problem. Nothing worked until I got these Little Giant Live traps and baited them with peanut butter. It took a while to catch all 12 but I haven’t seen any since April. The traps are super sensitive and you might take a while to figure out how to set them. Kill after catching.

https://www.farmandfleet.com/produc...x7x65-double-door-entry-live-animal-trap.html

 

[fostermom55]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

https://www.lowes.com/pd/RatX-1-lb-Rat-and-Mouse-Killer/999990238
I use this it kills with vitamin D, so it won't kill you other animals if they accidently get into it. Here is a video about it.

 

[dennisbriels]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

I urge you NOT to use poison!!! Should an owl eat a dying rat (or WORSE) carry it back to the nest, the secondary poisoning is WAY more severe than the rats...

 

[WestTNriverrat]

There are people who have ferrets and terriers and such and who will come out for a few hours and literally kill almost all the rats for you. The dogs are bred for that, and they are GOOD at it. See if you can google anyone local who does this; it's a one-evening-fix. Then, follow up with poison for any new rats that move in.
We have a pair of collie-type dogs; one is probably australian shepherd/lab/border/something, the other is a scotch collie. They are death on four feet to the rats. The very few times we had a rat come in, the dogs went out at night, found it, and, well, no more rat. They've taken out three, and then we put out poison, and no more rats.
Our ONLY concern is that the chickens will absolutely eat mice and small young rats, so we have to check for rodent bodies just-in-case. Haven't found one But the dogs go and check and will absolutely destroy any that show up, and they aren't even terriers. A collie-type dog (border, aussie, heeler, kelpie, corgi, scotch, rough, mcnab) should also be a very good vermin dog, they're bred to it. And we can attest to their effectiveness, too!

It doesn’t really matter the breed. Any dog that is smart wants to please and has a prey drive can be trained to hunt. Granted terriers and such are more natural to burrowing animals.
Sounds like yours are on top of things.

I do know if I had an infestation I’d use properly maintained bait stations to nullify the problem. A pack of ratters sounds fun but to get a problem under control fast poison will always be option #1 here.

 

[ElizaMay]

Poison. Put it in some sort of bait box that nothing else can get into. We have a wooden box with a small hole in the end that we put the bait under, and weight it down with a rock. Rats are the only thing that can get into the bait. We have never seen dead or dying rats, nor have I ever had a chicken, cat or dog kill or eat a poisoned rat.

Bait, but with a rat trap that will snap on them and break their spine or neck - it would be tragic for a cat to eat a poisoned rat!

 

[joenelz]

What is an electronic rat trap?

Rat zapper. We always use them.
Available at Lowes, home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, feed stores.

 

[Charlotte17]

I am at my wits end. We tried to figure out what was getting into the chicken run and coops. Bought a trail cam and it’s rats!!!! And OMG there are quite a few!! Please tell me there is hope to get rid of them. The neighbors cats are trying but I think there’s too many. I know the exterminator is gonna cost me a fortune. Any suggestions to try first? You cannot imagine the horrible painful death I’m wishing on every one of them

They can't swim very good, put a 5 gal pail of water or tub they can't touch bottom, fill it up to about 5" from top, float some seeds.or food on the water. If they fall in to get the food they will drown not being able to get out. Also very large sticky traps may work. A whole family of voles drown in my ducks water bowl, so maybe it will work for rats. We also use sticky traps too, however I have seen no rats yet.