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

[kristieh]

It's still not your property so you have no right to dump animals there.

Killing them is the correct thing to do with vermin.

 

[kristieh]

I use a tube of fluoride toothpaste with a slot cut into it and place it somewhere the girls cannot access it. In a few days, the rats will eat it and die. It saves on having poison around and does the job.

 

[Jollyrobert3]

I wouldn't poison because other animals/chickens could be harmed.
We had a rat we couldn't get rid of trying various traps. We finally got a live trap at TSC and it worked like a charm. Just be sure to take the rats at least 2 miles away or they will come right back.

I have kept chickens for over 30+ years. If you keep chickens you will also keep rats. I poison when necessary, and in all that time I have never poisoned any of my chickens. The rat s will take the bait back to their lair, eat it and die quietly over a matter of hours. I recommend using the multi surface blocks which they can hold in their teeth. I don't recommend poisoned seed, as it gets scattered widely, making it too available. I've tried rat-traps but only ever caught hedgehogs. The dead rat will dry up in its lair making it unavailable to other predators, except other rats. No smell. There are online courses available, freely giving training in safe and responsible use of the poisons. The providers offer certificates on successful completion of training, including an exam! If you want their certificate, you pay.

 

[James Atlanta]

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

DO NOT USE poisons. when the rats eat the poison and die, something more valuable can eat the rats and get poisoned. the rats are there to eat your chicken feed. can you remove the feed containers at night, or maybe cover them at least? with no nightly food to eat, the rats will stop visiting your coop. it's the only way.

 

[Tired old Rooster]

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

One option is a Chinese Chow dog. They love hunting rats.

 

[Miniflock]

I have kept chickens for over 30+ years. If you keep chickens you will also keep rats. I poison when necessary, and in all that time I have never poisoned any of my chickens. The rat s will take the bait back to their lair, eat it and die quietly over a matter of hours. I recommend using the multi surface blocks which they can hold in their teeth. I don't recommend poisoned seed, as it gets scattered widely, making it too available. I've tried rat-traps but only ever caught hedgehogs. The dead rat will dry up in its lair making it unavailable to other predators, except other rats. No smell. There are online courses available, freely giving training in safe and responsible use of the poisons. The providers offer certificates on successful completion of training, including an exam! If you want their certificate, you pay.

Good to know. I have always been concerned about other animal getting hold of them after they had eaten the poison. We are surrounded by forest, with all sorts of other predators.

 

[Chicmom009]

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

Do not poison them. The poison can be dropped along the yard and your chickens and other birds pick it up only to get very sick or die. Contact a professional pest control Co and ask they bring snap traps ( instant kill) . I don’t think you have to go on a plan and can just have them observe the activity then keep or buy just the traps. Beware, some companies will try to push big ideas ( that’ll cost you)
I know this because I worked for a great Co and heard the stories. Keep food locked up tight and only allow them to eat certain times. If the food supply runs out for them, they’ll be less but most likely you’ll never be rid of them.
We have been dealing with rats for as long as we’ve had our girls too.
Good luck!!!

 

[saysfaa]

.. all of it might work for some for a while. What does work every time is to ...stop feeding the rats and they leave or they starve to the point where there are only the few that their territory will support with natural food.

Bringing your feeder in at night just teaches the rats to eat during the day once you have an infestation. Get a treadle feeder. Done, go on vacation, be lazy on Sunday morning, not worrying about having to set out the feeder and bring it back inside is worth what to you?

Starve em out. Do a forum search for Howard E 's excellent posts on rat control. Clean up the pathways to and from the coop so the rats are exposed to predators as they travel too and from the coop. Bulk feed in metal barrels with good lids, coop feed in spring loaded door treadle feeders and when you shop pay close attention to the negative reviews, those are the customers that actually had a vermin problem, the rest needed a chicken feeder. Compost piles can be a draw too but to support a large population you need a steady supply of animal feed.

Good luck!

This. A thousand times.
I'm not sure the treadle feeder is the only way to stop feeding them but it is a proven way.

"Rat Control 101​

Howard E
This thread is a condensed summary of information found in numerous other threads, and all of it designed to help concerned BYC growers deal with rat their infestations. It is divided into three parts:

1. Know your rat
2. Rat Proofing
3. Elimination ...."

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

 

[Pippin&Lili]

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 had rats coming into our house from our coop. That was the last straw - and them running up my arm when I gathered eggs. Honestly, poison doesn't work unless you stop the pheromone trail. We had to go around an old house and coop and fill in EVERY hole with cement, THEN poisoned. THEN had to cut holes in the plaster walls and stick a camera in to find the dead rats to remove (because it stank beyond belief). We also sent our chickens to another farm, had to toss a couch the rats nested in, replace a vacuum they chewed, and clean a stove they peed in. It was beyond disgusting. SO. When we were ready for chickens again, and the rats were gone, we invested in a rat proof feeder and spent about 3 weeks teaching our new dumb clucks how to use it. So worth it. No rats for a year of chicken keeping. Crossing fingers.

 

[Walt R]

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

Hello; my wife and I live in the country in a farming area in Pa. We never had an issue because outside cats were always around. When we noticed a huge decline in cats, the feed in our chickens and peacocks was disappearing at a faster rate. I put a trail camera in the barn and nearly had a stroke when I viewed the pictures !
Rats everywhere! I started setting plastic traps in areas where the animals couldn’t get to. I even set small have a heart traps and cough some in them too. It was a slow process but we had rats in the traps every day. It was not enough! My next step was looking for entrance holes under the barn walls where the rats were getting in. I bought rat poison at tractor supply. Round green balls and put them aside the pathway outside leading into the barn in low clay pots. Like two inches tall. I covered them with an old barn rain gutter so other outside animals could not get too. That move clearly made the difference !!!
I think the rats will always be there but doing this year round will keep the rat numbers down !