Help NEEDED BAD!!

[coolcanoechic]

A clever trap is a 5-gallon bucket, half full of water, then drop in enough sunflower seed to cover the water. The sunflower seeds float. Put two or three short boards leading up to the top of the bucket like ramps. Sprinkle more sunflower seeds around the area. The rat/mouse/squirrel goes up the ramp, sees the bucket full of seeds and jumps down into what he thinks is a bucket full of seed.......see how long he can tread water. They drown in less than half an hour. Safe, clean, cheap and no colateral damage as you might easily have using poison. You'll have to keep this out of reach of "the girls" or they'll probably try to jump in as well.

This is a great method. I have been using it to control the chipmonk population around my yard ever since the suckers made a nest in my car and it cost me 2000.00 to repair. Use Black oil sunflower seeds. They are irresistable to rodents.
It will need to be freshened up every couple of days, and when you dump it out, be sure it is well away from the coop area. You do not want to attract any more pests. I use a long pair of tongs to remove the carcass. You will be amazed at how effective and quickly this method works. I removed 70 chipmonks from my yard last summer doing this. For some reason, there was an explosion in the population last year and they were beginning to get into my house as well as damaging my brand new car.
I still use this method and it is the best way to quickly remove pests.
Try it. You will see!

 

[flyingtnh]

In a previous house, we had them take up shop in our shed and really go to town making more. I used the heavy plastic snap traps - the ones you set by just squeezing - and baited with Peanut Butter. They started getting caught almost immediately - unbelievable how many were there - first the big adults, then progressively smaller as the babies started needing to forage for food. Just make sure you've got the trap set up so your chucks can't get to it!

Once you've killed them, though, you've got to keep them out. Burying hardware cloth around the perimeter is one option previously mentioned, but I would also keep the traps set to catch the ones that are more persistent.

 

[Marty1876]

i like that bucket trick!!

we have a cat and he kills so many things around our place! although i wish he would get a big snake that i found in the nest box a couple days ago! i think the snake lives under the rock (then there's a layer of straw on top of the rock) and i bet the cat can't get to him. i've been told it's a harmless snake. but still. yuck! i hate snakes!

Don't hate snakes. They seldom bite without provocation, and they are an excellent vermin killer. Besides, mice and rats are natural carriers of bubonic plague (black plague ) and they still give it to people sometimes, so thanks God for snakes, but keep their habitats far from you if you can't take them. Oh, and move the rocks and hay away.....

 

[Mattemma]

Hope you can get rid of them. I read a news story last week of a guy who got plague while trying to get a mouse out of a choking stray cat he was caring for.So that nastiness is out there.

 

[Mskayladog]

Hope you can get rid of them. I read a news story last week of a guy who got plague while trying to get a mouse out of a choking stray cat  he was caring for.So that nastiness is out there.

I read that news artical to. I can't believe someone would take a mouse from a stray cat. I know when my cat has made a kill he would rip me up if I tried to take it from him.

 

[ChickPrincess]

I have always heard that steel wool is great for blocking holes they may get in. Supposedly a rat or mouse will NOT chew through steel wool. I plan on using it in my coop before cold weather.

 

[bluejeans]

black hole traps work not only for gofers but for me work out even better on norway rats .


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=black+hole+traps+gopher&qpvt=black+hole+traps+gopher&FORM=IGRE

 

[Stonerowfarm]

We had eliminated our rat problem until the foreclosed house up the road was cleaned out. Guess what - more rats! We have been using the black bait boxes and have had excellent luck. So far out of all the rats poisoned only two were in with the chickens. Both times we were able to get them out without any risk of secondary poisoning. One unfortunate sucker was still alive - ick.

That has been the only thing that has worked. We tried just about everything else last year with no luck at all. Of course, the unfortunate aspect is that the rats go under the barn and die. It stinks for bit and the flies get bad but I would rather deal with all that than the vermits.

Good luck!