HELP -- we have a rat walled in under the coop!

[Amberblue111]

We did a big project putting hardware cloth all around the edges of the coop to stop a rat outside from creating pathways.. that works well - but ironically now we have one of the rats 'walled in ' under the coop who come through the bottom corners nightly !! I have moved all food out at nights and put in glue traps and have a heart traps -- and have to fence it off so chickens don't get into it , a big deal every night - but no results ! nothing ! He/she is terrorizing the chickens and all night there is disturbance ! The rat has pulled out the insulation and I have no idea what it's eating -- but I have to drive him out.... I keep the door open during the daytime so he could escape but doesn't come out daytime..... It's making me and chicks just crazy.... Any suggestions are appreciated ! Everything else is working well but this is plain awful. Thank you !

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Generally, chickens will eat mice. Does he/she hide somewhere during the day?

 

[KingD]

Generally, chickens will eat mice. Does he/she hide somewhere during the day?

Not rats though unfortunately

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Not rats though unfortunately

True. Rats are quite large in comparison.

 

[KingD]

Use bait, always

 

[Callender Girl]

Rats are the WORST! Last year, they tunneled underground between two of my coops and it took WEEKS to get rid of them. My best defense ended up being a battery-operated trap for about $40 that was big enough for the rats to crawl into and get electrocuted. The opening in the trap isn't big enough to allow chickens inside, and the "kill" part is far enough back that none of the birds got hurt.

Prior to that, I tried live traps, snap traps (where the chickens couldn't reach), essential oils poured down their tunnels, and none of it worked well enough. The rats eventually showed no fear of me when I flew out of the house screaming at them. Persevere!! And, the sooner you get rid of it --or them -- the better!

 

[KingD]

Rats are the WORST! Last year, they tunneled underground between two of my coops and it took WEEKS to get rid of them. My best defense ended up being a battery-operated trap for about $40 that was big enough for the rats to crawl into and get electrocuted. The opening in the trap isn't big enough to allow chickens inside, and the "kill" part is far enough back that none of the birds got hurt.

Prior to that, I tried live traps, snap traps (where the chickens couldn't reach), essential oils poured down their tunnels, and none of it worked well enough. The rats eventually showed no fear of me when I flew out of the house screaming at them. Persevere!! And, the sooner you get rid of it --or them -- the better!

The reason that people always struggle with using traps is that only the male rats die. The mother's back in the tunnels with the pups don't get caught.
Bait on the other hand is carried back to the nests which is then fed to the mother's and babies.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I just got rid of a family of rats - what a pain! They are pretty smart, and never fell for my havahart trap. I caught most in the big wooden rat traps with some peanut butter (out of the reach of dogs and chickens). If you know where the hole is, you can set the trap right outside, covered in a little sawdust or bedding. Or learn their pattern and sit out at night with a 22 or a slingshot, and a pile of grain as bait. Good luck

 

[mowin]

Ugh, rats... one reason I didn't insulate my coops. It becomes a invitation for critters.
Friend of mine used a smoke bomb thing for gopher holes. Let the chickens out in the morning, then temporarily closed up all the ventilation and blocked up the underside of the coop, and set the thing off. No more rats.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Try Rat X - it's a pellet type bait that is supposed to be safe around non-rodents, that causes the rat to den up and dehydrate. I'd dump a handful into any visible rodent hole.

Honestly the last rat we had in the coop, we literally had to corner it at night and whack it. Rats are too paranoid of traps so no matter how many traps we'd set or the type, they'd just avoid them.