How to get rid of rats

[Sweet jumping jellybean]

Hey everyone,

We have a pretty big rat problem in our backyard. Is there anyway to kill them without killing our free range chickens?
Thank you

 

[Jack3291]

You could set up rat traps but best not to use snap traps.

 

[chickentrains]

can you put your chickens away for a few days and use snap traps?

you can try this :

 

[50-45-1]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ing-talking-about-killing-many-rodents.444630
sounds like this guy had the same problem and also did not want to use poision.
good luck!

 

[JaeG]

Bait boxes put out at night and picked up in the morning perhaps? Rats become trap shy very easily - if a trap goes off but fails to catch the rat, the rat will avoid it like the plague. We've had 3 different types of traps out but we only ever caught one rat in one of them. We had to resort to poison. Rats are very smart creatures.

 

[Al Gerhart]

What kind of feeder are you using? The free chicken feed buffet is usually the cause of a rat infestation. Once you stop feeding them they will leave.

 

[feather13]

What kind of feeder are you using? The free chicken feed buffet is usually the cause of a rat infestation. Once you stop feeding them they will leave.

Try a treadle type feeder. They are expensive and there's a learning curve for chickens, but it seems like it would keep the rats out. Or just put the feed in a shed or box overnight so the rats can't get at it. We get rats when we leave fruit on our trees. I agree that if you don't have food available, they'll go elsewhere and you won't have to worry about trapping them.

 

[cmom]

I had a rat infestation but I did resort to using poison after the many other things I tried had failed. I put rat bait stations in our barn which is behind our coops. I put the bait stations up on a shelf inside of a pet carrier so nothing but the rats could get to the bait. I had noticed tunnels around the coops which I assumed were made by the rats. The bait boxes I have, have a little window above the bait so I can check it daily. Eventually I noticed the baits weren't being touched and I never found any dead rats laying around so I also assumed they went into their tunnels and died. Whatever you decide to do, good luck...

 

[ChookieG]

Rats are a pain to get rid of. They're often way too smart for a bait trap unless you have an infestation then at least a few would be desperate enough to go for it.

Removing the source of the problem would almost likely significantly reduce the problem. I used to leave out a tray of feed in the coop overnight and I would get a rat visit the tray overnight - I know this because it'll leave some poo behind to "insult" me. Once the food was removed I didn't see anymore poo.

Having a cat around helps a lot too. My 15 lb cat does a pretty good job at keeping the rodent population down. My almond and fruit trees used to get raided before I had him petrol my backyard at night. He's killed several mice since I had chooks about 3 months ago. He leaves his kill in a clearing next to the chook run for me to see in the morning. A couple of weeks after the rat visitation, he caught it and another mouse and left them side-by-side for me to see. Grose but cool at the same time as I never thought he was capable of killing rats!

If you're thinking of getting cats, try to get a larger one like mine, or breeds like Maine Coon or Ragdoll which are both bred to specifically hunt rats. But I would suggest you only let it out after dusk and before dawn to avoid killing birds.

 

[feather13]

If you're thinking of getting cats, try to get a larger one like mine, or breeds like Maine Coon or Ragdoll which are both bred to specifically hunt rats. But I would suggest you only let it out after dusk and before dawn to avoid killing birds.

Your cat is so impressive and effective! It's hilarious that he leaves the rodent "gifts" to you. Thanks, also, for being sensitive about bringing your cat in during the day. There's a stray/outdoor cat that terrorizes our chickens and has killed many birds in our backyard since summer. It also sleeps on our outdoor furniture and uses our yard as a litter box. Unfortunately, we're going to have to trap it soon. I wish more people would keep their cats indoors.