How to get rid of rats!?

[acrossthebranch]

Oh my goodness. Call me stupid, but I did NOT realize this was a problem. Until I opened my laying boxes tonight and two little mice scurried out of them! YUCK!! I hate mice. My cat disappeared in November, so she was probably taking care of them - She was born on the farm . I haven't seen a mouse in the 3 years I've had chickens until tonight. My husband said I couldn't have any more cats, but he's going to have to get over it, because I'm NOT having mice. I guess I'm going to try the crate or shoebox with a trap in it for the meantime. I'm still gagging over this... I so hate mice.

And about poison... I have two dogs... what is the best thing to use? Locked stations?

 

[Larrickchick]

Old thread but I was searching for how to safely get rid of rats and this one came up. We inherited rats with our new farm and I didn't know it until last week when I found one dead in the layers water bucket!! I have a 5 gallon bucket with nipples and had forgotten the lid when I cleaned it the night before.
I kept them in the coop and put poison out but one day I found a cube of it in the coop!!!! It never occurred to me that the rats would move it but they do so no more poison near the coop. I got something called a Raticator off Amazon. Its a trap that electrocutes them. Its been out two nights and I have had a dead rat both mornings. It works on aa batteries and is supposed to get up to 50 per set of batteries. I plan om getting another one for the a shed near the house I think they are in as well.

 

[joycespell]

OI found a rat inside of my coop today. I know there are proabably a lot more. So, how can i get rid of them without killin my chickens?

When i first moved in i put the chickens in large temporary runs for 1 to 2 weeks and put out TONS of poison on shelves,in front of the holes and in corners they were gone in two week and my new barn was INFESTED i mean every time you would walk in you could see at least 20. hope this helps

 

[Math]

Sounds like good advice. I have not seen a rat or mice problem, but I will keep your ideas in mind. Thanks.

 

[chickchickens11]

I was wondering if rats would be able to kill the chickens?

 

[StupidBird]

Rats, mice, squirrels, chipmunks...
Today we just dug the sweet potatoes and got maybe five half chewed ones. Should have been three bushels based on past years. All the low peppers and tomatoes chewed. Most all the corn. My garden is so ravaged I feel like quitting. I really depend on this garden.

I have been trapping, and the dozen mice and three field rats this last week has made them seek revenge by running up inside of my wall above my head just now. (I wrote this part last night before battery died).

I don't want to use poison because of the porosity of my foundation (ie., they will all crawl inside my house and die), the beneficial predators, neighbors cats, and my dog's fascination with playing rodent toss.

From the stuff online, does this sound practical, effective?
1. Trap like crazy...constant use of my snap traps plus make up lots of bucket and barrel traps.
2. Crack the whip over the boys and clear all the project lumber to the rafters of the sheds. Burn all my trellising sticks, brush piles, and build a raised platform (2 ft off the ground?) for firewood.
3. Clean out the shed, hack back the overhanging limbs, fix the sagging doorframe to seal tight.
4. Make sure the hens feeders are up off the floor (always have been) and shut their door every night. Their feed has always been kept in metal trash cans with the lids caulked to make a tight gasket-like seal. (By the way, that did not keep grain bugs from developing).
5. Clear every bit of undergrowth, tall grass (sorry, birds).

Well, that would be enough if this property were in a vacuum. But, one side is a three year abandoned foreclosure house, the other a rather neglected but inhabited rental house, and acres of farm pasture, woods, creek, etc. with abandoned barns.

So what kind of fencing for my vegetable gardens, orchard? It would be hideously, prohibitively expensive to use the 1/4 inch hardware cloth around the half acre or so of garden and orchard. Electric fence would draw un-needed attention in our neighborhood.

Am I missing anything? Due to injuries from a car accident, I am hiring friends teens to work so that the whole place doesn't revert to privet and weeds. A aargh.

Reading back over this, it does sound like I should resort to poisons. What is y'all's opinion?

 

[cypressdrake]

My barn was infested with more mice than I thought I had, so I took in two young Tom's. I watched these two young tom's kill about 40 mice the first night, and the second night, and I would move objects that mice were hid under, set back and watch the fun.

After a month, it's hard to see a mouse in my barn, everyday and night these cats are on duty, problem solved, and the chickens and cat's get along just fine.

 

[Trefoil]

The easiest way to get rid of rats is to shoot one with a bb gun, you don't want to kill it. I don't know exactly why, but if you injure one they will leave. This doesn't work on mice.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: What they really do is learn to NOT come out when you're there

 

[John123john]

What about Rat Zapper Classic Rat Trap RZC001 ? I used it one time and it's work well. I think as for now rats are used to poison, and they know that he will kill them, the evolution was not in vain.