I got a RAT! Gurr!

[foulplay]

I just read where someone said you have to have the coop a foot off the ground. Is that true? I never knew that.

you can have the coop a foot off the ground that would probably help but if a rat wants in a RAT WANTS IN

 

[marianne7]

you can have the coop a foot off the ground that would probably help but if a rat wants in a RAT WANTS IN

we have always had our coops a couple of feet off the ground anyway,,,,chickens usually like to roost up on something high, so this makes sense ...

 

[lizanne]

I had (hopefully "had' and not "have") 2 rats that would run around by the coop and in the garden at night. I would sit outside with a BB gun trying to shoot them after all the hens went to bed. Finally I read somthing about running a hose into their tunnel. It took me a couple trys, but I eventually "hosed" them out and got them with my BB gun. I don't know if I killed them, but I'm pretty sure I hit them both. It's been about a week, and I haven't seen or heard from them since. I also read about a way to catch them with a 5 gallon bucket.

You fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of water, then dump a bunch of sunflower seeds (preferably black sunflower seeds) into the bucket. You can cover the top of the bucket with chicken wire (so the rats can get in, and the chickens stay out) , and you can put a board or somthing leading up to the top of the bucket, so the rats have better access. The rats want to eat the sunflower seeds, so they jump in, and they can't get out, and drowned.

 

[FuryanGoddess]

Awesome, everyone. Thanks for all the tips. I hope to wake up to find a smashed rat... It's killing me not going out and checking on the trap to see if I got it yet. The chickens are roosting outside.. gonna have to make a roost for inside this week. I also noticed a lot more squating and some of them were scratching around in the nesting box.

Can you imagine, waking up to my first egg AND a dead rat? Sigh... A girl can dream... I'd be happy with either/or!

 

[foulplay]

we have always had our coops a couple of feet off the ground anyway,,,,chickens usually like to roost up on something high, so this makes sense ...

I have a bunch of chicken coops and only the tractor is off the ground enough that rats can't get into it. The other two sit on the ground and I have had only one problem with rats. (Poison)

 

[Gullygarden]

Rats can climb way up - I have seen them over my head in my storage closet, just pushing their legs into the corner to be there. I think the bucket trap sounds like a good idea. I read about one where you put a hole through a soda can, put peanut butter on it, string wire through the can and tight over the 5 gallon bucket with water in it, and they get on the can to eat the peanut butter and roll into the water. What I don't know is how much water to use so they can't touch the bottom but also don't climb out. Anyway, I was planning to try it but the other night I went out at just the right moment to see an owl fly off with the rat that has been bothering me - he took it off the top (!) of my orange tree where the rat had been hollowing out oranges. The owl had a hard time lifting off because the rat was so heavy!

 

[FuryanGoddess]

Yeah, we have a big garden beside the chicken coop. I figured they could crawl up and into a coop if they wanted too.

 

[marianne7]

Yeah, we have a big garden beside the chicken coop. I figured they could crawl up and into a coop if they wanted too.

don't you lock your chucks away at night, I mean lock them in - we do ? Nothing could get in my coop once the door is shut.....

 

[FuryanGoddess]

No. We don't lock them in. The whole run and coop is fenced in. Only thing that could get in is something small like a rat.

 

[marianne7]

No. We don't lock them in. The whole run and coop is fenced in. Only thing that could get in is something small like a rat.

Our run and coop is fenced in....but I have always locked the coop door too...as a precaution...