Me 1, Rat 0

[Tomhusker]

My girls aren't laying yet, so I guess you would call this Preventative Maintenance.
I was sitting outside watching the chooks last evening when I noticed some movement under our raised coop. I watched as a young rat came out of the grass and began feeding on some spilled feed in an area where the feeder used to be before we added on to the coop.
I don't have any traps, and I don't want to put out poison, but what I do have is what every good, red blooded redneck has....... GUNS.

I went inside and grabbed my DW's .380 pistol and returned to wait for the rat to return. It didn't take long. Within maybe 2 minutes the grass was moving and then the rat returned to the same spot about 15 yards away. I chambered a round (still had the personal protection hollow points loaded in the clip), drew a bead on the fella and squeezed off a round. One shot, one kill.
The chickens jumped a little, looked at me like I was crazy, then went back to free ranging.
I think this will be my preferred method of rat removal in the future.

 

[wsdareme]

 

[drdoolittle]

Hmmm......I started out with the same problem, and ended up with a TON of rats---some quite HUGE. I don't like poison, but seeing 20 rats all in the chicken pen at once was the straw that broke the camels back! And by the time you get that many (and believe me, it doesn't take long) there really is no alternative. The rats were all gone within 4 days, and most must have returned to their tunnels to die, because I only found four or five adults and a couple of babies that I had to dispose of. I think shooting a scurrying, sneaky rat would be so hard-----you must be an excellant shot!

 

[MrChicken207]

It's the preferred method in most places. My Dad used to shoot them in the cow barns in his younger years. He and a couple of friends would use 22 rifles. i don't think they got rid of all of them, but they kept the populations down to more manageable levels. WHen there are 50 or more cows at a time, there are almost bound to be rats.

 

[scooter147]

Am I correct to assume with the hollow point there was not clean up????

 

[Tomhusker]

Quote:
Not unless I wanted to sop up the wet spot....

 

[gruntle]

you could also try mixing the hottest spices you can find in with the chicken feed. rats don't like spicy food (its because they can't burp or vomit), and it might put them off.

 

[crazyhen]

I didn't have a gun with me ; but I did have a pitchfork and it was me 1 and rat 0. My cat killed one, I caught one in a trap and i pitchforked one. Tomorrow I will put out more traps. I'm not that good a shot. I also installed more hardware cloth around the coop next to the runs to keep them out of there. Whew!!! It was hot and sultry here. The temp. not so bad but the humidity was terrible. Be gone August already. Gloria Jean