Mice are visiting

[dawg53]

We've been having rain too. I had a coop that was infested. I had a ceiling in it which the rats had built nests and walls on the inside where rats had nests. I renovated it taking the ceiling out and the walls. Dozens of rats poured out of all sizes. The barn is behind the coops and I had seen some rats so I put the bait stations in the barn.The Tom Cat bait didn't work well for me so I used the same bait they used at the feed store down the road and the rats seemed to love it. I put it in the bait stations. The baits haven't been touched in quite awhile and I haven't seen any evidence of any rats...
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Here is the coop I had to renovate.
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I saw that bait at our local feed store. If the rats show up again, I'll buy it. So far so good.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You solve a rodent problem by buying a treadle feeder. Trapping or poisoning your way out of a rodent problem is an unending task. Preventing them from eating the feed forces them to move to an area with sufficient natural food or another coop that hasn't bought a treadle feeder.

You do have a great opportunity once you have the treadle feeder installed, putting out bait to poison the rodents and once they are starving they will try the bait. The problem is that the natural predators that have already found the rats are likely to be poisoned too.

Do a forum search on rat proof feeders or just rats and chickens. There are hundreds of threads filled with old wives tales and schemes but what always works is securing the feed.