My war against rat/ mice infestation

[andreanar]

Rats and mice were living under a bunch of pallets I threw behind the coop. It was infested! Today, i waged an all out war! I found a lot dead from poison I've been putting out, but a lot still alive too .

What I've done:
I jacked my coop up on cinder blocks, removed everything, shavings and all from inside coop and burned all pallets and dead bodies. I put bait stations under coop and 1 in coop. Food is being put in a metal can at dusk. There is no place for them to hide.

I found 1 hole in bottom of coop, I stuffed a rock in it until I get some more hardware cloth tomorrow.
As I sit here watching the burn pile, I can see them running around under the coop.

Any other advice?

 

[Backyard Bruce]

If you can see them and they are that abundant then have a little target practice with a pellet gun, great fun for the whole family.

 

[HeidiZ]

I went through this last year and I thought I would never get the rat infestation under control. This might sound crazy but after trying everything else I mixed maple and brown sugar oatmeal with plaster of paris and maple syrup together and made little balls and left them where ever their droppings were and within a month they were gone. I also sprinkled plaster of paris around the trails they would use I have yet to this day seen any sign of rats at all.

 

[Backyard Bruce]

Yeah not a big fan of rats either and at 4-5" I think that is what you have, field mice are much smaller body.

 

[mowin]

4-5"? Definitely not mice... them are rats.... Gosh I hate rats... had one chew the wires on a $700 dishwasher that was only a month old. Called him rat bastard. Waged a 3 week battle before I won the war.

 

[andreanar]

I can't even believe how much I've got under control in just a few days. At first I was stuffing poison down inside the pallet pile, and down into their burrow holes. I did this for a week. Then for 2 days, I waged a fierce battle!

The first day: While pulling up the pallets to burn them, I found a lot of dead and dying. But still, a lot alive. After getting rid of their hiding spot, the living either ran to the woods or under the coop. I could see them cause the coop is now jacked up 2.5 feet off the ground. I put up bait stations and got rid of any debris that they could hide under. Literally, nothing is on the ground or cluttered!

Day 2: mowed and weed eated all around, put chicken wire around bottom of coop so chickens can't get under it, but I can. Washed out inside coop, searched every nook and cranny for holes. Covered the one I found with hardware cloth inside and out. Put glue board under the coop where the hole was. Caught 4 within 10 min!
Used a few more glue boards under coop. I hate using them, but I hate rats in the coop more. Found a lot more dead and dying. There is no food in coop, they are now fed in the lawn, food is put away at night . When putting the girls in for the night, I didn't see even 1 scurrying around! Wow, at dusk was the worst, with them running all around when I would go out there.

Having rodents sucks and getting rid of them takes a lot of work. Now its just staying on top of it and not letting things pile up again. I'll always keep bait stations around and never allow food in the coop again.

 

[andreanar]

So, no rats, no mice! Nothing for 2 days on the glue boards, no dead or alive ones to be seen anywhere! I'm so relieved.

 

[andreanar]

The colony is a lot smaller than it was the other day. So, I'm just going to keep fighting the fight. Cleaning up bodies and using different poisons and bucket traps. Hopefully without the pallets and coop to hide under and no food to find, they move along.

 

[Kiki]

Kill the rats.

Good luck girl!
Can you beat them with a shovel?

 

[mowin]

I think I'd rather have fox and coons...
Good luck in getting rid of the vermin.