My war against rat/ mice infestation

[Dona Worry]

Clean the coop out completely, and get a piece of sheet metal the same size as the floor and glue or nail it down, then wrap the outside with more metal or REALLY heavy hardware cloth.

 

[coach723]

I think you've done a lot in the way of severely reducing your population. There are many ways to make homemade rat and mouse traps using buckets with spinning bait stations that don't need poison. You can make a buried rat trap that they go in and can't climb out of, just do a search for 'home made rat trap'. My chickens catch and eat mice, so I would never use any kind of poison. I find the electric traps to be the easiest for me. Bit of an outlay in the beginning to purchase, but they last a long time. I just leave them out all the time, check every morning and empty them if needed. During the summer I catch very few, in the winter it's a bit more. No way they can hurt a chicken.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I would have picked up a cheap pump air rifle for around $30 or so and had my fun shooting them vermin pretending I'm a sniper in WW3...... moving ever soo slowly, steadily stalking.......... heart racing, controlling my breathing as I put the cross hair on my enemy. 1 shot, 1 kill. I must succeed.

 

[lissalischicks]

What about using ammonia? I fill a spray tank with equal water and ammonia. Then put in some essential oils like spearmint peppermint and any citrus scents for good measure. I then spray the area around the coop. It doesn't kill them but they hate the scent and it deters them from coming back.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Do you have any photos? Those don't sound like rats - 4-5 inches long in the body sounds like a good sized deer mouse. Rats would be six to eight inches long, unless they were very young juveniles. If they are mice, be very careful about your own health! Deer mice are one of the biggest carriers for Hantavirus, which can and will kill you if you're exposed and don't get it treated. Look up the information on it, just in case. It's generally contracted by disturbing mouse feces that are infected - dust rises off them, you inhale the dust, and the virus gets into your lungs.

As others have said - be careful that your chickens, and any other animals can't eat any of the mouse carcasses. Mine love to snack on mice. You might want to encourage a nice, hungry snake to move into the area to keep the rodent population under control.

 

[andreanar]

Do you have any photos? Those don't sound like rats - 4-5 inches long in the body sounds like a good sized deer mouse. Rats would be six to eight inches long, unless they were very young juveniles. If they are mice, be very careful about your own health! Deer mice are one of the biggest carriers for Hantavirus, which can and will kill you if you're exposed and don't get it treated. Look up the information on it, just in case. It's generally contracted by disturbing mouse feces that are infected - dust rises off them, you inhale the dust, and the virus gets into your lungs.

As others have said - be careful that your chickens, and any other animals can't eat any of the mouse carcasses. Mine love to snack on mice. You might want to encourage a nice, hungry snake to move into the area to keep the rodent population under control.

I also think they are mice. The rats I see around here are usually much bigger with a thicker tail. These things jump like Ive never seen rats do. Whatever they are, they gotta go!
Ive got a great handle on things now. It really was our own fault for letting pallets and junk build up and being careless with the feed.
We are checking diligently throughout the day and making sure to get rid of dead bodies. I have not found any or seen any alive for the last few days.
My girls are free ranging during the day, and stay under a tree that they love, well away from the coop and run. Only coming back to lay. So, their chances of coming across a poisoned body is pretty slim.
Its a chance I had to take, given that the rodents were truly like a NYC sewer!