Nasty Ugly dirty Rats!

[muddypoo]

a few months ago a noticed holes in and around my Barn then i noticed that i had been missing alot.....IMEAN ALOT of young chickens and baby turkeys......some of them were around 2 to 3 lbs.....

so i started settin my hav-a-hart traps so far i'm 1 huge female and 2 smaller females into it.....and now i'm seeing that my older birds arent doin so well i lost 3blue breda pullets in one week and now one of my blue polish roosters isnt looking so good and they are on opposite sides of the barn in between them are my 2 month old silver americaunas (20 of them) 5 RIR's and some mixed breeds..... but its only the bredas and the polish that are acting sickly...

i guess what i am askin is if the rats are drinking their water and eating their food would it cause them to get sick and die? and what can i do for them once they are sick......Tylon doesnt seem to do it....

 

[chfite]

You could check for fleas or other pests from the rats that are draining the chickens energy. Are the rats eating so much of the food that the chickens are getting enough?

You seem to have a problem that you need to jump on with both feet.

Chris

 

[Grog]

set up "bait" stations and get rid of the rats. I have rats, but they dont seem to do anything other than eat the food. They even go in with my 10 week old babies and just eat the food the babies are fine(2 weeks outside). I will be getting my stations and poison tomorrow. I got it from
http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/protecta-rat-bait-station-p-1292.html for the station

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/final-blox-rodenticide-p-336.html?sub_id=1839 for the bait.

Edit: you also might treat for Cocci

 

[muddypoo]

well its been about a week .....

since I posted this I went out and bought a bunch of snap traps...but the rats are sooo big they don't get caught in them so I just kept on setting the live trap and I caught six in 4 days the past 2 or 3 days I haven't caught anything at all.....when I was catching them I was getting them in the trap 2 at a time but the alst time I caught 2 in the trap I caught a glimpse of one that was drinking water that was coming down the side of the barn splashing out of a bucket so I know there is at least one more but like they say you don't just have 1 rat!

 

[Judy]

Definitely check for lice/mites. I prefer bromadiolone poison; never had much luck with traps. Of course the poison has to be where the chickens can't possible get at it. If they don't seem to feel well I would also worm with Valbazen.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ll-seeing-live-worms-in-poo/0_20#post_9315842

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/57525/rats-rats-and-more-rats/20_20#post_606272

 

[muddypoo]

finally got rid of the rats now i got a freakin raccoon

 

[StupidBird]

Sorry about the rat problem. BYC has a lot of info on getting rid of rats and keeping them out, which I followed when the rats moved from the foreclosed farm next door to my shed.

Weird tip: after getting rid of the rodents and sealing entrances, feed, etc., sprinkling a hefty can of cinnamon has kept them away. I believe this because whenever I've cleaned, swept the shed and not put the cinnamon back down, in a few days there'd be a scattering of turds to show they're back.

Good luck on the racoon