NEEDADVICE-RATS EATING CHICKS-GETTING DOG TO HELP-ADVICE PLEASE

[cmom]

 

[cmom]

I do have a lot of cameras up and I enjoy seeing what is prowling around on my land. Mostly coyotes and other predators now and then.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I have 3 dogs, passionate about rat hunting. I have pictures of them with killed rats.

They didn't do diddly squat to the rat populations despite taking out plenty, often a whole litter of rats in a single night with ease. The only thing that fixed it was professional level intervention. I also lost many chicks to them.

First, clean the heck out of everything. You can't fix your neighbors but you can work on your own property. All food sources need to be eliminated. Other food sources like your chicken feed need to be in metal containers with lids. I use metal trash bins. Remove debris piles both in and out. Lift stacks of baled goods, rocks or logs off the ground on pallets on cinderblocks to remove nesting grounds. Secure your coops and brooders with 1/2" hardware cloth over any gaps bigger than a quarter. Feed needs to be removed at night, or only feed as much as you need to once per day. Removing food sources and nesting grounds will do a lot.

Second step is elimination. There's some poisons like tracking powder that only hit the rats and are unlikely to cause secondary issues because they go directly into the burrows and use such a small amount they're less likely to cause secondary poisoning. Bait boxes, when used properly, help prevent anything but the rats from getting to the poison. Rat X only effects rats and other animals with one-way digestions (so birds and small predators are unharmed) but is only moderately effective. Snap traps, bucket traps, etc are also helpful.
Start by determining where they're moving then set your traps and baits. For traps, set them baited but unset for one week, then set them baited and set the following week. Then move them to a new spot and repeat. Try to place them near the pathways the rats are taking so that they stumble across them easily.

Then rinse and repeat. The combination of death and denial of food should starve them off of YOUR property. But since they're coming from the neighbors cows, this could easily be a long term issue.

I think unless you have someone nearby who has ratting dogs that you can work with to train your own dogs I would suggest NOT getting a dog to try to fix the rat problems. They're just not efficient enough to really fix a big infestation. Cats too, they will bring home mice and babies but probably not adults.

 

[Lynn Woehrle]

An Anatolian Shepherd would be good protection for your chickens.