New and need rat help !

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I feel your pain. It made me feel yucky too. And I had a friend with the most beautiful coop I've ever seen but she had rats eating eggs, bringing her to tears, I felt not alone... I WILL write a article this weekend and share with you. In the meantime I can tell you that I read alot from Al Gerhart about feeders and always recommending Howard E's rat methodology. I think I even debated a bit with Al (I dont do that anymore because you never know when it's someone's kid on BYC, fyi.) I just didnt want to do ALL THAT work. But it is what it is, I relented and did the work. AND I got feral outdoor cats as a control. Rat's gone now for years. As for feeders, I dont use rat proof feeders. Instead I put feeders up everynight and there is no spill on the ground. I'll get you all of the other details soon. You are NOT alone!
BeagleCoop said:
Details of this project 🙏pretty please?!
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SandyRiverChick said:
I feel your pain. It made me feel yucky too. And I had a friend with the most beautiful coop I've ever seen but she had rats eating eggs, bringing her to tears, I felt not alone... I WILL write a article this weekend and share with you. In the meantime I can tell you that I read alot from Al Gerhart about feeders and always recommending Howard E's rat methodology. I think I even debated a bit with Al (I dont do that anymore because you never know when it's someone's kid on BYC, fyi.) I just didnt want to do ALL THAT work. But it is what it is, I relented and did the work. AND I got feral outdoor cats as a control. Rat's gone now for years. As for feeders, I dont use rat proof feeders. Instead I put feeders up everynight and there is no spill on the ground. I'll get you all of the other details soon. You are NOT alone!
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Thank you so much! I’ll be working a lot this weekend but checking in when I can! The kindness is overwhelming and wonderful from everyone here!
 
tlcmurphy said:
Ditto on taking the food in every evening. It’s a PITA, but the only thing that controls the rats. They aren’t gone, but there are fewer of them. I also only feed in the run, never the coop, so the rats I do get aren’t in the coop.
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We just started taking in the food into our garage at night, hoping that will help! The chickens free range most days but we’d leave the coop open so they Can lay when the want. Sometimes we close it and leave them to just the coop and the run.
 
Kenneth Zweerink said:
Welcome to BackYard Chickens. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska! The Best of Luck with your War on Rat's.
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Thank you! My rat anxiety got the best me and I didn’t give a proper introduction- Wisconsin here! Fortyish chickens. We’ve had an EASY winter, wet spring, and the mosquitoes are torturing me when I go out to the coop on rat patrol. Looking forward to learning a lot more here about all things chicken!
 
BeagleCoop said:
Thank you so much! I’ll be working a lot this weekend but checking in when I can! The kindness is overwhelming and wonderful from everyone here!
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I don't know how many fellow Six Sigma peeps may be on here. But I think no one would question this Project Charter. Just want you to know that stakeholders are every chicken keeper and beyond. It's sort of a fun exercise for me as a SS black belt. Sorry to say I'm headed out of town for the long weekend but I'll share with you on Tuesday. Hang in there!! It's not rocket science! (inside joke.)
 

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