One rat in the coop: should I decon?

[Coops Dad]

We have almost 20 acres of pasture grass which abuts another 50 on one side and 35 on the other, with 100 acres of corn and soybeans behind us.

We have rats and mice galore. I put a kiddie pool in the middle of the tractor shed with a few sticks leaning against it and threw a handful of scratch into the pool. The next morning, there were about a dozen mice in it. The chickens ignored them until I tossed a handful of feed into the pool. A few hens followed the feed... and I'll always have fond memories of the ensuing massacree. At least 15 hens jumped in and contested for their share of the vermin. I hate mice and rats. Chickens, happily, love them the way I love well-buttered toast.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats do eat eggs, and will kill chickens at night. You can try traps, but at best, one or two might be trapped, and the rest of the family wise up and can't be trapped. It's a reason to set up a bait station outside, as mentioned.
Choose bait carefully, make sure no other critters can get to it, and watch for any dead rodents, so you can pick them up and put in the garbage. Most will return to their tunnels and die there, safer.
Hate to do it, but sometimes necessary.
Mice are easy to trap, rats, not so much.
Mary

 

[Coops Dad]

I said that to say this- I can understand disinfecting after a major infestation but, if chickens are natural predators of rodents, I wouldn't bother if it was just one rat.

 

[MissGreenJeans]

We have almost 20 acres of pasture grass which abuts another 50 on one side and 35 on the other, with 100 acres of corn and soybeans behind us.

We have rats and mice galore. I put a kiddie pool in the middle of the tractor shed with a few sticks leaning against it and threw a handful of scratch into the pool. The next morning, there were about a dozen mice in it. The chickens ignored them until I tossed a handful of feed into the pool. A few hens followed the feed... and I'll always have fond memories of the ensuing massacree. At least 15 hens jumped in and contested for their share of the vermin. I hate mice and rats. Chickens, happily, love them the way I love well-buttered toast.

Haha! I’m new to chicken keeping, so I haven’t seen them murder anything except bugs yet—but I heard/read they do enjoy a good massacre.

 

[Folly's place]

Agree. And many coops really can't be 'disinfected' at all. Like mine, wood walls and ceilings, and a broken concrete floor. When we had a rat visitation, clearing out the rats, the insulated walls had to go, and new bedding, was the most we could do. And bait stations outside. Found two dying mice, no rats.
So much for insulating the coop walls!
Mary

 

[MissGreenJeans]

Rats do eat eggs, and will kill chickens at night. You can try traps, but at best, one or two might be trapped, and the rest of the family wise up and can't be trapped. It's a reason to set up a bait station outside, as mentioned.
Choose bait carefully, make sure no other critters can get to it, and watch for any dead rodents, so you can pick them up and put in the garbage. Most will return to their tunnels and die there, safer.
Hate to do it, but sometimes necessary.
Mice are easy to trap, rats, not so much.
Mary

Good to know—thanks, Mary!

 

[MissGreenJeans]

I said that to say this- I can understand disinfecting after a major infestation but, if chickens are natural predators of rodents, I wouldn't bother if it was just one rat.

Makes sense to me! Thanks, Coops Dad!

 

[dawg53]

I live in the country too. Due to flooding rains the past 2 years, I had a rat/mice invasion in my chicken pens. It took me 3 weeks to get the rats under control.
Standard rat traps no matter the bait didnt work. Glue traps caught mice but not rats.

Tomcat bait cylinders are useless. However, "Just One Bite" rat bait cylinders work. The rats love them. BUT the rats are becoming resistant to the poison in the bait.

I hung ammonia soaked rags on the chicken wire going around the outside of all the pens shortly after dark when the chickens had gone in the coops at night. Then collected all the rags early the next morning before letting the chickens out in the pens.
I did that for 3 days straight and the rats went bye bye.

This year the rats are making a comeback. I bought a Rat Zapper and it works by electrocuting the rats and it works great! It's powered by 4 "D" cell batteries.
I put a 'Just One Bite' cylinder in the back of the Zapper and turn the switch on at dark. The rat goes in the trap to eat the bait and is electrocuted. I've electrocuted 3 rats. I really like the Rat Zapper, easy to use and kills rats dead.
https://www.victorpest.com/rat-zapper-ultra-rat-trap

 

[MissGreenJeans]

Agree. And many coops really can't be 'disinfected' at all. Like mine, wood walls and ceilings, and a broken concrete floor. When we had a rat visitation, clearing out the rats, the insulated walls had to go, and new bedding, was the most we could do. And bait stations outside. Found two dying mice, no rats.
So much for insulating the coop walls!
Mary

Shuddering imaging how much fun it must have been to clean out the insulation post-rats… Yuck. :-/

True re: “real” decon. My whole coop’s wooden, so I suppose it’s kinda impossible to achieve!!

 

[MissGreenJeans]

I live in the country too. Due to flooding rains the past 2 years, I had a rat/mice invasion in my chicken pens. It took me 3 weeks to get the rats under control.
Standard rat traps no matter the bait didnt work. Glue traps caught mice but not rats.

Tomcat bait cylinders are useless. However, "Just One Bite" rat bait cylinders work. The rats love them. BUT the rats are becoming resistant to the poison in the bait.

I hung ammonia soaked rags on the chicken wire going around the outside of all the pens shortly after dark when the chickens had gone in the coops at night. Then collected all the rags early the next morning before letting the chickens out in the pens.
I did that for 3 days straight and the rats went bye bye.

This year the rats are making a comeback. I bought a Rat Zapper and it works by electrocuting the rats and it works great! It's powered by 4 "D" cell batteries.
I put a 'Just One Bite' cylinder in the back of the Zapper and turn the switch on at dark. The rat goes in the trap to eat the bait and is electrocuted. I've electrocuted 3 rats. I really like the Rat Zapper, easy to use and kills rats dead.
https://www.victorpest.com/rat-zapper-ultra-rat-trap
View attachment 3179397

Oh wow—will get one of those for sure! I’ve used a similar product from Victor for mice inside, and it worked great!! Didn’t think to see if they had a zapper for rats, too!