Rat’s Nest Invaded My Girl’s Run!

[Lady of McCamley]

I also second cats. I have a lot of friends that have barn cats to rid the rat population.

You often can find feral cats in rescue services around your area.

I chose not to because of the baby chicks, a house cat, and of course my rat terrior.

But if you can get a couple of rescue feral barn cats, they will help a lot.

LofMc

 

[Wormhunter]

I’ve heard essential oils help deter rats. You can also buy natural rat poison that will only effect rats, mice and other rodents.

We covered the floor in a roll of wire stretched and nailed up the sides
It’s hot dirty work but so we’ll worth the effort

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

No problem! Happy to help.

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

I’ve also heard placing instant mashed potato powder around the affected area helps, as the rats eat the powder and it expands in their stomach killing them.

 

[ggirlfarmmom]

Comrade, I feel your pain. I too am in a waged war with rats. I don't know if you've ever seen Ratatouille, but I am an eyelash distance from becoming that crazed old woman in the introductory scene that shot gun blasts her ceiling to kill the darn things as they swarm out of the house. I HATE rats. (They destroy my feed bins, eat holes in the SIDES of my coops, kill my baby chicks, and leave their filthy trail of germs and diseases everywhere.)

We have tried EVERYTHING to stem the tide in my wet Northwest, rat infested, territory. Rats are notoriously thick in our neck of the woods.

What you can do, in order of attempt (with rising level of frustration):
1. Pick up food at night. Be sure to store in metal garbage cans with firm lids. (Beware that the rats, at least the street fighters in my area, will simply chew through the sides of your coops through 3/4 inch plywood to get to scraps if anything is left in the coop). They also began to come out during the day to the feeders....so

2. Set snap traps with peanut butter. This will stem the tide briefly...until they figure out how to avoid them and still get the peanut butter. Pour hubby and yourself some sweet tea (or a glass of wine) and sit on the back porch listening and resetting traps. Makes for a cheap date night.

3. Try every manner of "herbal" deterrent. You can try the cougar pee (we never did...didn't want stinky stuff) or plaster of paris with bird seed balls which is supposed to harden in the rat and kill them (rats just pooped white turds). Herbals were laughed at. Be forewarned that a lot of the essential oils are dangerous to birds.

4. If you are red necked enough, and a good shot, you can try air soft rifles. My son and hubby have plunked a few that way. Makes for a cheap video game (if you have the steel, which is easy to get after you've seen a baby chick mauled by a rat).

5. Get yourself a rat terrier, preferably feral in its first year of life. My Dobby has 30 kills under his paws. Stems the tide some. He goes out hunting with me every night on lock up. May I mention some of the rats in our area are HUGE! He still wrestles them down with his 15 pounds of fury and might (then after a swab down from mom, cuddles for a Netflix movie). My personal favorite solution.

6. Finally resort to generation 1 rat poison, the blood thinner type. Generation 2 poisons are the ones you want to avoid (neural poisons that drop the animal with first bite and are dangerous to anything else that eats the rat). Generation 1 poisons take time to work as it takes several feedings to thin the blood enough. Much, much less dangerous to other animals. Place in over turned milk crates that allow rats in but keep other animals out, or place deep in wood pile, or in one of the specialized rat baits. Amazon or Home Depot are great places to get them.

That's what we've tried. The only thing that holds the flooding wave back is first generation poisons.

LofMc

Thank you!