Rat Control 101

[Suzi18]

Hello. I have used this. It did NOT get rid of the infestation, but they did take it. I did find at least one dead rat after using it, but was that just coincidence? Who knows. I didn't find any before using the Rat x or after stopping using the rat X.

As noted, this is totally harmless to chicken. it IS deadly to rabbits and other animals that are unable to vomit/regurgitate. It only works BECAUSE they can't throw up.

Sounds horrible. This is where I am so torn. I dont ever want to harm any living creature (except for the big hideous spiders IN my house) . Even rats as disgusting and horrible as they are I don't want cuz suffering in any animal. But..........if it comes to that I will eventually do what I have to. If I could deter them and make them move on, I would be happy. I keep all my feed in metal trash cans and put the feeders away at night. I have hardware cloth buried all the way around my coops and run and I cant for the life of me find where their tunnels originate from.

 

[Howard E]

A good homemade rat poison is Peanut butter mixed with bicarbonate of soda

As noted before, I seem to recall a LOT of BYC growers have tried this, and if memory serves it didn't work for them. Same with PB and plaster of paris. These seem to be examples of urban myth things folks find on the Internet. Another one is there are products that will kill a rat in the house and it won't smell. Forget that.....it will (which makes for a big problem when when using poison bait blocks to kill roof rats in your house). A lot of good information on the Internet.......a lot of bad information too.

One thing to keep in mind when considering options like this, if the solution was that easy, there woudn't be a need for all the commercial rat baits out there.

 

[Howard E]

Sounds horrible. This is where I am so torn. I dont ever want to harm any living creature (except for the big hideous spiders IN my house) . Even rats as disgusting and horrible as they are I don't want cuz suffering in any animal. But..........if it comes to that I will eventually do what I have to. If I could deter them and make them move on, I would be happy. I keep all my feed in metal trash cans and put the feeders away at night. I have hardware cloth buried all the way around my coops and run and I cant for the life of me find where their tunnels originate from.

Did you watch the 2nd video on rat proofing.......the part where it explains how rats are able to tunnel in?

Dealing with rats and chickens is not a new concept. Going back to poultry husbandry books written 100 years ago, one of the biggest issues they had even back then was rats. A#1 best floor for a chicken house, even back then, was cement, and using it as a barrier to rats was one of the main reasons why.

 

[cmom]

Yes, that would have been a hard lesson to learn.

If you watch the 3rd video, the one on "rat killing", it clearly shows how the rats carry off the baits. In fact, it even shows the guys intentionally placing baits at the openings to the tunnels, knowing the rats will take them inside to eat, then die in the tunnels. If a person's situation were such that no pets, no kids, no nothing was going to find and eat the baits, that might still be something to employ today. But that might only be 1% of the time. The rest of the time, far better to use secure, tamper proof bait boxes (keeps kids out) and use only the ones that have "pins" inside to hold the bait blocks in place and for that exact reason. Rats will drag any loose baits out into the open and scatter them around for non-targets to find and you really don't want that to happen.

This happened way before you posted the videos. If I had know then what I know now...

 

[Howard E]

Yup.....experience can be a great teacher. Or as someone once said, "good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that experience is gained from bad judgement".

And your willingness to share your experience is helpful to others who haven't been down that road. So hopefully if they watch the videos and study the other stuff, when it comes their time to deal with their rats, they too will know what to do.......and just as important......what NOT to do!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Sounds horrible.

You know what's more horrible? Rats eating baby rabbits alive out of their nests and chewing off your chickens feet while they roost at night. o_o; If they were just stealing a few eggs and pooping, I wouldn't care, ya know?

Nature doesn't mind being horrible. So unfortunately doing away with them is a perfectly reasonable response IMO.

 

[MissChick@dee]

SO thankful I don’t have rat’s!

 

[Folly's place]

Rats live everywhere that humans also live, so sooner or later, they will arrive. Just be prepared!
Mary

 

[Larry Rose]

I built my coop on an old cement silo platform. I used a layer of block on top of that, building with wood on top of the block. The wooden wall is too high for anything to chew through. I used a Steel Household door. Built a "Raised" chicken entry door out of wood for the chickens. Here's what I did to keep mice and rats out of the coop. I did Not Use a Ramp for the Chickens to access the door, but I did use some large wood blocks. The Chickens use them like steps, jumping into the opening from the blocks. Mice have no access this way. I suppose a Rat might be able to get in, but none have, and I check daily in the corners for any signs. Going on two years and I seem fine. I do have a "Glue Box trap". Build it only about 5'' tall. (I used a 2 X 6) About 18 " square. Just one hole in the end and you will catch mice, rats and all kinds of bugs, but no birds. Build it to fit whatever glue traps are available in your stores. Just place it in a good place, usually close to a wall because Rats follow along walls. I use P-Nut butter as bait, but you probably won't even need any because Rats like spaces like this box. Put an easy to remove cover on it for ease of cleaning it out. I use a B.B. Gun to dispatch them with and put the whole glue trap in the trash. Just remember to wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly. And keep all grains in a mouse proof box, barrel or other suitable container. This really works!

 

[Larry Rose]

SO thankful I don’t have rat’s!