Rat Control in winter *edited with pictures

[lazy gardener]

I once had a coon roll a trap 75' across the lawn. He was so big that he could go part way in to eat the bait, then when the door slammed down, it would catch him on the butt, and he'd just back out. We extended the length of the trap with 1/2" hardware cloth. After he got dizzy from rolling in the trap, he shredded the hardware cloth and made his exit. Don't believe it when folks say that 1/2" hardware cloth is predator proof. Desperation and determination overcome many obstacles. Since that episode, I always peg a trap down to the ground.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

Hopefully rats can't chew through wires of the livetrap! I'm afraid to relocate the captive so am hoping it'll just go to sleep and expire frozen. Then become treat for chickens (is healthy looking rat). If I have to dispatch it though, I will so can trap any more under the coop.

 

[lazy gardener]

I doubt that it will freeze. You most likely will have to dispatch it. Do you have a pellet or bb gun?

 

[Beer can]

Rats are pretty smart they get wise to any kind of trap after awhile. I hate using poison but once you eradicate them they don't come back in my experience. We had a wrath of them when we first moved to our current house 5-6yrs ago. Had them again this fall, only two times I've had to deal with them .

 

[lazy gardener]

That is good to know, BC. What did you use for bait?

We are in a rural area. No trashy houses around us, but there are horses within 1/4 mile, and an other horse resuce farm 1/3 mile away, as well as several places with chickens. So, where ever there is unsecured animal feed.... there are bound to be rats. Garden produce would also be an attractant. So, it's not unreasonable to assume that if I eradicate the ones that have found me, others will fill that void.

 

[SnowyChickenMomma]

Not sure if this will work for you (depends on size and shape of your coop) but what I did was put down a temporary apron using 3' tall hardware cloth laying directly on the ground, from the edge of the coop out, pinned in place with bricks. It is possible for rats to slip in between the boundary so you may possibly have to bend the edge by the coop up a few inches to prevent that, but this worked for us. We then placed traps around the perimeter where holes had been. Rats are very smart and wary so you might not catch them immediately.

This sounds like a great idea! I am going to home depot tomorrow and I am hoping that hardware cloth are bricks aren't that expensive I think I recall bricks not being too pricey but I've never had to buy hardware cloth before

 

[SnowyChickenMomma]

Holes the size of ping pong balls may not be rats. They may only be mice. Not as bad, but really not something you want hanging around either.

Whatever the case, steps in control are to rat proof the structure and also remove access to food and water to the vermin. This all takes a lot of work. Spilt feed on the ground is likely what attracted them and will sustain them, so if that is going on, whatever feeder or feeding method you are using will have to change. Perhaps hand feeding only what the birds will eat. All else gets taken up and stored in METAL containers. I used a rat proof treadle feeder on my mouse problem and it went away.

If you do decide to go "kill em" route, be thinking poisons in proper bait stations.....the kind with pins in them to hold the bait blocks in place so nobody drags one outside where your birds, pets, kids or other unintended targets might find them. As near as I have been able to find out, the risks to birds, pets, etc. from poisoned rats is not as bad as some fear, but the risk of exposed baits that have not been washed through the rat first is.

Start with one of the anticoagulant baits, which may take 5 days to a week or so to see some response. It has to accumulate over time. You can monitor it by how fast the bait blocks go away. Then when that dies down, switch to a fast kill / one bite block to pick off any stragglers. If you do have rats, most likely they are brown rats (aka Norway rats), which often times are too big for traps to nab. You can try trapping, but don't expect much success from traps. Traps alone won't cut it. Most rat colonies can populate faster than dumb rats can be trapped.....or at least they can keep up with no sweat. Rumor has it if they sense a drop in numbers, they get busy in the bedroom so to speak so as to catch back up. They are that tough to deal with.

Tomorrow during the daylight I will try to take some photos I think the holes were larger than ping pongs and I was being too lax with the description either way I set one of my trail cams out overnight and I also have always made sure to bring in their food and water at night so there really isn't a food source other than whatever they drop on the ground under their feeder that hangs above the ground mind you

 

[Howard E]

Having seen the photos, looks like rats to me. I know you did intend it as such, but yours is almost the perfect setup for them.

 

[Clarity1210]

I had a rat problem this past year. A neighbor cut down an enormous burr oak (the kind with huge acorns) and rats came in droves to my vegetable garden. Even in blazing light of midday summer heat. I tried tried traps but finally resorted to poison. Some sort of neurotoxin with dessicant I want to say, in bait stations. It put a major dent in the population by the end of the summer, and I haven't seen signs of rats at the coop yet. I have hardware cloth going into the ground at least 6 inches around the run, and I keep the feed in the coop. Still keeping my eyes out though!

 

[Clarity1210]

If you don't already have them, wire aviation clips really help in cutting hardware cloth. Ask at Home Depot. Hardware cloth isn't cheap but it's worth it. I'd do the skirt like others suggested but also bring the cloth up around the first few lower feet of your fence so the rats and mice don't have a "highway" entrance to your run. I use those plastic zip ties you find in the electrical section of the hardware store as fasteners. I don't know where you live or if you've got a truck, but sometimes you can find people giving away bricks, paving stones, or the like for free.