Rat Control - the video series

[Howard E]

Can't edit the original, so consider this series of videos to be an updated companion to a previous rat control thread...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

Rat control always comes down to three things.....(1) sanitation.....(2) exclusion and if those two fail to get them to move on..... (3) elimination.

This first video is a condensed summary of the rat problem.....different rats, where they live, a lot on rat proofing and a very small amount on rat control towards the end. Some new information presented here is examining entrance points......and the tell tale signs rats are using it. If you don't have time to watch the other more in depth videos. this would be a good place to start.

Next is a good review on bait stations and how to properly use them. New here is the use of disposable gloves to avoid you touching the bait blocks, and to eliminate your scent, which may result in the rats avoiding the baits. Folks often say the rats don't go for the bait, and your scent may be why.

Next come the series of historic rat videos produced by the CDC and US Army in the 50's. All remain as valid today as ever. First is an in depth video on rats in general......how they live and what they eat. Fascinating how complex a rat colony can be. If you have rats, know this is what you are up against.

One thing that is stressed over and over is their need for shelter plus food and water. If you can eliminate any sources of food and water (rat proofing and exclusion), you may eliminate your rat problem by starving them out.

Next comes exclusion.......aka, rat proofing. Easier said than done. Metal.....in the form of hardware cloth and metal siding and roofing are your friends. And so is a cement floor. For well over 100 years, poultry husbandry books have informed us that the very best floor we can have for chicken houses is made of cement. In the video below, jump to the 9:25 mark to see why. Also note that within the first few moments of this film, they stress that rat traps alone will never work to eliminate rats. Totally futile for anything but to monitor things. The lone exception is if you have rat proofed a structure (like your home), you may have trapped rats within. You don't want to poison them inside your home where they will die and stink up the place. So traps may work there.....and almost no place else.

Lastly, when all else fails.......you may want to consider elimination........and that means rodenticides in the form of bait blocks.

This film talks about how they were developed and used. A key takeaway here (and one stressed in the first video series on the nature of rats) is how they carry food back to their dens. Unless you pin your blocks inside a secure bait station, you can be almost 100% certain rats will move and scatter them around.....where they can be found by non-target species. That then becomes a direct threat from primary poisoning. Except under the most very rare circumstances should open access bait delivery be considered. Most labels prohibit delivery from anything but a secure bait station.

If you have a rat problem, you should now be armed with enough information to go after them.

Remember......

Sanitation
Exclusion
Elimination

And in that order.

 

[Folly's place]

Thanks, Howard, for the links. Excellent!
Mary

 

[Al Gerhart]

Howard is the single best rat expert on BYC and sadly few people are willing to follow his advice. I would be relieved the problem can be solved with three steps, sanitation, exclusion, and elimination. But for some reason folks are determined to focus on #3 and spend the rest of their chicken careers (LOL) trapping and poisoning or spending hundreds on attempting to exclude the vermin rather than simply fulfilling the first step, sanitation. Feed in metal bins, the right kind of treadle feeder, and problem solved.

 

[Loving my girls]

Can't edit the original, so consider this series of videos to be an updated companion to a previous rat control thread...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

Rat control always comes down to three things.....(1) sanitation.....(2) exclusion and if those two fail to get them to move on..... (3) elimination.

This first video is a condensed summary of the rat problem.....different rats, where they live, a lot on rat proofing and a very small amount on rat control towards the end. Some new information presented here is examining entrance points......and the tell tale signs rats are using it. If you don't have time to watch the other more in depth videos. this would be a good place to start.

Next is a good review on bait stations and how to properly use them. New here is the use of disposable gloves to avoid you touching the bait blocks, and to eliminate your scent, which may result in the rats avoiding the baits. Folks often say the rats don't go for the bait, and your scent may be why.

Next come the series of historic rat videos produced by the CDC and US Army in the 50's. All remain as valid today as ever. First is an in depth video on rats in general......how they live and what they eat. Fascinating how complex a rat colony can be. If you have rats, know this is what you are up against.

One thing that is stressed over and over is their need for shelter plus food and water. If you can eliminate any sources of food and water (rat proofing and exclusion), you may eliminate your rat problem by starving them out.

Next comes exclusion.......aka, rat proofing. Easier said than done. Metal.....in the form of hardware cloth and metal siding and roofing are your friends. And so is a cement floor. For well over 100 years, poultry husbandry books have informed us that the very best floor we can have for chicken houses is made of cement. In the video below, jump to the 9:25 mark to see why. Also note that within the first few moments of this film, they stress that rat traps alone will never work to eliminate rats. Totally futile for anything but to monitor things. The lone exception is if you have rat proofed a structure (like your home), you may have trapped rats within. You don't want to poison them inside your home where they will die and stink up the place. So traps may work there.....and almost no place else.

Lastly, when all else fails.......you may want to consider elimination........and that means rodenticides in the form of bait blocks.

This film talks about how they were developed and used. A key takeaway here (and one stressed in the first video series on the nature of rats) is how they carry food back to their dens. Unless you pin your blocks inside a secure bait station, you can be almost 100% certain rats will move and scatter them around.....where they can be found by non-target species. That then becomes a direct threat from primary poisoning. Except under the most very rare circumstances should open access bait delivery be considered. Most labels prohibit delivery from anything but a secure bait station.

If you have a rat problem, you should now be armed with enough information to go after them.

Remember......

Sanitation
Exclusion
Elimination

And in that order.

I would like to add that if the area is accessed frequently by people they are more likely to keep away. I often go to sit by the hen house and read, I think this helps too.

 

[Birdinhand]

I understand the fact that sometimes it comes down to poisening but I think adding a 4th step is a good idea, and that is trapping. I’d add that step between 2 and 3 above, only resorting to poisening when steps 1-3 fail to adequately keep populations in check.

Step 3 for me, includes a variety of traps, the “jaws” brand plastic snap traps are easy to set, have strong springs and have teeth that adequately stabilize for a humane kill. I rarely use the wood victor brand ones, they take nerves of Steele to set, but if you have a problem rat that requires clever tactics, they sometimes do the job the best. The ratinator is another go to for me. My trap approach is heaviest during the late fall, winter and early spring when the rats are less risk averse and more hungry. I do occasionally use a carpet bomb approach and just set out everything I’ve got, even set snap traps without lure, more like snares. The few rats that make it through the winter, those are the breeders for the next season, catching those is golden even though they are seasoned and smart and harder to catch.

Poison, in my book, is best used sparingly and only if all else fails. It only kills about 40% of the rats that eat it, and causes miserable suffering even when successful. Then there’s the next critter up the food chain, the unintended target, like owls, birds of prey, house cats etc, that eat the poisoned rat, which often gets disoriented, milling about in broad daylight, making it easy pickin’s. Poison is deceptively convenient but can have many insean repercussions.

 

[Fortune]

I would like to add that if the area is accessed frequently by people they are more likely to keep away. I often go to sit by the hen house and read, I think this helps too.

Have you ever used the ratinator trap? I just ordered one but still waiting for it. There are too many to try using snap traps and I hate poison. This catches multiple rats live and then I can drown them right in the cage. Hoping it works...its not cheap!

 

[Fortune]

Can't edit the original, so consider this series of videos to be an updated companion to a previous rat control thread...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

Rat control always comes down to three things.....(1) sanitation.....(2) exclusion and if those two fail to get them to move on..... (3) elimination.

This first video is a condensed summary of the rat problem.....different rats, where they live, a lot on rat proofing and a very small amount on rat control towards the end. Some new information presented here is examining entrance points......and the tell tale signs rats are using it. If you don't have time to watch the other more in depth videos. this would be a good place to start.

Next is a good review on bait stations and how to properly use them. New here is the use of disposable gloves to avoid you touching the bait blocks, and to eliminate your scent, which may result in the rats avoiding the baits. Folks often say the rats don't go for the bait, and your scent may be why.

Next come the series of historic rat videos produced by the CDC and US Army in the 50's. All remain as valid today as ever. First is an in depth video on rats in general......how they live and what they eat. Fascinating how complex a rat colony can be. If you have rats, know this is what you are up against.

One thing that is stressed over and over is their need for shelter plus food and water. If you can eliminate any sources of food and water (rat proofing and exclusion), you may eliminate your rat problem by starving them out.

Next comes exclusion.......aka, rat proofing. Easier said than done. Metal.....in the form of hardware cloth and metal siding and roofing are your friends. And so is a cement floor. For well over 100 years, poultry husbandry books have informed us that the very best floor we can have for chicken houses is made of cement. In the video below, jump to the 9:25 mark to see why. Also note that within the first few moments of this film, they stress that rat traps alone will never work to eliminate rats. Totally futile for anything but to monitor things. The lone exception is if you have rat proofed a structure (like your home), you may have trapped rats within. You don't want to poison them inside your home where they will die and stink up the place. So traps may work there.....and almost no place else.

Lastly, when all else fails.......you may want to consider elimination........and that means rodenticides in the form of bait blocks.

This film talks about how they were developed and used. A key takeaway here (and one stressed in the first video series on the nature of rats) is how they carry food back to their dens. Unless you pin your blocks inside a secure bait station, you can be almost 100% certain rats will move and scatter them around.....where they can be found by non-target species. That then becomes a direct threat from primary poisoning. Except under the most very rare circumstances should open access bait delivery be considered. Most labels prohibit delivery from anything but a secure bait station.

If you have a rat problem, you should now be armed with enough information to go after them.

Remember......

Sanitation
Exclusion
Elimination

And in that order.

Thank you so very much...I was at my wits end worried about both the girls and the rats showing up in droves. I go out there at night and chase them away but it is only temporary. I started picking up their food bowls at dusk but the grains are all over in the dirt from their messy habits so there is always something for them. Will have to get a better way to feed them that isn't so messy.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rats will just start eating during the day so removing feed at night is a partial solution but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Be very skeptical of marketing claims on feeders, hit the negative reviews first because those are the folks that had a rodent problem, the rest just wanted a pretty feeder. Any articles that have links back to Amazon or to another sales platforms that pretend to be objective are just saying whatever needs said to gain that small commission.

Plastic is bad so avoid it at all costs, the inward swinging doors are much, much, much easier to train the birds on and don't require leaving the feeder blocked open for weeks (trains the rats where the feed is too), wide treadles are easier for the smaller birds and for the rodents too, and above all, make sure it has some sort of spring loaded door or the mice and rats can just push the door open and chow down.

And don't forget that a good feeder is just a start, clean up the access routes so the rodents are out in the open for natural predators to have a shot at, and be sure the bulk feed is in metal cans.

 

[Loving my girls]

Have you ever used the ratinator trap? I just ordered one but still waiting for it. There are too many to try using snap traps and I hate poison. This catches multiple rats live and then I can drown them right in the cage. Hoping it works...its not cheap!

I’ve never come across them before, not sure about the drowning but if they can’t get out once they are in could a fast acting poison work I wonder ? I would love to know how you get on with it, please can you let me know ? I am really interested