Rat Problem

[WindingRoad]

Lol! A cat is a great second to a possum! Siamese are best!

Can the cats go through a hole the size of a quarter? Rats are living under my coop that is up on pavers.

 

[Weeg]

I think someone should invent rat birth control. Permanent sterilization.

Yes! Instead of poison, you put out a pan of good tasting pills that the rats can eat a bunch of, and then they can't have babies! If only....

 

[Weeg]

Can the cats go through a hole the size of a quarter? Rats are living under my coop that is up on pavers.

Cats can't go through that size hole, but rats can! That is the smallest hole they can fit through.

 

[WindingRoad]

Yes! Instead of poison, you put out a pan of good tasting pills that the rats can eat a bunch of, and then they can't have babies! If only....

Hey my rats love fancy feast laced with ex-lax, ducolax, and oxycontin. I did find one dead rat right on the ramp going into my coop. It was just lying there: dead..... It's not a rat proof feeder that we need we need a feeder that is no waste. I haven't found one yet. The one have is a treadle feeder but I have it rigged so the door will open for my light weight birds. And the rats just get on their hind legs and push the door open. My birds eat at the end of the trough and flick the feed to the left/right and eventually it fills the trough and over flows. Also, the rats will stand on their hind legs and eat WITH my birds during the day.

As for being predators my chickens must have skipped school the day that lesson was taught. VBG

 

[WindingRoad]

Cats can't go through that size hole, but rats can! That is the smallest hole they can fit through.

That's why a cat wouldn't work for me. They can't get under the coop where the rats are living.

 

[Weeg]

That's why a cat wouldn't work for me. They can't get under the coop where the rats are living.

They can't get under, but will sit and wait for second that a rat comes out of the hole and then strike. They are great hunters.

 

[Bob 1313]

Yes, the traps work great, but if you have a big problem, not just a few rats like in this article, then you need to cut off food supply, and water, trap them, and give them every reason why they shouldn't come back.

Trust me, we *had* a huge problem. That is why we have so many mouse and rat traps. We started out with poisons but could not figure a way to keep from killing "innocents" like bunnies, birds, etc. For the first several months with the traps we would empty them several times a day. Now, after eliminating most of the breeding pairs, they set unused most of the time.
It is also near impossible to totally cut off their food supply with spillage, composting, etc. They'll eat damn near anything, including drip irrigation tubing, window screen, wood, insulation.

 

[jharry]

Okay, but how expensive is it?

We bought the "Grandpas Feeder" and can see a rat from time to time around it but never in it - about $150 but been well worth it.

 

[LoneOak]

A friend of mine had a rat problem a few years ago and we took care of most of them one day with a couple golf clubs and a ball bat. A few squirts of gas in their hole and light a match and they come running out. Beat the heck out of them and nail them on a board for display. We pretty much wiped out the problem on this day.

 

[Sophie1959]

Advice please?

My chicken run is invaded with rats. I shot one with my pellet gun ( and I'm almost 100% sure it died ) and trapped one with my old rat trap ( 100% dead, sorry no pics) There are a lot of rat holes and stuff where they are happily eating left over chicken food in my run EVERY NIGHT. The security like I have (which I originally put up to alert me when a raccoon came) comes on like....20 times per night! I'm looking for advice, not a fight on different traps that people use, etc. Your ideas are welcome, but please NO arguing!

I have the same problem. Closed off my run to the chickens for a month now and let the chickens free range during the day. Opened the run to the cats and dogs and removed hiding places up against the walls of the run. Haven’t seen any redolent so I suspect they moved on. My grandpa feeder came yesterday. Today I’m working on the rat tunnels. Still thinking how I’m going to do it. Maybe use hoe and flatten small ones and stuff steel wool then dirt in the large ones. Once I fix the tunnels, clean up the run I’ll get the feeder in and let the girls out. How are you going to fix your rat holes?