RAT WAR!!

[Lazy Farmer]

I had a problem with Rats. I go rid of them by using just one bit bait. I put a wire through the bait stick--there is a hole there--and anchored them to something. I placed them in places where chickens could not get to them. It worked!

No rats at my place for two years now.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/homemade-v-s-store-bought.1180448/page-2

 

[chickisoup]

I solved the spillage problem with a 4" extension so they have to reach further to access the feed. Cap goes over the opening overnight to discourage rats.

may I ask how you extended the pipe?

 

[Sublight]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/homemade-v-s-store-bought.1180448/page-2

What kind of bait is being used? I see the little blocks at lowes, and they have a indent but no hole for the screws.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

[Thanks for starting this thread.

I too am in a long standing war with rats....and I too "hate" rats for the filth and disease and parasites they bring into the property.

I find a multi-method approach the best.

In our area, you can only get ahead for a bit. Rats proliferate everywhere. Often it is a matter of harassing them enough so they go to the neighbors until they harass them enough to send them back to you.

What works for me?

1. I cleaned up as much feed as possible and covered or removed over night. I have reinforced coop entry ways only to have the monsters chew THROUGH the wood in the coop. I have stopped feeding in the coop altogether. (There was reason I had feed in the coop at one time, for broody mommas and babies, but if you can avoid it do.)

2. Made it hard for them to get to stored feed. My feed is kept in a metal garbage can with lid. They chewed through any rubber maid, even the super tough kind.

3. I have tried the plaster of paris mix. It does work, for a little while. Mix it wet, add bird seed or such, and form little wet but firm balls to place in areas chickens can't get to. Replace in a couple of days. The first couple of rounds, it did stem the tide...then no longer worked. We alternate with the plaster of paris and store bait.

4. I have found a good cover for my tin feeders to be a 5 gallon bucket placed over the top. It sets down into the bottom metal lip so that the rats can't seem to get a grip enough to gnaw through it. I get very little waste out of that feeder type overnight. My birds don't seem to spill a lot of feed when I have the feeder placed up high enough so they can't bill it out well.

5. I've added natural control. We've had hawks and owls help out (although they tend to help themselves to the birds as well...so I've got a lot of hawk netting to.)

Last year, I got a Rat Terrier from a rescue. Just this summer he has 13 rat kills. I've trained him to not bother the chickens, even the smaller grow outs (still wouldn't leave him alone with baby chicks). He is faithful and diligent in his nightly rounds. I let him hunt rats as I check and lock up birds at night. We also send him out for a bit on his own (for about 20 to 30 minutes). I monitor him as I don't want him eating the rats (for the pests and potential poisons). He is really good about bringing the kills to me. (He prefers jalepeno jack cheese to rats

6. We've set up target practice (no one send me nasty emails...this is a war zone). My son is actually pretty good with a pellet rifle. He sets up at dusk after the birds are roosted and before my nightly lock down. He's got a few kills on his belt too.

7. My husband places rat traps out. They work only for the dumber ones as the others get pretty savvy pretty quickly, but it is another thing that will get some of them. He places either in the wood pile or turns a milk crate over it to prevent dog and chickens from getting into it.

8. And finally we've added poison bait. At some point, you simply have to put out the poison. At this time, I have chosen the repeat bite bait because of my Rattie and the wild hawks and owls around here. The first bite type is poisonous to anything that eats the poisoned rat. The second bite (repeat) is not. While that type does take repeated ingesting before it is effective, it is much better if a dog gets into it or gets a rat poisoned by it.

All we're able to do is stem the tide and reduce waste from the beasties. As stated, we live in an area rift with rats in general. All we can do is try to make our property inhospitable enough and reduce the population enough to keep the hoards at bay.

LofMc

 

[Sublight]

[Thanks for starting this thread.

I too am in a long standing war with rats....and I too "hate" rats for the filth and disease and parasites they bring into the property.

I find a multi-method approach the best.

In our area, you can only get ahead for a bit. Rats proliferate everywhere. Often it is a matter of harassing them enough so they go to the neighbors until they harass them enough to send them back to you.

What works for me?

1. Cleaned up as much feed as possible and cover or removed over night. I have reinforced coop entry ways only to have the monsters chew THROUGH the wood in the coop. I have stopped feeding in the coop altogether. (There was reason I had feed in the coop at one time, for broody mommas and babies, but if you can avoid it do.)

2. Made it hard for them to get to stored feed. My feed is kept in a metal garbage can with lid. They chewed through any rubber maid, even the super tough kind.

3. I have tried the plaster of paris mix. It does work, for a little while. Mix it wet, add bird seed or such, and form little wet but firm balls to place in areas chickens can't get to. Replace in a couple of days. The first couple of rounds, it did stem the tide...then no longer worked.

4. I have found a good cover for my tin feeders to be a 5 gallon bucket placed over the top. It sets down into the bottom metal lip so that the rats can't seem to get a grip enough to gnaw through it. I get very little waste out of that feeder type overnight. My birds don't seem to spill a lot of feed when I have the feeder placed up high enough so they can't bill it out well.

5. I've added natural control. We've had hawks and owls help out (although they tend to help themselves to the birds as well...so I've got a lot of hawk netting to.)

Last year, I got a Rat Terrier from a rescue. Just this summer he has 13 rat kills. I've trained him to not bother the chickens, even the smaller grow outs (still wouldn't leave him alone with baby chicks). He is faithful and diligent in his nightly rounds. I let him hunt rats as I check and lock up birds at night. We also send him out for a bit on his own (for about 20 to 30 minutes). I monitor him as I don't want him eating the rats (for the pests and potential poisons). He is really good about bringing the kills to me. (He prefers jalepeno jack cheese to rats

6. We've set up target practice (no one send me nasty emails). My son is actually pretty good with a pellet rifle. He sets up at dusk after the birds are roosted and before my nightly lock down. He's got a few kills on his belt too.

7. My husband places rat traps out. They work only for the dumber ones as the others get pretty savvy pretty quickly, but it is another thing that will get some of them. He places either in the wood pile or turns a milk crate over it to prevent dog and chickens from getting into it.

8. And finally we've added poison bait. At some point, you simply have to put out the poison. At this time, I have chosen the repeat bite bait because of my Rattie and the wild hawks and owls around here. The first bite type is poisonous to anything that eats the poisoned rat. The second bite (repeat) is not. While that type does take repeated ingesting before it is effective, it is much better if a dog gets into it or gets a rat poisoned by it.

All we're able to do is stem the tide and reduce waste from the beasties. As stated, we live in an area rift with rats in general. All we can do is try to make our property inhospitable enough and reduce the population enough to keep the hoards at bay.

LofMc

Its seems like everyone goes to poison eventually.

 

[kwhites634]

may I ask how you extended the pipe?

The tube was too long, anyway (too close to the covered top of the run to pour the feed from a scoop), so I cut 4" off the top & stuck it in the "Y" fitting where the chickens access the feed.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

That was a big one. A VERY big one.
I know there are some smaller ones in there too. We're working on it. They seem to be out a lot at night.
Big dog (in the background) is good at flushing them, but she thinks it's all a game and is a big scaredy cat. She probably wouldn't hurt them even if I told her to. It's this shining girl who takes them down. And she is passionate about it.
She kills them fast and then drops and leaves them. She just wants the hunt. The joy on her face says it all.

 

[broadwing]

PLEASE DON'T USE POISON BAIT! It may solve the rodent problem but it causes sooo many others, not the least of which is the inadvertent poisoning of your neighborhood raptors...which are tirelessly helping to combat your rodent problem day and night, whether you can see them or not.

Believe me, I can sympathize: I'm having the same problems in catching a couple of gigantic rats who have been defeating every form of snap or glue trap I've put out. Recently a full-grown male strolled right through my fully-lit TV room in front of me and my 130lb dog one night like it owned the place, but my next methods will be live traps and maybe the NZ rubber-band trap (and offered my friend with a rat-hunting terrier $50 bounty on any rodent her dog catches at my house), and other novel ways of outsmarting these things instead of bait. As a falconer and raptor rehab volunteer I've seen too many hawks and owls die unnecessarily ugly deaths, bleeding out internally from poisoned rats. Generally by the time someone finds them and gets them medical attention it's too late and they can't be saved, assuming the stress of capture and transport doesn't do them in first.

If you have close neighbors with pets, your bait can also accidentally poison them if they catch a rat who stopped by your bait station and then staggered onto their property before it dies. It happened to my next-door neighbor's dog, and luckily she recognized the symptoms and got him to the vet quickly. Years later, he still has health issues stemming from the poisoning.

They haven't figured out how to chew through my plastic bins yet, but they were a terror on my feeder until I replaced the typical plastic bucket-and-tray feeder with a steel treadle-step design. It holds way more than the plastic one did, and as long as your chickens weigh more than a rat, it's rat-proof. My feed usage has gone down dramatically even though the girls are still eating as much as ever. The only trick was teaching old chickens new tricks: learning how to step up on the perch to eat took them a few days but they finally got it.

If you have fields/meadows and a treeline on your property, consider building a barn owl nest box. Barn owls eat primarily rodents and will not harm chickens or pets (they are smaller than most cats and weigh less than their size suggests). Here's a link to an informative site about their habits and nest box requirements if anyone is interested: http://tommy51.tripod.com/aboutbarnowls.html

 

[chickisoup]

The tube was too long, anyway (too close to the covered top of the run to pour the feed from a scoop), so I cut 4" off the top & stuck it in the "Y" fitting where the chickens access the feed.View attachment 1079691

went to town this morning and bought a coupler. I think it will do the trick and I like the thick rounded edge. We'll see in the morning!

 

[WannabeFarmer5]

PLEASE DON'T USE POISON BAIT! It may solve the rodent problem but it causes sooo many others, not the least of which is the inadvertent poisoning of your neighborhood raptors...which are tirelessly helping to combat your rodent problem day and night, whether you can see them or not.

Believe me, I can sympathize: I'm having the same problems in catching a couple of gigantic rats who have been defeating every form of snap or glue trap I've put out. Recently a full-grown male strolled right through my fully-lit TV room in front of me and my 130lb dog one night like it owned the place, but my next methods will be live traps and maybe the NZ rubber-band trap (and offered my friend with a rat-hunting terrier $50 bounty on any rodent her dog catches at my house), and other novel ways of outsmarting these things instead of bait. As a falconer and raptor rehab volunteer I've seen too many hawks and owls die unnecessarily ugly deaths, bleeding out internally from poisoned rats. Generally by the time someone finds them and gets them medical attention it's too late and they can't be saved, assuming the stress of capture and transport doesn't do them in first.

If you have close neighbors with pets, your bait can also accidentally poison them if they catch a rat who stopped by your bait station and then staggered onto their property before it dies. It happened to my next-door neighbor's dog, and luckily she recognized the symptoms and got him to the vet quickly. Years later, he still has health issues stemming from the poisoning.

They haven't figured out how to chew through my plastic bins yet, but they were a terror on my feeder until I replaced the typical plastic bucket-and-tray feeder with a steel treadle-step design. It holds way more than the plastic one did, and as long as your chickens weigh more than a rat, it's rat-proof. My feed usage has gone down dramatically even though the girls are still eating as much as ever. The only trick was teaching old chickens new tricks: learning how to step up on the perch to eat took them a few days but they finally got it.

If you have fields/meadows and a treeline on your property, consider building a barn owl nest box. Barn owls eat primarily rodents and will not harm chickens or pets (they are smaller than most cats and weigh less than their size suggests). Here's a link to an informative site about their habits and nest box requirements if anyone is interested: http://tommy51.tripod.com/aboutbarnowls.html

AGREED!!!!