Rats 😖

[Al Gerhart]

Elimination is the third step in the three steps of rodent control advocated by Howard E.. It is the third step for a reason, it is not 100% effective, thus the never ending need to maintain poison or traps. It is also never ending because the rodents quickly learn what is killing their buddies and avoid the traps and poisons.

I swear, we must have a lot of Elmer Fudd types out there with so much time on their hands that matching wits with rodents is the point of their entire being alive. Or maybe they just love a challenge? Once I am retired I might join them to have something to do.

Control the feed and you eliminate rodents and wild birds. It is that simple. You will spend a minimum of $65 for the cheapest treadle feeder on the market that actually works plus shipping between $20 if you are near the middle of the country to $35 if you are on one of the left coasts or are way out in the boondocks and paying a surcharge on top of normal shipping. And even galvanized feeders can rust out but keeping one clean and out of the muck makes them last a very long time. And buy extra springs, $1.50 each bought with a feeder, but USPS is now around $5.60 for three springs in an envelope if you order them later. A few bucks a year for replacing springs ought to be your only cost once the feeder is in use.

 

[B_Chickle01]

There is a product called Rat X that is only toxic to rats, interferes with their ability to thirst so they dehydrate and die in their sleep. It also eliminates the odor of their death. Walmart and Amazon sell it-good info & explanation on the Rat X website.

Thanks so much! We thankfully eliminated all rats shortly after this post!

 

[Red Mangrove]

I had some roof rats show up this last month following heavy rain. I found the rats in my kitchen raiding my pantry like it's the movie Ratatouille

Next day I dropped off a small kitten

Rats are all gone like the Devil himself is in my kitchen now

 

[B_Chickle01]

I had some roof rats show up this last month following heavy rain. I found the rats in my kitchen raiding my pantry like it's the movie Ratatouille

Next day I dropped off a small kitten

Rats are all gone like the Devil himself is in my kitchen now

Omg I would of died! They thankfully were only around the coops which is a good distance from my house: that was bad enough! We never used any poison we just used the spring traps and bucket traps my fiancé had made awhile ago for mice he made some for the rats and then just did rat control like putting feed away in steel bins all that stuff and they were gone and haven’t had them since! (Jinx knock on wood)

 

[chickenherder26]

Elimination is the third step in the three steps of rodent control advocated by Howard E.. It is the third step for a reason, it is not 100% effective, thus the never ending need to maintain poison or traps. It is also never ending because the rodents quickly learn what is killing their buddies and avoid the traps and poisons.

I swear, we must have a lot of Elmer Fudd types out there with so much time on their hands that matching wits with rodents is the point of their entire being alive. Or maybe they just love a challenge? Once I am retired I might join them to have something to do.

Control the feed and you eliminate rodents and wild birds. It is that simple. You will spend a minimum of $65 for the cheapest treadle feeder on the market that actually works plus shipping between $20 if you are near the middle of the country to $35 if you are on one of the left coasts or are way out in the boondocks and paying a surcharge on top of normal shipping. And even galvanized feeders can rust out but keeping one clean and out of the muck makes them last a very long time. And buy extra springs, $1.50 each bought with a feeder, but USPS is now around $5.60 for three springs in an envelope if you order them later. A few bucks a year for replacing springs ought to be your only cost once the feeder is in use.

I do have a question on this, if you don't mind. I know this is an old thread. We have the Rat-Proof Chicken feeder you are referring to, and I am so glad we got it at the first sight of a rat. We were starting to have problems with wild birds in the open chicken feeder also, and obviously this took care of the birds. We do still have at least some rats though - they are living in our old shed, or the woodpile next to it. A short scurry away from our coop and run. Unfortunately there was an open compost pile right next to shed/woodpile as well - I guess we were basically advertising for rats! The compost pile is gone, we tried to open the area up so there is less cover - and i am advocating for moving the woodpile away from the shed, out into the open, although my husband is afraid they will move closer to the chickens if we do that. We haven't had a loss but we do have four 10-week old chicks - and that is the problem. We are working on integrating them into the flock, and they are too small to use the Rat-Proof feeder yet. At what age are they generally big enough to use it? And do you have a suggestion for what to do until they are big enough to use it? They have the typical open feeder which we bring in at night and only put out a few times a day for them to eat from, although when we go out of town next month, I am not sure what to do. And I"m also wondering, do people typically dump the water at night? i have read that some people do, but not sure how critical that is.

 

[chickenherder26]

I do have a question on this, if you don't mind. I know this is an old thread. We have the Rat-Proof Chicken feeder you are referring to, and I am so glad we got it at the first sight of a rat. We were starting to have problems with wild birds in the open chicken feeder also, and obviously this took care of the birds. We do still have at least some rats though - they are living in our old shed, or the woodpile next to it. A short scurry away from our coop and run. Unfortunately there was an open compost pile right next to shed/woodpile as well - I guess we were basically advertising for rats! The compost pile is gone, we tried to open the area up so there is less cover - and i am advocating for moving the woodpile away from the shed, out into the open, although my husband is afraid they will move closer to the chickens if we do that. We haven't had a loss but we do have four 10-week old chicks - and that is the problem. We are working on integrating them into the flock, and they are too small to use the Rat-Proof feeder yet. At what age are they generally big enough to use it? And do you have a suggestion for what to do until they are big enough to use it? They have the typical open feeder which we bring in at night and only put out a few times a day for them to eat from, although when we go out of town next month, I am not sure what to do. And I"m also wondering, do people typically dump the water at night? i have read that some people do, but not sure how critical that is.

And we are using snap traps and Rat X but so far we know they are not all gone yet.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I do have a question on this, if you don't mind. I know this is an old thread. We have the Rat-Proof Chicken feeder you are referring to, and I am so glad we got it at the first sight of a rat. We were starting to have problems with wild birds in the open chicken feeder also, and obviously this took care of the birds. We do still have at least some rats though - they are living in our old shed, or the woodpile next to it. A short scurry away from our coop and run. Unfortunately there was an open compost pile right next to shed/woodpile as well - I guess we were basically advertising for rats! The compost pile is gone, we tried to open the area up so there is less cover - and i am advocating for moving the woodpile away from the shed, out into the open, although my husband is afraid they will move closer to the chickens if we do that. We haven't had a loss but we do have four 10-week old chicks - and that is the problem. We are working on integrating them into the flock, and they are too small to use the Rat-Proof feeder yet. At what age are they generally big enough to use it? And do you have a suggestion for what to do until they are big enough to use it? They have the typical open feeder which we bring in at night and only put out a few times a day for them to eat from, although when we go out of town next month, I am not sure what to do. And I"m also wondering, do people typically dump the water at night? i have read that some people do, but not sure how critical that is.

Glad the feeder did its job on the wild birds. Make sure the spring is in good shape and set stiff enough so that you KNOW the rats aren't getting in the feeder. There have been several upgrades over the years, moving the spring to the door and using two springs was a major one and you can retrofit older feeders.

I'd get the wood pile up on some sort of frame so cats and wild predators can get under it. Yes, the rodents will move but they won't go more than say 50' from their food source.

The 10 week olds are too young. You need both enough weight to operate the treadle and the reach to hold the treadle down and still reach the feed. That said, with some older birds in the flock, the younger ones can probably use the feeder while an older bird is eating. Block the sides with cement blocks or milk jugs filled with sand or dirt to force the birds to come straight in. Start a week before you need to leave town to give them a few more weeks of growth.

I'd watch the feed used too, about a quarter pound of feed per day per bird. More than that, the rats are getting to the food.

Not much you can do if you have rats and the young birds are too small. Better to be proactive and have the rats cleared out before you bring in little ones. You are certainly doing a lot towards that.

 

[chickenherder26]

Thank you!