Rats!!!🙀

[Stelliebellie1234]

Ok, so I was in my chicken coop the other day and I saw some rats dive under the nesting boxes as soon as I walked in. I didnt get a very good look at them but they are quite large (10-12 inches) and I don't know what to do. It won't matter inabout 2 weeks and I need to know if I have to get rid of them now or if i should just leave it alone. Do they pose any threat to my chickens?

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

A rat that big could easily take down a young chicken or even a small full grown one. Maybe even a normal sized chicken. It’s needs to go bye bye.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats in the coop are an emergency! They will eat eggs, kill chickens at night, and bring nasty diseases that affect humans. Figure how to keep them out today, or bring your birds to a safe location tonight.
Any opening larger than 1/2" diameter into the coop, any doubled walls with or without insulation, or and tunnels from under the floor, all possibilities. Wear gloves, there is likely rodent poo and urine over everything, and it's awful stuff.
If you can block them out of your coop, then there are traps, very unsuccessful, or bait in bait stations, usually the only way to eliminate a rat colony.
Ask me how I know this; three nice pullets dead, lotsa eggs gone, and redoing the coop to make it more secure. And poison bait stations.
Mary

 

[Stelliebellie1234]

Rats in the coop are an emergency! They will eat eggs, kill chickens at night, and bring nasty diseases that affect humans. Figure how to keep them out today, or bring your birds to a safe location tonight.
Any opening larger than 1/2" diameter into the coop, any doubled walls with or without insulation, or and tunnels from under the floor, all possibilities. Wear gloves, there is likely rodent poo and urine over everything, and it's awful stuff.
If you can block them out of your coop, then there are traps, very unsuccessful, or bait in bait stations, usually the only way to eliminate a rat colony.
Ask me how I know this; three nice pullets dead, lotsa eggs gone, and redoing the coop to make it more secure. And poison bait stations.
Mary

All of my chickens in that coop are full grown, but we have had quite a bit of egg shortages lately... I know where they are living so should I block off that area? Either i trap them inside and they starve, or I trap them out and they have no place to live. Is this a good idea? I am moving the coop that they are in as soon as my pullets grow up, and I don't want to have to renovate the whole coop just so that I can use it as a storage unit in 2 weeks. Would putting poison in the rat hole or blocking it off work as a temporary fix?

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

All of my chickens in that coop are full grown, but we have had quite a bit of egg shortages lately... I know where they are living so should I block off that area? Either i trap them inside and they starve, or I trap them out and they have no place to live. Is this a good idea? I am moving the coop that they are in as soon as my pullets grow up, and I don't want to have to renovate the whole coop just so that I can use it as a storage unit in 2 weeks. Would putting poison in the rat hole or blocking it off work as a temporary fix?

I wouldn’t use poison. Block it off, with rats in or out your choice, and set traps outside. A rat that big can kill a full grown chicken no problem.

 

[Stelliebellie1234]

I wouldn’t use poison. Block it off, with rats in or out your choice, and set traps outside. A rat that big can kill a full grown chicken no problem.

Thank you!

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Thank you!

If you can put poison where the chickens can’t get to it or eat the dead bodies that would be ideal. You want those rats dead and buried 6 feet under.

You do have to make sure if there are any dead rats you dispose of the bodies so no animal can eat it.

 

[Folly's place]

Most poisoned rodents return to their tunnels and die there. Seldom will you find one, fortunately. Traps work well for mice, but rats are just too smart. you will catch maybe one or two, and the rest will avoid the trap.
Fixing the coop to keep them out is a priority! And, if rats can enter, so can weasels, and one of those will kill the whole flock overnight.
Mary

 

[Callender Girl]

I fought rats all winter. I ended up moving all the birds out of the two coops that were infested (I know that's not a solution for everyone), and tried pouring EVERYTHING down the tunnels -- hot sauce, pepper flakes, various essential oils. I didn't want to use poison, so I set out kill traps, rat-sized snap traps. Eventually, I shelled out $40 for an electronic trap which did the job and meant I didn't have to handle mangled, dead rats. When the time came, they just slid out of the trap, neat and dead.

They did not harm my birds, but I know they carry disease, and it was too early in the year for eggs in those two coops. So, I guess I was lucky. I filled in the rat tunnels and added hardware cloth under the coops. My other coops already had hardware cloth, so I SHOULD have known better. BTW, I also quit feeding anybody on the ground close to the coops. To this day, the ducks get their breakfast on the other side of the driveway. And, all of my feed is always housed in metal garbage cans.

Good luck with your efforts!

 

[FluffyButtBabies]

Ugh, rats are awful. We lost an entire coop to them. The issue is, rats can be very smart. We tried every trap on the planet, and nothing worked. Luckily we got a few lovely dogs, so the rats left us alone afterward. But I know dogs aren't always a solution, so good luck!