Rats burrowing under coop

[archeryrob]

They aren't smarter than that bucket trap though. We have a cattle finishing farm up the hill from us. Naturally they have rats and our cat brings home a young one here and there dumb enough to stray this way.

Jack Russells and Rat Terriers love to hunt rats. My neighbor used to have a jack russell and she loved killing rats around the barn. Then there is the guys using ferrets to push them out and the dogs kill them.

 

[aart]

They aren't smarter than that bucket trap though.

Will a 5 gal bucket trap will work on rats(other than the baby ones)?

 

[archeryrob]

When I was a boy someone tore down a shed and rats infested the neighborhood. Dad, got frustrated and told ne $1 per rat. I sat on the back porch with a cup of sweet tea and used a chinchilla cage a string through the hardware cloth to the door and dog food in the trap. I caught 20 the first day, 10 the second and 5 and 1 each day after. Dad's wallet was shocked how many rats there actually were around! Rob was happy with the new fishing gear he could afford.

That little cage and patience worked way better than any spring trap.

 

[archeryrob]

Will a 5 gal bucket trap will work on rats(other than the baby ones)?

It's hitting its limit fast. I would go for a larger barrel.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I also used to leave a dish of grain out for the chickens overnight so they had food first thing in the morning but have stopped that now. The other day I left a large seed block for the girls in the run to keep them busy in the morning, the whole thing disappeared overnight. I never had a problem until my neighbour put 3 large water containers built up on blocks directly the otherside of my run by the fence, nit sure if its coincidence but the rats are a real pain and chew everything.

My guess is the rats are living under the water containers - they'd provide weather and predator protection for them.

And yes they're very attracted to anything you'd feed a chicken, so that means no food or treats out overnight. The chickens will be fine having to wait a little for breakfast.

 

[aart]

It's hitting its limit fast. I would go for a larger barrel.

Bigger animal, bigger and especially deeper bucket.

 

[Lizzy733]

I put my two cents in recently here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-bugs-everywhere.1344826/post-22106391

Rats are clever and avoid new things in their environment, meaning they need time to grow accustomed to newly laid traps. Backfill existing holes with steel wool to stop them re-digging them and look for a long-term deterrent.

 

[Colez]

i have caught several rats on camera coming into the chickens run and there are several holes around the chicken coop. I've tried live traps, bucket traps, snap traps but no luck. I obviously can't use poison because of the chickens so I'm not sure what to do. If I make a concrete trench around the coop will that solve the problem? Any tips are appreciated!

Following, I've had some stealing eggs as well, they somehow set off live traps and Houdini out

 

[Oolala]

Why does this come up all the time and no one is considering a cat to solve these problems? Out here you would be hard pressed to find a person with any kind of animal feed that didn't have barn cats or consider having them. They have been used for at least 5000 years for these same problems.

We have a black female cat that is 10 years old. My wife hates mice and we haven't had one in the house since we have had this cat. She asks me "What are we going to do when Raven (Our cat) dies?" My answer "Get a female kitten pretty quickly!!"

We also used to add these to the barn. It catches even the smart one that avoid the cats

If only it was that simple!!! We have two cats, the one is a brilliant hunter, rabbits, pigeons, mice, no problem, rats???not interested, infact with two cats our house was recently over run with mice, we were catching up to six a day sometimes, it took months to get rid of them all with us resorting to putting poison down in the end which I hated doing. So this is what I have done with the rats but they are still there, I even put all the amonia smelling cat litter around their entey points which I read they hated but they are still there. Any other tips????

 

[Oolala]

My guess is the rats are living under the water containers - they'd provide weather and predator protection for them.

And yes they're very attracted to anything you'd feed a chicken, so that means no food or treats out overnight. The chickens will be fine having to wait a little for breakfast.

Thats my thought too, I give the girls a good feed before bedtime so it sould tide them over until I drag myself out of bed in the morning, they also have a good sized run they can scratch around to keep them busy and at this time of year it doesnt 8.30.