Rats! I have bad rats!

[LTreadwell]

Hey guys! I have 13 chickens out in the country that live in a large coop with 5 gallon bucket feeder and waterers. I don't go down to the coop daily (automatic door) and collect eggs every couple days. No problem for the last 3 years.

It has been raining non-stop for the last 3 months and the rats have come to live in my horse barn and chicken coop! The amount of rat poop in my nesting boxes makes me want to throw up and stop eating eggs! So super gross.

I have read a lot of past posts, and get that feed and water sources have to be picked up or removed, and poison is probably what we need to get things under control.

My problem is that my coop works for me because it is low maintenance - I work 12 hour shifts and do chores on my days off. I want to keep the 5 gallon feeders and waterers. I was thinking of doing some rope and pulley to the ceiling so I could raise and lower them each day for a few weeks while the rats get the poison bait instead. I am accepting that I need to make an effort for 2x/day coop trip for a while, but I want to make it as fast and easy as I can.

Any idea on how high I would need to raise them? Any DIY squirrel baffles so the rats can't climb down the rope? My nesting boxes are elevated about 24 inches off the coop floor, and I am not sure how the rats are climbing in there - I guess up the vertical wood walls? Can I cover the walls with something to make it too slick to climb? Does peppermint oil repel them? Is bleach ok to disinfect my boxes?

Thanks for any suggestions as I prepare to go to war! Hopefully Spring comes soon and the Kingsnakes wake back up to help!

Lisa

 

[Howard E]

On the feed issue, check into a rat proof feeder. It fits your schedule and if installed properly, chickens will be able to use it and rats can't. That alone may do it, but if not, you can then include the poison bait blocks..........and do use them from secure bait boxes made for that purpose.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You have rats because YOU are feeding them. In the wild rats have to hustle non stop to feed themselves and they won't breed very much unless they have a good feed supply. Putting a chicken feeder buffet out there was just laying out the welcome mat.

Sanitation will fix the problem nearly all of the time. Put your bulk feed in metal trash cans or barrels. Get a rat proof chicken feeder with a spring loaded door if you have normal sized birds, a few small birds like bantams and silkies will learn to eat from the side but get the soft close feature so they don't get clocked.

Once the feed is safe from the rodents they will leave. There is no need to poison the rodents, they will leave once they are starving. As they travel they will be picked off by their natural predators.

Do your research on the feeders, find independant review sites, not Amazon where you can get fake reviews by the dozen. $5.00 and the cost of the product will buy a fake review, I get emails every week by people offering them. Fake Google reviews are even cheaper, under a buck. If the review site just happens to have a handy link watch out, they are selling under an affiliate program and are biased. Our shopping cart has an affiliate program but we do not use the system for that reason. There are plenty of reviews out there on blogs and forums like BYC.com.

 

[Chicken Heel]

This appears to be Norway rats and they are hell to deal with once they have become established. Poison is probably going to be your best option at this point. Years ago as a teenager, I actually got attacked by one of those while gathering eggs one night after dark.

 

[getaclue]

I have to deal with them off, and on. I just got finished dealing with a LOT of them. I prefer this bait, over all the rest. They're not instant, but within 10-12 days, your rat problem should be solved. I don't remove my feeders, and water buckets. I do move them to check under them for tunnels. You can use 5 gallon buckets, using a large hole saw on the side, at the bottom to cut some holes on one side, then place the bait in the buckets, and put the lid on it. That helps prevent other critters from getting into it. Break the baits up at the seams with a large screwdriver, or whatever you have that will break them, then put at least half a package per bucket. Check daily. That's important, because sometimes they ignore it the first few days, then suddenly eat most, or all of it. Make sure you flood, and/or turn any tunnels you find if you have dirt flooring. Rake, and move flooring material, to get rid of tunnels, if you don't have a dirt floor. Check under feeders, water buckets, etc. for tunnels.
https://www.amazon.com/NEOGEN-RODEN...&qid=1582313327&sprefix=ramix+,aps,182&sr=8-7

 

[ThreeOfSeven]

I had a horrible problem with rats. I tried humane methods and homemade traps, but nothing worked. I closed up all the feeders at night, and even stopped using some extra feeders that I had because the rats would chow down on those during the day. I finally bought bait blocks and bait boxes. I've been using them for about 2 months now. I went from a dozen rats scurrying away to zero. I never see rats now. I load the bait boxes about once a week.

 

[Willowspirit]

You are not alone with the rat problem here's my story:
I didn't know I had rat(s) until I tried to go to the store Wednesday. My car wouldn't start. While on the phone with my mechanic trying to diagnose the issue I discovered a nest & the darn thing has eaten the wiring harness to the computer of my vehicle. Mechanic can't even look at it till the end of next week. My next door neighbor took everything out of their garage last weekend & bet I know why now. I have no idea how much it is going to cost IF he can even fix it. To think it happened in just a couple of days. I had 2 packets of rat poison I bought at the feed store when I saw someone else buy them for $1.00 each BUT I was hesitant to place them around & not seeing rats, but so cheap I felt compelled to buy them. All the boxes of stuff in my garage they could have made a nest & they chose my car. When I have wheels again next month I will be buying more. Mechanic told me to put moth balls under the hood because they will be back he said. A friend brought me moth balls as I am incarcerated in my own house without wheels.

I had one get in my engine and DIE there. I didn’t know until I was driving somewhere and the engine heat made it smell. Car wash detail guys removed it and cleaned the engine. It was beyond gross!

 

[Howard E]

I am in South GA, and have what neighbor called ‘tree rats’. They seem to be getting in through the coop roof, maybe in a ventilation area, since the roof isn’t damaged. I‘ve searched For the hole, so far haven’t found it. Once found and fixed, do I need to bait and kill those who have learned of the easy meal? If so, how do I bait in such a way that my hens don’t find the poison?

What you describe sounds like black rats, aka, roof rats, aka tree rats. Different vermin than the normal, larger Norway / Brown rats.

First video referenced in this thread goes through the process of how to find their travel routes, block them off and eliminate stragglers.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/
For roof rats, bait block dispensers are different and are put up higher where they live. If you are successful at exclusion, you have a good chance of picking off the stragglers with traps.....inside the building.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Aww man! Do I know your pain! Couple of years ago now my neighbor, closest one is quarter of a mile down the road, mind you, started to notice rats. They throw table scraps outside to their birds. Lo and be damn hold here cometh the rats. Near about a few months later we start noticing they have spread to my yard. I tried very hard to humanely deal with them but in the end had to wait for it to stioraining and set poison in their homes blocked em in with rocks so they had to eat the poison. Worked like a charm. Wish I hadn't waited so long to use it. When I said we tried to humanely deal with them i mean we bought a live trap. We finally had one get in the trap and stupid critter tried so hard to escape he got his head and a leg stuck in the metal bars of the side of the cage. I told my husband, the fearless Marine, to put on a glove and gently pull the rat backwards by his tail. Not happening. So I got the glove and gently pulled him back to safety only to have the darn thing as soon as he hit the ground, instead of running from us, he runs toward us! Thank God no one was there to witness my nearly 6 foot tall husband and I screaming and dancing around like two old sissified grannies! So much for trying to be kind to nature.

 

[LTreadwell]

They're not instant, but within 10-12 days, your rat problem should be solved. I don't remove my feeders, and water buckets. I do move them to check under them for tunnels. You can use 5 gallon buckets, using a large hole saw on the side, at the bottom to cut some holes on one side, Check under feeders, water buckets, etc. for tunnels.
https://www.amazon.com/NEOGEN-RODEN...&qid=1582313327&sprefix=ramix+,aps,182&sr=8-7

Wow, thanks! I have some plastic cat litter containers I will do this with - how big do you make the holes?

One of the reviews on Amazon said you need to fix these in the bucket with a wire so the rats don't drag it off whole for later. Maybe that is why they disappear?

That's good news about not having to pick up the feed and still be successful!

Thanks for the replies and suggestions!