Rats! I have rats.

[Hope Hughes]

A .22 or Bebe gun

 

[rehsanipoor]

SO, the original "nest" was under an air conditioning unit that was near the run. The coop is completely enclosed in the run. At this point I'm not sure where their main "hidey holes" are because in spite of not preventing them from getting in, we have disturbed their routine. I have seen them running around searching for new ways in. I don't have a good camera, but am thinking of using my baby monitor to figure out where their main nest is...

I'm only seeing babies in the run now which makes me think the millions I spent on hardware cloth was effective in keeping out the big suckers. At this point I want to figure out where to put the bait boxes. Does it need to be in their home/tunnels?

Unfortunately I can't move the chickens. We are in a residential area and are limited on space. I'll try to get some pictures/video to give you a better idea of what we have here.

They are driving me crazy... probably short putt these days... sigh.

 

[Acre4Me]

SO, the original "nest" was under an air conditioning unit that was near the run. The coop is completely enclosed in the run. At this point I'm not sure where their main "hidey holes" are because in spite of not preventing them from getting in, we have disturbed their routine. I have seen them running around searching for new ways in. I don't have a good camera, but am thinking of using my baby monitor to figure out where their main nest is...

I'm only seeing babies in the run now which makes me think the millions I spent on hardware cloth was effective in keeping out the big suckers. At this point I want to figure out where to put the bait boxes. Does it need to be in their home/tunnels?

Unfortunately I can't move the chickens. We are in a residential area and are limited on space. I'll try to get some pictures/video to give you a better idea of what we have here.

They are driving me crazy... probably short putt these days... sigh.

HWC is pricey...but as you found, it is effective! I do not have a game camera yet, but according to others on here, there are some very good cameras at an affordable price. If you search on this "predator pest" forum, you should get some ideas on brands that are useful and inexpensive.

Bait boxes will be utilized once the rats are hungry and get used to this new thing in their environment. It should be around their usual locations, but does not need to be in their home/tunnels. They will typically go back to their home/tunnels to die.

I'm glad you are seeing fewer of the rats, and only babies. But seeing babies coming out for food, in the open still means there are a lot of rats most likely. Actually surprised your chickens have not eaten the babies. Maybe too many babies and they ate some, but can't address all of them.


Good Luck!

 

[cmom]

This is what I use. I had a rat infestation in one of my coops. I rectified the problem with the coop and have these now in my barn which is behind my coops. In the past I have seen rats in the barn so I'm sure they traveled between the coops and the barn. I haven't seen a rat in quite awhile.

 

[andreanar]

I waged a rat war over the summer. It was horrible. Put the bait stations in the coop, along the wall. Put some more out in the run, along edges. I also resorted to using those big glue boards. I cleaned away all pallets, straw and other places they could hide, covered ALL gaps with hardware cloth. Stopped all feeding and snacks inside the coop, and I had my infestation under control within a few weeks. Good luck. Stay with the poisons and you will get them under control. If they don't seem to be going for the bait stations, add the glue boards and snap traps too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Chickens can be curious, so we always put them somewhere they can't peck at them.

 

[cmom]

Each persons situation may be a bit different so the rat problem may have to be dealt with differently. My mistake was when we built this coop we put an inner wall in around the bottom of the coop and the rats chewed holes and made nests in-between the studs. There is actually a stud chewed through enough that the rats could pass by the stud. Now that the cooler weather is here more coop maintenance. Before I took off the infected wood I shut the coop up tightly so the only critters could get into the coop was the rats and loaded it with the rat baits. After a few days I started seeing dead rats which I disposed of. Now I keep baits only in the baited bait boxes in the barn which is directly behind the coops. I haven't seen any rats in quite awhile. I do have game cameras up.

 

[WunnySharbit]

Slightly off-topic perhaps, but I've been watching a you-tube channel called the minkenry about a guy in Utah who does rat extermination using dogs and trained mink. I've gotten many a vicarious thrill from watching and cheering for the mink and dog to kill the little buggers!! (he also hunts other things with them, so just be aware. no, I'm not a sadist, i'm just very,very frustrated and am glad to see someone else having luck with their extermination program). I think he's been helping/training others around the country to do the same? Might be someone in your area? (no idea on cost, tho)

 

[Folly's place]

Good advice here! I used the bait stations with the bait blocks attached inside, so no bait could be pulled out of the bait station. I disposed of the very few mice and never found a rat, but they all went away after about two weeks. I keep a bait station out there for any new visitors, doubly protected in a closed live trap.
I did change bait types after the first week, as shown in HowardE's video, and it helped too.
Rats ate eggs, and killed three nice bantam pullets in my coop before I eliminated them. Nasty critters, and very smart.
I do like domestic rats, the very best 'pocket pets' ever!
Mary

 

[Acre4Me]

Good Luck. Have you thought about getting a couple cats?

We recently adopted a 4 month kitten thru the humane society. It will live in the barn, where we have an insulated area, but for all intents, it will become more of an outdoor cat, and we hope a good mouser. Funny though, we called around to several humane societies, and various rescues after finding potential fits on their websites. It was a real challenge once I said that the cat would not live in our actual home, but described the situation, including cat having own bed, food, water, and comfy cage with loft, and with routine vet visits. Some of them were like "we will have to ask our board if we would even allow you to get a cat if its not going to live inside your actual home"...Wait, wat? A few people actually told me to lie, but I figured that if the adoption places knew our intent, they might say "this one is a better fit..." Oh well, cat adopted, clean vet report, spay scheduled, and she likes the outdoors and we've found one chewed up mouse (she might have just played with it, it wasn't eaten).