rats in coop

[Gonda]

I'm looking for solutions for mice and rats. I had the mice nicely under control using bait stations. Now I have rats in the chicken coop. I've fixed the area under the door where they were coming in with hardware cloth.; my coop is on a cement foundation and I don't see that they're getting in anywhere else. I've installed a sonic repeller in the coop, so will see if that works to keep them out. But I'm trying to cover all the bases and would like to get them off my property altogether. I have a bait station for rats but after two weeks, the bait hasn't been touched. Now I'm reading about all the risks of using poison or bait (poisoning other animals if they eat a poisoned rat/mouse, the possibility that it could die inside a wall somewhere). It's a bit discouraging. I'd been doing so well, with no rats on the property until now even though I've had chickens for the last few years.

Has anyone had success with sonic repellers, as far as driving rats and mice away altogether?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

My mom used to have a sonic repeller in her house, and the mice just ran right by it. (It was an old farmhouse.) She had to use another method.

I don't believe they work at all.

Do a search on here for "just one bite." I read that some members use it. I don't know anything about it though.

 

[Gonda]

I guess the question then might be, where did she position it? Was it facing a solid wall or hard surface or soft furniture? So I won't write off the idea yet as there are stipulations about how it's used. But if anyone else had ideas or suggestions, I'm open to them.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

. loading problems led to duplicate

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
It was one of those plug in models like a night light, but bigger- she had it in the hallway, with no obstructions. But it was years ago, come to think of it, and they probably have improved the things.

Ok, nevermind.....

 

[Gonda]

I checked out some bait ingredients and some apparently don't cause secondary poisoning. The one I'm using is difethialone, which is apparently a low risk to animals like dogs and cats, if they consume the rodent that ate the bait. So that makes me feel a bit better.

Has anyone heard of using instant mashed potatoes (dry, not rehydrated) mixed with peanut butter, which then swells up in their stomach and they explode? I was thinking of putting some of that in the bait station, but am worried that the rat could drag it out and leave it and another animal might eat it. Mind you, it's raining a lot here, so it would get rehydrated pretty quickly. There's a thought.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Keep searching for them holes, it has to be rather tight to keep them out.

Pick up feed at night so they can't get at it.

I've tried any number of traps and baits, but I found d-Con works the best. Others swear by the One Bite bars. (It may be the same poison). Make or buy some bait stations, keep the feed picked up and they'll eat the bait.

 

[Gonda]

How do you get chickens to stop spilling their feed? I feed grain, and I try hanging it a bit higher, which helps a bit but they still shake their heads and toss it around. I have a large tray underneath, and that catches the stuff that spills. But then, they also deposit stuff in there, so I don't want to put that back into their feed. And then the question is: how do you dispose of that? And how do you dispose of shavings with spilled grain? I have 12 week old chicks and they make a terrible mess. So it's hard to clean the feed up every night and there's the disposal issue.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
The feeder should be at the level of their backs. If you have bantams too like me, then what you can do (I have one feeding station like this) is set the feeder right into the rubber pan with a high lip (not hanging). The feed stays pretty much in the rubber pan.

I use wide round rubber pans right underneath the hanging feeders. I only find feed with an occasional "present" that has dried out in it- I just knock them out with a stick and pour the feed right into my bucket that goes in the garage at night.

I still have some feed (their least favorite) that gets thrown out on the ground- they won't eat it and the mice get it. But I have a repeating mousetrap that catches mice- then I drown them in a bucket.

I remove all feed at night for everyone over 6 weeks old. Food and water in the run only unless less than 6 weeks at our house. I found that the mold growing under the waterer, the spilled feed that then got moldy, and the bullying that went on inside the coops over food because of no easy escape route was just too much.

For my youngsters, shavings with spilled grain gets thrown out in the run. They pick through to eat the grain, and the shavings just disappear- they decompose very quicky (or at least mix with the mud so well you can't see them anymore)

 

[card5640]

I used a 18 inches of 5 inch PVC pipe screwed it to a board and put the poison in the pipe about 9 inches in where the chickens couldnt get to it. Problem solved in 2 days.