Rats in my run!! HELP!

[Member 671655]

My chickens eat mice and rodents that come in the yard or coop lol

 

[Folly's place]

Chickens will kill and eat small critters during the day, but not at night when they are roosting. And those rodents are most active at night.
Mary

 

[Saraguay]

My parents had a major rat problem in their house in 2019 and 2020. They tried a lot of things but it only really was solved when poison was put out.

Rats are incredibly intelligent. They will learn to avoid traps once a few have been caught. If you can’t buy enough to effectively destabilize the population in one night (at least a couple dozen) then they will stop going to them or learn to trip them before eating. Poison does that but for a lot less money and it’s not an immediate cause/effect so they don’t learn to avoid it as well.

I am not a fan of poisons but they have their place.

Even poison didn't work for me! A professional exterminator said I must have bait resistant rats, so he put out professional strength. Get this. The rats ate all that, found the box of extra, ate through it and all of the bait, then made a NEST inside the poison box! Zap traps worked for about 5 rats then stopped. I am currently using bucket trap, snap traps, and a trail cam to find the weaknesses in my 1/4 inch hardware cloth joins. I may or may not have purchased all the zip ties in the state of WA and a a whole lot of wire, to boot. I may or may not be going over with a second layer of the unwieldy wire sheets this afternoon. I am at war.

 

[McChooky]

I've watched video's of professionals who used weasels and dogs hmmm

 

[Penpal]

I've watched video's of professionals who used weasels and dogs hmmm

I like the idea of dogs. Most terriers are good ratters. Patterdale, Rat, Bedlington, Jack Russel, Dachshund. I don't know which ones can be trained to leave the chickens alone, I know Rat Terriers can be. These dogs were all farm dogs.

 

[Folly's place]

The problem with dogs is that all the rats aren't ever caught. Ferrets may do better, don't know. rats are expert survivors!
Mary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Even poison didn't work for me! A professional exterminator said I must have bait resistant rats, so he put out professional strength. Get this. The rats ate all that, found the box of extra, ate through it and all of the bait, then made a NEST inside the poison box! Zap traps worked for about 5 rats then stopped. I am currently using bucket trap, snap traps, and a trail cam to find the weaknesses in my 1/4 inch hardware cloth joins. I may or may not have purchased all the zip ties in the state of WA and a a whole lot of wire, to boot. I may or may not be going over with a second layer of the unwieldy wire sheets this afternoon. I am at war.

It is off label and don't tell anyone I told you this but Golden Malrin fly bait will drop them where they stand and you have to be extremely careful where you use it. Put it on something they like to eat. Some people use it for raccoons.
Do you have something else around you that keeps bringing rats? Like a feed mill, meat packing plant or something similar?

 

[McChooky]

An apron around the bottom of the coop and run will keep out diggers.Windows,vents and openings have to be covered too(1/2" hardware cloth)Rat terriers make excellent ratters.