Rats killing quail?

IceHax

Songster
Oct 10, 2018
585
1,039
222
northern Italy
Hi everybody, this is very frustrating to write... so 6 days ago I found a quail eaten by something in my aviary. The only thing left was the heart, chest cracked open and emptied. I’ve never had any problems with predators so this is a first for me... since this spring I have lots of rats going around my yard which I tried to kill with poison. They get the bait, but I can’t seem to kill them all, they just keep coming back! They have since killed two more quails, while I tried to plug all the holes they made in the plywood they just don’t care, they’re always finding a way in... they seem to kill one every 2 days, and just one, they don’t touch the others which is what makes me think of rats because weasels or other animals would just get them all at once... I’m gonna try and flood the rats’ channels with water to see if I can drown them but idk if that’s the best thing to do... help!
 
Another reason why I think this is rats is because there are far less predator proof coops (the quail one is actually the most predator proof) but they all house bigger birds, I guess the rats just preferred the quails because they were easier to kill?
 
May I ask what poison are you using? I tried a few and this is the one I have had the best luck with. I had a coop that was infested. I have since renovated it and put out bait. This is what I used and it's been working. Lately I haven't seen any evidence of rats and the baits don't look like they have been touched. I have not found any dead rats but I think they go into the tunnels they have dug around the coops and died in their tunnels. I like this bait box because I can check the bait at any time through the little window above the bait. The only critter that has destroyed some bait boxes is a possum. Now I have the remaining bait boxes where the possum can't get to them. Upon doing some research I discovered that they are immune to rat bait. I didn't know what had destroyed the bait boxes so I put up a game camera. I had the bait boxes on the floor and I don't have any pets. The bait boxes were there for a long time before the possum discovered them. It destroyed two bait boxes. I still have two that were untouched. I bought a few boxes because when I renovated my infested coop, dozens of rats poured out when I stated taking out the ceiling and the walls. I want a few bait stations because there were so many rats. Good luck...
RatBait.jpg RatBaitStationRev.jpg
DSCF00051012 01.jpg
 
Well everybody I fixed it, armored the inside of the coop with iron sheets and drowned all the rats by putting a garden hose in their tunnels, so they would come out the other end where I was waiting to wack them with a shovel. Now I set up multiple traps so I can catch them before they get in the coop. Have not lost any other quail for now
 
Yes, rats do eat quail. It happen to me until I added another rabbit wire to the bottom of the quail pen.
 
Yes, rats do eat quail. It happen to me until I added another rabbit wire to the bottom of the quail pen.
Mine are in a large 8x8 foot aviary, because I don’t like keeping them on wire. I fixed the problem by making a concrete wall on the outside of the aviary and reinforcing the inside with iron sheets
 
Mine are in a large 8x8 foot aviary, because I don’t like keeping them on wire. I fixed the problem by making a concrete wall on the outside of the aviary and reinforcing the inside with iron sheets
I found collect nice clean egg much easier. The egg roll to front, which no need to look for them.
 
I also have rats- lots of them. Big problem. eatiang my chicken feed which I scatter. My plan is to flood them and then shoot them w a pellet gun and also get a hanging chicken feeder...I will not poisen because that goes into the food chain.
 

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