Rats-need ideas how to store wood less attractively

[Birdielee]

Hi! I have rats. They're interfering with my hens' ability to eat and live in peace.
It sounds like I need al's treadle feeder but i'm not ready to pay for it (them. Need 2)

Meanwhile we are pulling weeds and clearing plants, trying to keep chicken feed inaccessible, we trapped 3, planning on poisoning...

But i have a perfect rat home here and I need to adjust it. My coop is up in the air so they can't hide under it. But i have 2 wood piles. I read they need to be elevated. At least 12 or maybe 18 inches.
I imagine they need to be in just one thickness of logs, so there is less protected place in the middle.. beyond that, anyone have suggestions or photos of what works?

Here's what doesn't work: i have 2 wood piles in the corner of my property. Red fence is the neighbor's, coop is the structure to the right.
I'm thinking i need to raise all the wood, maybe move the one on the right out of that location completely, and maybe put it to the left of the other. The ground is a hill there though and is going to be a problem.

 

[Howard E]

You do have some mighty fine rat harborage going there. But they can't exist without the food.

How many birds do you have? I have 21 birds and only one rat proof feeder.

 

[Folly's place]

I don't have treadle feeders, because of having bantams and bantam chicks often. So, all the feeders are inside our coop and roofed run, which are rat proof when the doors are shut. When we did have rats in the coop, they were inside an insulated wall, and they ate eggs and killed birds. Removing those insulated walls, and poison in bait stations, took care of that miserable episode. So far no rats have returned.
I do think that only bait stations will eliminate a colony!
Mary

 

[Birdielee]

I bought 2 tomcat rat bait stations. I have them out there now, baited. The rats usually get active about this time of day. No feed is available except in a small havahart trap.

You do have some mighty fine rat harborage going there. But they can't exist without the food.

How many birds do you have? I have 21 birds and only one rat proof feeder.

I only have 2 hens. The silly thing is that they really don't get along so i have 2 coops with one hen in each. Its ridiculous, but it's what I've got for now.

 

[Birdielee]

I don't have treadle feeders, because of having bantams and bantam chicks often. So, all the feeders are inside our coop and roofed run, which are rat proof when the doors are shut. When we did have rats in the coop, they were inside an insulated wall, and they ate eggs and killed birds. Removing those insulated walls, and poison in bait stations, took care of that miserable episode. So far no rats have returned.
I do think that only bait stations will eliminate a colony!
Mary

So your run is ratproof? How did you accomplish that? How small is the mesh?

 

[Birdielee]

Thank you for responding. I don't have much rat experience, but we're on the third generation since we noticed a problem. it's getting really big.

So far we've trapped 2 mice and 3 rats, thrown away lots of my brother's "collection" and fed a lot of weeds to the rabbit and hens. I've been taking the feed away from the hens after about 1.oclock pm, and giving them another meal before bed. But I'm not super consistent and the birds are stressed, i think. Also sometimes they spill some.

 

[Folly's place]

We have 1/2" hardware cloth over every opening, and a small roofed run/ coop combination, on an old building foundation. The whole structure is about 14'x 24', and functions as a large coop with interior partitions and run space. The flock free ranges whenever possible, and the open doors are of course not rodent proof, but the birds and our barn cat do discourage invaders! I'd like it even more if they kept the house wrens out too.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

There's always some feed billed out of even well designed feeders, unavoidable. The chickens will go after rodents during the day, but not at night.
Mice happen, and keeping 100% mouse free is a goal, not often managed here. Rats, however, must be eliminated always.
Mary

 

[Birdielee]

The bait is bromethalin .01%
This is what i got. I wanted to get just one bite II bars, but this was what was available.

Also if this becomes an ongoing thing i found some vitD3 bait in another store yesterday. I didn't buy that but i will if i decide to switch it up.

 

[Folly's place]

After a week or three, you may need to switch to a different bait, because the rats may stop eating the first choice. Make sure to pick up and put any bodies in the garbage. Twice over 25+ years we had to use poison for a rat invasion, and found a total of two bodies, once. most dying rodents will return to their burrows and die there, and then you can close them off.
Wear gloves! Rodent urine is a bad thing, and in the SW USA, they can carry plague.
Mary