Rats... please help.

[Twhi7]

Hi everyone,

I have 5 (1 year old) Khaki Campbell ducks that I got a little over 2 months ago. They are amazing and I love them! The only problem is, the rat population is getting worse and worse and the rats are getting braver. I thought that bringing in their food at night before sunset would be enough to keep the rats away for the most part... nope. I caught one drinking from their pool while I was out with the ducks a few days ago. I chased it off and of course it went right back under the shed. In fact, I think my main problem is the shed. It’s free shelter for them, and of course i made the mistake of building their pen RIGHT NEXT to the shed. Not only that, but I have their duck house inside the pen, and the rats are making tunnels and I’m pretty sure they are living under the house for easy access to their food. I attached a picture of the shed/pen situation so you have a better idea.
So anyways, I caught on to the fact that they are getting the food from the pen during the day. So I kept their bowl of food outside the past couple days and when I checked on them on the camera at 8:30 this morning, they had chased a rat off that went for their food... in broad daylight out in the open. I’m mortified and this situation is giving me really bad anxiety. Any advice is much appreciated.

I will say I have tried snap traps and only caught one, I think they have outsmarted them. I was also given first strike brand soft bait (poison) by a relative that has success with it. However, I’m hesitant to use it for a couple of reasons. The possible dangers of the ducks getting access to it, and the rats dying under the shed and smelling awful (we do have neighbors close by). I could easily put the poison under the shed so the ducks don’t have access to it, but I won’t be able to get dead rats from under the shed, it will be too hard to reach them. Another thing I thought of was what if they eat the poison then drink my ducks water... will that make my ducks sick? i will probably resort to using the poison but also need tips on how to keep them away. Should I try scheduled feeding for the ducks? I’m just at a loss on what to do... I want what’s best for my ducks but these rats need to go.

thanks in advance

 

[Twhi7]

Hi everyone,

I have 5 (1 year old) Khaki Campbell ducks that I got a little over 2 months ago. They are amazing and I love them! The only problem is, the rat population is getting worse and worse and the rats are getting braver. I thought that bringing in their food at night before sunset would be enough to keep the rats away for the most part... nope. I caught one drinking from their pool while I was out with the ducks a few days ago. I chased it off and of course it went right back under the shed. In fact, I think my main problem is the shed. It’s free shelter for them, and of course i made the mistake of building their pen RIGHT NEXT to the shed. Not only that, but I have their duck house inside the pen, and the rats are making tunnels and I’m pretty sure they are living under the house for easy access to their food. I attached a picture of the shed/pen situation so you have a better idea.
So anyways, I caught on to the fact that they are getting the food from the pen during the day. So I kept their bowl of food outside the past couple days and when I checked on them on the camera at 8:30 this morning, they had chased a rat off that went for their food... in broad daylight out in the open. I’m mortified and this situation is giving me really bad anxiety. Any advice is much appreciated.

I will say I have tried snap traps and only caught one, I think they have outsmarted them. I was also given first strike brand soft bait (poison) by a relative that has success with it. However, I’m hesitant to use it for a couple of reasons. The possible dangers of the ducks getting access to it, and the rats dying under the shed and smelling awful (we do have neighbors close by). I could easily put the poison under the shed so the ducks don’t have access to it, but I won’t be able to get dead rats from under the shed, it will be too hard to reach them. Another thing I thought of was what if they eat the poison then drink my ducks water... will that make my ducks sick? i will probably resort to using the poison but also need tips on how to keep them away. Should I try scheduled feeding for the ducks? I’m just at a loss on what to do... I want what’s best for my ducks but these rats need to go.

thanks in advance

Another thing I’d like to add is a treadle feeder will most likely not work for my ducks. They are Khaki Campbells (skittish breed) and terrified of everything. I can almost guarantee you it would just be a waste of money unfortunately

 

[50-45-1]

Rats are extremely smart and are hard to eradicate as they learn your methods and adapt.
The natural preditors of rats are birds of prey including owl hawk and eagle, weasel, he will quickly eradicate mice and rats, rat hunting terriers, and cats domestic and bobcats.
Yours have built there home under the shed. I wonder if you dug a trench around the shed down and out a foot and lined with hardware cloth if that would eliminate this hidey spot. Of course the shed must be tight no gaps or holes whatsoever. The same with your other outbuildings and house.
You could make some rat/weasel trap boxes. These are boxes with a hole drilled in both ends. The bait is at one end with screening blocking the hole but allowing the smell out. Then you screw a rat trap inside and make a hinged lid that is locking. The rat goes through the open hole, goes for the bait and gets snap trapped. This kills the rat quickly instead of slow and agonizing like poison. The boxes make sure you dont catch other stuff like cats, scunks, racoons or your ducks.
Sometimes the only way is poison.
I currently have a resident weasel and have beefed up my coop to keep him away from my chickens at night. And he keeps my farm rat free.

 

[cmom]

I had a rat issue and I tried a lot of different things. I resorted to using poison. I bought some rat bait boxes and placed then in pet carries and put them on shelves in our barn. The coops are behind our barn. I had a coop that was infested. When I started renovating the coop dozen of rats of all sizes poured out. I also found several rats nests. I felt like I was in and old Hitchcock movie, "The Rats". Rats will travel so I put the bait boxes in the barn where nothing could get to the bait but the rats. I had noticed some tunnels which I assumed the rats had made. I didn't find any dead rats around so assume they went into their tunnels and died. Eventually the baits were being chewed on less and less. There are little windows in the bait stations so I can check the baits often. Good luck on whatever you decide.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Another thing I’d like to add is a treadle feeder will most likely not work for my ducks. They are Khaki Campbells (skittish breed) and terrified of everything. I can almost guarantee you it would just be a waste of money unfortunately

You might be surprised. Read through our reviews, a lot of people use treadle feeders for ducks. You will need the duck step and place it as far back as possible, even move it back an inch or so each week once they learn to use it. Chickens and ducks are always skittish but if they are hungry they will learn IF you follow the directions. Nothing added, nothing left out.

 

[Geena]

Is that your duck house to the left of the shed? What I would do, since you only have the 5 ducks, is move them out of that pen and into another part of the yard temporarily. Then I would poison the rats as cmom stated above.
Rats are not going to leave when they have a nice setup like that, even if you cut them off from the duck feed. You are unlikely to catch many, if any, in rat traps, rats are generally too smart for traps.
I've had to use poison here a few times for rats and I never saw nor smelled any dead rats. I'm sure your neighbors would rather put up with a little stink for awhile than have rats running all over the place. I know I would!

 

[SomeSortOfHomesteader]

I'm surprised no one mentioned it but you can poison rats with cement/plaster mixed with cornmeal. The issue with rats compared to mice is that they are super smart and if they see other rats die (like in a trap) they will avoid it. That's why poison works so well as it takes a while for the rat to die so the other rats don't associate the dead rat with the bait. You will still have the issue of the dead rat stinking up the place if it dies where you can't get it but with cement/plaster it won't second hand poison other animals if they eat the dead rat.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Ugh. Rats are the worst. We had a problem a while back and we’re able to eradicate them using a combination of methods. I have a terrier mix who, bless her heart, could show us where they were hiding and took care of any she could get her teeth on. I used the TomCat brand of snap traps to get them and had success with those. My dad also used the smoke bombs in enclosed spaces as well as the electric traps (those worked for a while but the rats learned to avoid them eventually). With the help of my dog, we found all the hidey-holes and flushed out the rats and deconstructed their nests. It was a big job but if you stay diligent and stay on top of it, you can get the problem under control. But my terrier hound mix proved to be a HUGE asset, so if you are looking to adopt a dog, having one with terrier blood is super helpful .

 

[MROO]

Super Easy Rodent trap - Non toxic, too.
You can buy a special lid:

Or make your own for next to nothing:

 

[McChooky]

You may have to dig a trench around the shed and run and bury hardware cloth to keep them out. Rats dig deep tunnels so go 2 ft deep. If you don't use galvanized garbage cans with secured lids to prevent rodents from eating any pet food you put out or garbage you will never get rid of them.