Rats, rats EVERYWHERE! ☹️

[Weeg]

Put the rodent carcasses in the coop and start training the chickens, if you want. I feel like it would be so cool to say you had rat eating chickens! Lol!

My cats only eat wild birds if they catch them. They leave rodents (squirrels Etc) at the doorstep.

 

[HuffleClaw]

Step one is deny them food. Step two is elimination. Elimination is pointless without cleaning and maintenance and food reduction. For that I started feeding the chickens only what they'd eat in a day, sweeping up every single spilled pellet, and being diligent about compost burying deeply.

RATX did almost nothing for me. What did something for me was keeping my dogs on a tight leash for 4 months and using bait boxes. Prior to this the dogs were killing up to 6 rats a night and it did nothing. They WILL start in on eating your chickens if their numbers get too large and they aren't getting free fed. The rats I had started with the baby rabbits, then the chicks, then the cockerels. I also patrolled my chicken pen daily for issues and cleaned up bodies.

The VAST majority of rats that die from poison go back to their holes to do it and die underground. The amount of poison left in dead rodents is trace enough that even if a cat eats a whole rat chances are good it won't die, and a dog certainly wouldn't. It would take a few rats for a cat to have problems. The bait itself is in boxes that nothing but a rat or smaller can access it. They're even IN the chicken pen with my birds.

You can TRY snap traps and glue traps but they must be moved every time you catch a single rat to not tip off the colony and you have to rotate baits. You can imagine how bad it is to get rid of hundreds of rats with needing to rotate traps every time you catch one. Especially because snap traps must be baited unset for a few days to encourage them. Bucket traps are the same.

If you won't use poisons... Well, I had no luck using any of the above methods and I used them all. My dogs, RAT-X, snap traps, bucket traps... They did not make a dent. Good luck.

You say take away food but also that they’ll start eating birds if they’re not free fed (which is true). But I don’t have dogs. The cats do nothing. So I guess all I can sensibly do is set traps (which would take months or years before all rats were eliminated). Sigh.

 

[Weeg]

If there's a massive amount of rats there and suddenly their food source disappears that does sound like it will cause desperation.
Chickens rarely attack rats and never when theyre roosting which is when the rats will be most active. I'm not saying taking away the feed isn't a good idea just saying be prepare for what will come next.
When it comes to an infestation ive been there done that.

What is more important them taking away food, is cutting off access to the coop. Yes, that does make sense. If you could run hardware cloth on the floor of the run they they can't tunnel into the run. Then, you can use harder cloth to fill in any other holes with harder cloth, where they might get in. This is what I would do.

 

[hysop]

Just where the chickens are.

If you have that many acres is it a possibility to move the coop? Or is it a permanent structure?

 

[HuffleClaw]

If there's a massive amount of rats there and suddenly their food source disappears that does sound like it will cause desperation.
Chickens rarely attack rats and never when theyre roosting which is when the rats will be most active. I'm not saying taking away the feed isn't a good idea just saying be prepare for what will come next.
When it comes to an infestation ive been there done that.

That’s what I figured. I kind of feel stuck. To take away food at night or to not take it away.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Also, idk what your rats are like but MY rats... Were almost as big as my chickens. There was no way the chickens would hunt something this size.

(My girl is very proud of her handiwork here.)

 

[HuffleClaw]

If you have that many acres is it a possibility to move the coop? Or is it a permanent structure?

The land would need some serious landscaping.

 

[MGG]

Has the "Ratinator" been suggested? It.... Is.... Awesome!

 

[HuffleClaw]

View attachment 2430628

Also, idk what your rats are like but MY rats... Were almost as big as my chickens. There was no way the chickens would hunt something this size.

(My girl is very proud of her handiwork here.)

That’s about the size of the one I found floating in my duck pool the other week. Sickening. But shockingly the ones I see scurrying about are much smaller. Not sure why the one in the duck pool was so big unless it’s a different breed.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

You say take away food but also that they’ll start eating birds if they’re not free fed (which is true). But I don’t have dogs. The cats do nothing. So I guess all I can sensibly do is set traps (which would take months or years before all rats were eliminated). Sigh.

They won't go for traps with any bait, even snap traps, if they have a safe food source.

That's why poisons are so effective. You take the food away they get hungry FAST but the poison bait is just there and easy to get. A few weeks can take out entire colonies. Time it so that it doesn't coincide with hawk migrations (I like midsummer, personally) and the damage is minimal to the environment. And the chickens absolutely can't get into the bait boxes. I can't even get in. It's a little maze inside with a rat sized opening