Rats, rats EVERYWHERE! ☹️

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When I was a kid on the farm, we were overrun with rats. 100's My dad would find the holes where they hide during the day. Plug all the holes except one. Take any engine, bigger the better, connect a hose (metal) to the exhaust & stick other end down the hole. Run engine for an hour. Caution!!!!! Only do this method on out-buildings in the country!!!!!!!!!!!Do not do this around your home!!!!!!!!!!Any rats that get away will not come back. Please do not do this unless you understand the consequences!!!!!! Better than poison------it won't kill the neighbors pets. I hope this doesn't offend anyone.
 
MomJones said:
We had three terriers. They were worthless as rat catchers, could have cared less. Come to think of it, our cats are no better.
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The rats I had were living under my coop I don't think a terrier or cat could get under there to catch them. I do agree most cats or dogs won't go after them on a routine basis.
 
Al Gerhart said:
Hanging feeders do not stop mice or rats, they can jump higher than a chicken with ease. Taking the feed in at night just means they will feed during the day. Poison and traps work for a few days till the rodents figure out what they are. The only way to stop rodents is to secure the feed including during the day by using the right treadle feeder and it must have a spring pre loaded door to prevent the door from being pushed open.

Search the forum for Howard E's posts on rat control.

Forget the old wives tales of buckets and plaster of paris and that magic poison that rats will keep eating till they are gone.
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Except when the rats stand on their hind legs and feed from the trough right beside your hens. How do you fix that?
 
HuffleClaw said:
I wish the hawks around here WOULD eat a poisoned rat and die. Stupid hawks are everywhere around here.
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I haven't seen any birds of prey around my chickens. I bought a heavy rubber dish fits perfectly under my feeder that the birds like to flick pellets out of. So no waste on the floor of the coop. I've been keeping my birds in because we have had inclement weather and wicked winds lately. So rats can't get in during the day. And at night I am taking up all feed and putting it in my new garage. Emptying water bowl too. But I noticed " holes" in my deep litter under the roosts. Guess what they were from. Yeah you guessed it RATS. So I started going in the coop very quietly. Not kicking the board near the ground that was keeping my door shut. I caught them running back to the holes. I got in their way they managed to get out the door. I have a hook and eye that needs to be moved so that door shuts tight when I'm in there. And I covered up those holes. So they have been living under my deep litter. I crushed the tunnels And for 2 days I have not seen new ones. Just gotta be vigilant this winter. In the spring I will put my coop on a concete pad. Hard cloth all around. And metal thresholds as they are chewing on the wooden ones. I think I have gotten rid of most of them so far. Starving them out takes a long time. And I will be getting the birth control bait also.
 
I have rat traps inside bigger raccoon live traps so my girls don't get in the traps. I have snap traps & live box traps for mice set year round to control rodents. It works for me. I also have a Game Camera set up to monitor activity around my coop at night when the chickens are in the coop.
 

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