Rats, Rats Everywhere!

[FarmerGirl101]

Do ya'll have a barn cat program you might take advantage of? Our local Humane Society runs such an operation, and it is really a neat deal. The pound makes sure that they have some basic shots, spay/neuter, and that's it. The cats aren't pets. You give them a barn, garage, shop, something to live in, supplemental feed, and water, and they hunt. They are very effective.

I was looking in to that. I think I may just have to get 2 cats from them

 

[FarmerGirl101]

We had a bad rat problem earlier this year. They had been living in the coop before I got my latest flock this June, and I wanted to get rid of them before the babies started living outdoors. Our property also backs up to a junkyard in one corner, so there is nothing we could do about that. The rats were even using the trees around the coop as their personal highway - I could hear them up there when I went out at night. Here’s how we got it under control....

1.) My dad was using electric traps in his shop (they were bad in there), and we started cleaning up the random junk they were using as homes (pipes and such piled up around the shop, old logs and woodpiles, random piles of stuff that was lying around).

2.) My dogs helped as well. They are good at finding the nests and my terrier hound mix loves nothing more than hunting and killing rodents.

3.) I used one of those Tomcat hard plastic traps on the roof of the run with a cardboard box placed over it with holes cut in it (to keep other wildlife away and make it still accessible to rats). It worked really well.

What I’ve learned is you just have to be keep on top of it and keep the area free of debris. Good luck!

The decluttering is going to be hard for us but I could remove food. That is such a good dog! I can't use any poison due to cats but electrical traps seems to be pretty cool!

 

[Conan]

I was looking in to that. I think I may just have to get 2 cats from them

 

[Quailobsessed]

I have been having lasting problems with rats. It started out as mice coming into my aviaries and eating the game bird feed but then we started getting rats. They have killed finches, quails, even my bourke's parrot. We tried putting out a live trap but they never went for it, they are too smart. I'm still trying to get rid of them. I have lined the aviaries with mouse mesh on the bottom and that has stopped them from getting in, but I'm still trying to find a way to stop them from coming for good. I hope you can solve your rat problem too. Best of luck.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I have been having lasting problems with rats. It started out as mice coming into my aviaries and eating the game bird feed but then we started getting rats. They have killed finches, quails, even my bourke's parrot. We tried putting out a live trap but they never went for it, they are too smart. I'm still trying to get rid of them. I have lined the aviaries with mouse mesh on the bottom and that has stopped them from getting in, but I'm still trying to find a way to stop them from coming for good. I hope you can solve your rat problem too. Best of luck.

Thanks and you too!

 

[CalBickieMomma]

The decluttering is going to be hard for us but I could remove food. That is such a good dog! I can't use any poison due to cats but electrical traps seems to be pretty cool!

The electric traps worked great in my dad’s shop, but the Tomcat variety worked better just outside my coop. And if you could just get the clutter close to the coop removed, that might really help. We had rats making nests in a huge pine log nearby and in between the concrete slab base of an old pond from when we had ducks and geese long ago. They’ll find anywhere to live! But keeping the food locked up and secure at night should help. That’s why they moved in to begin with .

 

[FarmerGirl101]

The electric traps worked great in my dad’s shop, but the Tomcat variety worked better just outside my coop. And if you could just get the clutter close to the coop removed, that might really help. We had rats making nests in a huge pine log nearby and in between the concrete slab base of an old pond from when we had ducks and geese long ago. They’ll find anywhere to live! But keeping the food locked up and secure at night should help. That’s why they moved in to begin with .

The Tomcat is a possibility but many do use poison. Pardon me but I wasn't clear on the decluttering part. We don't have a lot of clutter by or near the coop. But we will try

 

[CalBickieMomma]

The Tomcat is a possibility but many do use poison. Pardon me but I wasn't clear on the decluttering part. We don't have a lot of clutter by or near the coop. But we will try

The Tomcat trap I was using was just the snap trap - no poison needed. You just bait it with peanut butter. I attached a thin wire to it and secured that to the top of the chicken run and covered it with the box. A friend of mine had hers uncovered inside her barn and ended up accidentally killing a Scrub Jay .

As for clutter, just anything lying around they can use to hide under/behind or climb up. We had some small trees (more like giant weeds than trees) growing up against the chicken run that, when I went to clear everything away, I noticed a darker track going up the side that the rats had been using as a ladder. We even trimmed up the tree branches that hung over the coop.

My run is fully covered with hardware cloth wire, but when I first built the coop/run I didn’t secure it entirely, so the rats were slipping in between the overlapping wire. Ugh. Anyhoo, hope you are making some progress!

 

[Hidrainja4]

A highly effective answer is a rat terrier. If you can't find one a terrier beagle mix from a shelter will do. It will "go get hem " unwanted rats or rabbits. They will leave your chickens alone. Positive reinforcement they train pretty quick and they love their job.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

From experience, don't think glue traps will hold big rats. We found out the hard way trying to keep mice down in the building. We started having to nail the glue boards to a piece of wood because the mice could drag them. All of the sudden the dern glue boards were disappearing....what in the world? Come to find out, the rats were ripping the glue traps away and taking them into their nests! Picking up any loose material helps give them limited bed/food options. They will eat the mess out of and store FEATHERS in their nests! I also find them with string, big stores of bird seed, fur, and they even have a thing about taking kindling away.

Other than picking up their bed/food options, our Red Heeler dog is good at ratting and catches them fast.