Rats?? What to do??

[Kung Foo Chicken]

In the past I've used poisons but, a big ole tom cat showed up at my house. He sleeps in an empty nest box in the coop at nights and doesn't bother those chickens because they are large (Jersey Giants) for over a year. Not that I would trust him around chicks which go in a completely protected cage. He leaves dead rats and squirrels on my back steps all the time.

 

[bigzio]

My opinion is that if you see one, then there is prolly 50! While you might think I'm crazy, I'm not.

Chickens and spilled feed is a given, that's their nature.

Rats, are opportunist and multiply so fast, that if you observe one, then you already have a real problem.

One needs to be really careful in regards to poison. The best approach is to use pvc pipe with a verticle and a T piece, with 2 horizontals on the ground wired to the outside of the coop or run, then simply add the poison into the verticle allowing the rats to enter from both sides. Keeping the poison away from the flock or other innocent ones.

Prevention is key here, with keeping anything laying around the coop and run. It just invites them to dinner. Take away all their hiding places, and keep spilled feed to a minimum, for best results.

bigzio

 

[kristenm1975]

Regarding the powdered mashed potatoes, I would imagine the chickens would eat it too, and then have the same problem. Is that true? So the potatoes are for putting around the coop, but not in it?

Super good idea! I have hundreds and hundreds of rats because my coop backs up to over an acre of blackberry brambles and I hate to think how many rats must live in that mess!

I'll give it a try tonight.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

don't kid urselves thinking they will only take peeps, small birds. i made that mistake and have lost a ton of birds includeing youngsters and full sized hens dead and pulled through cages.

they r brave and smart. my pens/coops r 3-4 ft off the ground the feed stays in the coops. there is no ground waste so they climb the pen and go in the coops to steal it if they can't get to feed they kill my hens and eat them instead. if they don't eat em right there they rip em through the cages and taske them back to their holes and try to pull em in. i got bait blocks and traps galour out there caught 26+ rats so far this winter and they r still going after my flock, this is crazy how do u kill them??? didn't think of the smoke em out will see what i can do on that one and potatoes!? is their anything else like rice or something that would do it to??

 

[therealsilkiechick]

as an added thought i just remembered something that may work!!! has to be warm here so don't freeze though.

we had squirels here bad one year that kept chewing our wires a few years ago and such. they kept getting into my bird feeders also. if u take a 5 gal bucket about half full of water and throw black oil sunflower seeds in to cover the top of the water and leave it sit. the squirels will try to take the sunflower seeds and will fall in and drown. i wonder if it would work for rats too??? omg, i don't know why i didn't think of that before it works great and fast on squirels!!! it is gonna be warm this week so i'm gonna try it for the rats and see if it works on them too. if anyone else tries it let me know if it works on them too!!!

i know it may sound stupid but it's another alternative to not useing bait blocks if it will work and i think mine r getting trap shy now. so anything is worth a shot. i still got traps and bait out but if that don't work mabe this will catch em off guard.

silkie

 

[chicken_dude]

NEVER use rat poison in a poultry area. Rat poison can stay in their blood stream for months after ingestion. Because rat poison is non toxic to fowl. However eating the eggs or flesh of a chick containing rat poison can kill you.

 

[wilds of pa]

A side from rodents carrying mites,
Disease can be a problem with rodents they can mechanically carry or directly carry certain diseases.
Just to mention a few
1. Infectious Bronchitis
2. Fowl Cholera
3. Ulcerative Enteritis

Charlie

 

[jjthink]

It's hard to keep on top of these kinds of posts yet it feels necessary because some folks recommend poison without a whole lot of caveats. Thankfully some responders here took care of that with appropriate warnings.

Rats are known to move their food to other locations and if that 'food' happens to be (or contain) poison then there may well be unintended victims. Same miserable outcome if something eats a poisoned rat or mouse.

The very best solution of all is to rat proof a coop - I say this recognizing that it is easy in some cases, yet much more of a major project in other cases where the coop is very large. Hardware cloth has done the trick for coops I've had. That, and making sure that food supplies are inaccessible (e.g. in metal cans with weights on top). It's work, but is the most effective, most humane, and most permanent solution.
JJ

 

[wasatusay]

I find the holes and put poison down the hole and lay a 1X1 ft. piece of 1/4 inch wire mesh fence over it with some bricks. That way the rats or mice eat the poison and can not get back in the coop, by the time they try to dig a new tunnel they are dead. I then put the wire mesh up for the next round.
I have owned pet rats and can tell your for sure that they love mash potatoes with butter! The best luck I have had with mice is peanut butter to lure them. It usually has results within the half hour, I have caught them in less that 5 minutes with traps and peanut butter.
I have also put garden hose into the holes and let the dogs chase them where ever they come out. But with these two boys that does not amount to a kill, just a ticked wet rodent.
I have a friend who also said that rats will chew the legs and feet off of baby chicks as well as out right kill them and drag them off.

 

[PortageGirl]

OK, I’m going to say this once again… then I’ll have to leave this topic, there’s a little too much dictating going on for my comfort.

I understand why people are reluctant to use rat poison, I share that reluctance but it IS possible to use poisons responsibly even if you have pets and children and chickens.

If you have a rat colony established in or around your coop/barn/yard, you have a real problem. As has been mentioned, if you see a few, you probably have a few hundred. They spread disease, parasites, bugs and can kill or injure chickens, young or old, and they’ll raid eggs and steal huge amounts of feed from you and your chickens.

They’re smart and tenacious and traps are not always very effective after a time because they do learn very well.

First clean your barn, eliminate all feed sources you can, clean up all stray edible things and make sure your feed is stored in rat-proof containers and even stop feeding free-choice for a time while you work to get things under control.

Get your coop as ‘rat proof’ as possible, but it’s not always possible, so do your best.

Then, go shopping for bait stations that animals other than rats cannot get into… also, look for the right kind of poison.

There are two types, Multi-feed and Single-feed poisons.

First is the multi-feed type, the main chemical in that is either warfarin or coumatetralyl. A rat must eat these types of baits over several days to become affected by them, this means that pets and wildlife are less at risk because they either have to consume a large quantity of bait in one sitting or consume small quantities of bait over a long period. (if it’s safely in a bait station or protected area, they cannot get large quantities at one time)
This means that even if your dog or cat does get a dead or dying rat and eat it, there is little in the stomach to hurt them, and since it’s not terribly potent and it’s only the poison in the rat’s stomach that hurts your pet, not what's already been metabolized.

Single feed poisons are MUCH stronger and act more quickly. These rat baits are more toxic to rats and pets and a single dose is more likely to cause poisoning. Single feed poisons are those containing brodifacoum (e.g.Talon) and bromadialone (e.g.Bromakil).

BOTH the single and multiple feed types are commonly available from local supermarkets and hardware stores etc. Brodifacoum is at least 40 times more potent than warfarin and is much more likely to cause the death of a rat, a pet or a wild animal with a single feed. Secondary poisoning is also more likely to occur because a rat can have enough bait in its stomach to poison at least a small dog or a cat, sicken a large one.

This is why the single-feed poison which is so much stronger and kills in one shot is more dangerous. The rat or mouse usually dies with more un-digested in their stomach, and so it's available for a pet or wildlife to ingest if they eat a dead rat.

Either way, you need to be aware of your pets and control them if/when you do set out poison. Control them more carefully than usual when trying to get rid of a rat infestation, and certainly toddlers etc, but if you really have a bad enough rat infestation, poisons may be a tool to consider, just make sure you think it through. You need to put it either well down into the actual tunnels/holes or in bait stations and/or protected areas that your chickens and pets cannot get to.