Rats!!

[spookyevilone]

We used to have one of these:
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Mouse-Trap

in the barn to kill the rats. Use a 5g bucket. Works excellent.
-Spooky

 

[jubylives]

I like the french fry idea. I think we have some in the freezer too. I've been trying to find other baits to use. The bucket idea is neat too.


jeremy

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Get a Cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My barn cat Blue is the best mouser that I have ever had. And he's only 4 months old!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jubylives]

An outside cat isn't an option for where I live. Plus the rats I am dealing with are larger then the 10 week old cat I have. The largest I saw so far was 12 inches there abouts including the tail. We did get one from the other day shooting at them with bb guns. He took a bb or pellet and went quite far before dropping dead.

jeremy

 

[Alley]

I think I have rats too! I have a tractor coop that sits off the ground a good 12", hens walk on wire but due to the racoons, I have 2 x 4's from the bottom of the coop to the ground to prevent the coons from getting under the tractor Today I went out to let the girls out and something small had dug a several holes under the coop with a lot of loose dirt every where. I found what looked to be rat poop but I'm not sure. So I moved the tractor to the cement patio to prevent anything from digging. I hate traps because of the squish affect... are they after the eggs, the feed or my girls?

What do you think?

 

[bdagenais]

Hey Alley,

Was reading the posts and I am having the same problem in my coop. I can say yes it is probably rats tunneling under your coop. I have a large coop/shed that I house my girls in and I partioned off a 3 ft section on one end for feed and such. The floor is dirt except for the peices of osb board I layed down in the feed area for a more solid floor(the ground is soft sand). I began noticing tunnels under the walls and along the support posts all in the feed area. This weekend my DH and I went in and cleaned it all out. When I lifted the first peice of OSB to remove it there was the biggest brown rat facing me with in about 1 ft away. He had a hole(city) dug under my so called floor. Needless to say the floor in the store area is now only DIRT. I have leveled it and laid out traps and poision for those beasts. Do not be misled by how cunning a rat can be. They are very cleaver animals and learn quickly. Best of luck with your problem in your coop. Hope all works out well.

 

[LSU2001]

I once lived in a house that was behind a set of apartment buildings. The rats around the dumpster areas were huge and there were plenty of t hem. I used to catch these big rats with the extra large spring traps baited with raw bacon. The Bacon worked great and even if they managed to pull off the strip the smell kept working for awhile.
TIm

 

[jhm47]

The Norway rats in this area seem to like protein too. Bacon or other meat would be a good bait on the traps. Some of the newer poisons are excellent too. The rats only need to eat once, and they die many days later, usually in their burrows. I have used Tomcat poison for years, and have never found a dead rat, and have not ever lost a cat or other pet from them eating a dead rat.

 

[ole-crone]

Our rat is huge. I get a kick out of how he slowly ambles to his hiding place if I come into the coop. Now that I know where it is, we might be able to catch him. As far as cats. We have great mousers too but they don't live in the coop at night when he comes out and he is almost as big as they are!

 

[cmom]

I put decon out under the pallets that my wood is stacked on. The rats love to get in and under the wood piles. I don't think any other critter can fit under there. There are pictures on my BYC Page.