Rats

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

My neighbor 1/2 mil away had someone raising sheep on his property until about June this year. He also gets turkeys about now and sells them at thanksgiving, ran not him today and he said the manure pile from the sheep had been covered, when uncovered rats went spilling everywhere, we don’t hear much about rats here, they exist but aren’t common like In cities, usually it’s some filthy apartments building in town if at all, not out here in the woods. I have seen no rats not any evidence, I use pine bedding and pile the used outside not too far from my ducks house, maybe 100 feet away and down over a bank. I put out a dish of food during the day, and their food at night is in PVC tubes which are capped during the day. I assume if they are 1/2 mile away it’s a matter of time before some find their way here, what can I do to protect my birds, prevent them moving in, and if I do see one, what should I do? I hear about all sorts of predators, but I haven’t heard what to do about rats.

 

[bukbukbagawk]

I had a problem with rats getting into the first coop I built. I made it really lax, there were gaps between the rafters and no hardware cloth predator proofing under the walls of the coop either. After I closed off all the big gaps and predator proofed the bottom they still found some small gaps to get through. They climbed up places I didn't think they'd be able to climb up and wedged themselves through holes I didn't think they'd fit. If they weren't such annoying little creatures I'd probably admire em a little bit. The only way I could stop them from getting in was to completely seal up any place they had any chance of getting in. If you have an open field type of situation with your chickens that'd be a lot harder and I don't really have any advice to offer on that. Pretty much just chiming in to say I feel you. One thing somebody suggested to me was to spray around the area with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water, he had said that's how he kept the rats from sleeping on the engine under the hood of his car. I didn't try it, I was more focused on sealing up areas they could get in from but it could be worth a shot.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

These are probably not city rats but wood rats and you certainly have them. If they are wood rats they are nocturnal. If you have a wood pile you have them.. I never heard of that many together though. Here the predators eat them. Of course seal your food up good at night and as it gets colder be sure to check your car engine. You could put out traps. Or give some barn cats from the shelter a new home. I have a resident pair of Barred owls that think they are tasty.

 

[416bigbore]

I have never had to deal with any serious issues with wood rats, just the occasional one or two who might be passing through and peanut butter and a large snap trap fixes the problem.

I think the best way to keep them away is not to give them any unnecessary habitat to take up residence. I used to heat with wood so I would stack my logs neatly and in small narrow rows over a big stack or pile and that seemed to help.

Having a few feral cats around also worked well for keeping the mouse population in check.

https://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Woodrats

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

So it appears the eastern wood rat is what I have always referred to as a kangaroo mouse. We have those, and they are no more troublesome than any other mouse, I will have to talk to my neighbor and ask him what they were.

 

[Isaac 0]

Good info has been given to you already. I believe @Miss Lydia deal's with rats in her coop, she may have advice.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

Good info has been given to you already. I believe @Miss Lydia deal's with rats in her coop, she may have advice.

Indeed, again, I’ve not seen any, I’m really careful about food left around, what I miss my chipmunk population helps me clean up, so fingers crossed I don’t end up with them.
How do folks deal with old bedding? I had been just dumping in compost pile, but perhaps I need to rethink.

 

[Isaac 0]

I have a big pile out in the pasture that I haul it to.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I've heard in a small neighboring town when a feed mill was still building the silos, they just left the feed in a pile for a long time. After they moved the pile the rats then moved to the neighboring houses and under the vegetable gardens and sheds.

I have cause/killed three rats so far. I have a shed that I purposely haven't fixed the gap under the door, I have rat traps set up in the shed to catch them during the night.

 

[orloffer]

I noticed a while back that one of my quail's food containers -- the cage cup type that clips onto the side -- seemed to have been slightly chewed up.
Today a bit before 7 PM (still light out), I happened to look outside and see a mouse (I'm pretty sure it was a mouse) sniffing around underneath the quail cages. The mouse then climbed up the side of the cage (a Critter Nation cage) and started gnawing at the food cup. After spending a minute or two time climbing over the side and top of the cage, it left.
This is the 2nd or third time I've seen a mouse in that part of the yard during the day, though after dark I have seen multiple mice running along the fence. I like mice and think they are very cute, but I don't want them eating my quail's food container!

Can anyone tell me what kind of mouse it is? This one isn't the exact individual, but one of the same type that I found in my compost bin last month.