Rats

[Al Gerhart]

Poison can work. Over and over and over again as new populations of rodents move into the now vacant territory. Instead of fixing the actual problem.

Just saying....

 

[The Moonshiner]

If you use and maintain bait stations a new population won't get a foot hold to get out of control.
I notice the treadle feeder doesn't work for small poultry. What if someone is raising a lot of chicks through out the season? Even if you put up and secure their feed at night the rats will come to eat them.
The treadle may be a great help but it isn't the cure all fix all for rat control.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Those are some good questions.

You won't have rats around the chickens unless you leave a buffet out for them to eat. There won't be any rats around when you put the chicks out, the rats will be out finding food where there is food available. They might find the feed in the six weeks it takes for the chicks to grow large enough to use a real feeder but if you have rats they are gonna eat your chicks anyway. Better to not have them living nearby if you have chicks.

Yes, chicks cannot use a treadle feeder, too light, not enough reach, they can get trapped. Most people don't mix chicks and an established flock, yard hatch might be running around free range but few people are going to have chicks and full size birds using the same feeder. Small birds like bantam need the bantam step installed and the balance tweaked or if there are some full sized birds just let the bantams eat from the side.

No single feeder is going to work for all birds. But when we are talking about rats and chickens we need to be honest, chickens do not attract rats, feed left unsecured in poor feeders attract rats. Buy a decent feeder so the feed is secured, the rats will go to the neighbor's coop, to the local restaurant trash bin, or out in the wild earning an honest living on natural food.

 

[WindingRoad]

Well this is a new one. Rats... sh******* themselves to death. I gotta give an A for creativity and I had a good laugh over that mental picture.

But look, getting rid of rodents is very, very, easy. Secure the bulk feed in metal containers. Get a real treadle feeder, install it correctly, never leave it open during training, train the chickens properly from the first day. No more rats in a few days.

You have to have full sized birds of at least two pounds or more and it will take some tweaking to adjust a for a bird that small. You can't safely use a treadle feeder for birds that are too young, not enough weight, not enough reach to get to the feed while standing on the distant treadle.

All the old wives tales of mint, onions, plaster of paris, potato flakes ,and now ex lax aren't going to work. Neither is trapping or poisoning, rodents are too smart. You can't fence them out with a reasonable amount of money.

But when you stop feeding the rats, they leave. It is that simple.

Welllll I have my feed in metal cans locked tighter than a drum. I also keep my straw and shavings in metal cans. I have a treadle feeder and I sweep up feed every night. The birds don't scratch it out they flick it out. Samrt Feeder From Premier1 Supplies. Unlike many my feed comes out gangbusters. Doesn't hang up at all. They like to feed in the end corners and eventually the feed builds up and spills out of the trough. Got any ideas. I had to remove one spring totally and put long paint stirrers on the treadles because they were too slippery Their feet slid all over the place. My birds are so tall that they can reach in without standing on the treadle. Just peck the peck the door and then they get up. LOL. And if you had read my previous posts you would have seen these facts.

It's not that simple they like straw and shavings.

BUT and that's a BIG But my rat population has diminished. I hardly see any. As for the other poster. They won't eat RATX nor will they eat TOMCAT Bait. I could send you the unused amount if you like it. And I haven't had MY Rat bait out for a few days. Will start again tomorrow. I did add the small orange dulcolax tabs too.

BTW I have several motion detector lights I have put around the run and in front of the treadles. That seems to work as a couple of nights I didn't clean up feed and they did not get into it. 20 pellets at bed time 20 pellets in the morning. LOL.

 

[WindingRoad]

Poison can and has worked for many of us.

I am am happy as a pig in Sh*t for you. It's just like predators you don't have any until you do.

 

[WindingRoad]

Those are some good questions.

You won't have rats around the chickens unless you leave a buffet out for them to eat. There won't be any rats around when you put the chicks out, the rats will be out finding food where there is food available. They might find the feed in the six weeks it takes for the chicks to grow large enough to use a real feeder but if you have rats they are gonna eat your chicks anyway. Better to not have them living nearby if you have chicks.

Yes, chicks cannot use a treadle feeder, too light, not enough reach, they can get trapped. Most people don't mix chicks and an established flock, yard hatch might be running around free range but few people are going to have chicks and full size birds using the same feeder. Small birds like bantam need the bantam step installed and the balance tweaked or if there are some full sized birds just let the bantams eat from the side.

No single feeder is going to work for all birds. But when we are talking about rats and chickens we need to be honest, chickens do not attract rats, feed left unsecured in poor feeders attract rats. Buy a decent feeder so the feed is secured, the rats will go to the neighbor's coop, to the local restaurant trash bin, or out in the wild earning an honest living on natural food.

I have no chicks for this very reason. I have white leghorns and they are my lightest birds and they are the best feeders at the trough.

I have no neighbors with chickens. Only local restaurant is over 12 miles away. But I do have a neighbor with a Great Dane and Two Bull Mastifs I hear that rats like dog poop. Plenty over there. I don't want them to leave. They will just come back.

BTW what feeder do you recommend. I have the Rent a Coop feeder also and they hens get the feed out of them too.

 

[WindingRoad]

If you use and maintain bait stations a new population won't get a foot hold to get out of control.
I notice the treadle feeder doesn't work for small poultry. What if someone is raising a lot of chicks through out the season? Even if you put up and secure their feed at night the rats will come to eat them.
The treadle may be a great help but it isn't the cure all fix all for rat control.

I don't need a new population. I have rat roos and chickens rats. AKA males and females. They are popping out a new generation often.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Welllll I have my feed in metal cans locked tighter than a drum. I also keep my straw and shavings in metal cans. I have a treadle feeder and I sweep up feed every night. The birds don't scratch it out they flick it out. Samrt Feeder From Premier1 Supplies. Unlike many my feed comes out gangbusters. Doesn't hang up at all. They like to feed in the end corners and eventually the feed builds up and spills out of the trough. Got any ideas. I had to remove one spring totally and put long paint stirrers on the treadles because they were too slippery Their feet slid all over the place. My birds are so tall that they can reach in without standing on the treadle. Just peck the peck the door and then they get up. LOL. And if you had read my previous posts you would have seen these facts.

It's not that simple they like straw and shavings.

BUT and that's a BIG But my rat population has diminished. I hardly see any. As for the other poster. They won't eat RATX nor will they eat TOMCAT Bait. I could send you the unused amount if you like it. And I haven't had MY Rat bait out for a few days. Will start again tomorrow. I did add the small orange dulcolax tabs too.

BTW I have several motion detector lights I have put around the run and in front of the treadles. That seems to work as a couple of nights I didn't clean up feed and they did not get into it. 20 pellets at bed time 20 pellets in the morning. LOL.

Those haven't been on the market for long and they seem to be sold by that one company so there haven't been many independent reviews on them yet. It is a new design actually, glad to see that someone else finally started adding springs to hold the door closed, for years we were the only feeder with that feeder. Not a good design but at least someone is trying something new.

If too much feed is flowing choke off the throat with something, cardboard, some of those paint sticks you have.

Plastic, why do they use plastic on chicken feeders. How much can you actually save using plastic? That is a weak point, UV will make plastic brittle in short order. Their wire treadle frame is gonna bend out of shape eventually.

 

[WindingRoad]

Those haven't been on the market for long and they seem to be sold by that one company so there haven't been many independent reviews on them yet. It is a new design actually, glad to see that someone else finally started adding springs to hold the door closed, for years we were the only feeder with that feeder. Not a good design but at least someone is trying something new.

If too much feed is flowing choke off the throat with something, cardboard, some of those paint sticks you have.

Plastic, why do they use plastic on chicken feeders. How much can you actually save using plastic? That is a weak point, UV will make plastic brittle in short order. Their wire treadle frame is gonna bend out of shape eventually.

I think they are an off shoot of Grandpa's Feeder from Australia. I see the same problem. Hen flicking feed out of the trough.

I had the cardboard idea as soon as they are empty I will work on that idea, Can't believe we agree on something. LOL

I hate plastic the water in them gets algae. I don't want to put ACV in every time. Or should I?

 

[Al Gerhart]

I have no chicks for this very reason. I have white leghorns and they are my lightest birds and they are the best feeders at the trough.

I have no neighbors with chickens. Only local restaurant is over 12 miles away. But I do have a neighbor with a Great Dane and Two Bull Mastifs I hear that rats like dog poop. Plenty over there. I don't want them to leave. They will just come back.

BTW what feeder do you recommend. I have the Rent a Coop feeder also and they hens get the feed out of them too.

Dog poop has very little nutritional value for a mammal. Herbivore poop, different story, very inefficient digestive systems in cows, horses, goats, rabbits. Note that you are looking at prey species, not predator species like dogs. A rat might fill its stomach but it isn't going to thrive or raise young on dog poop. But yes, you do want them to leave, easier to starve them out than poisoning them successfully.

The rent a coop feeder, is it several years old or is it the new Grandpa feeder clone? The old version from three or four years ago was finally pulled from the market. I had a lot of customers buy my feeder to replace the old rent a coop. Their new feeder, well they copied the Grandpa feeder and didn't fix the flaws it had, not very smart on their part. Actually though it is likely just that some Chinese company copied it and started wholesaling them. The usual modus operandi of the Chinese is to first wholesale an item until they have filled the distribution channels and established a market in the U.S., then they start selling the product themselves once the distributor sales slow down. You will have a boom and bust cycle and either the customer service or the flaws in the product eventually kill off sales or returns are so high that Amazon boots the product off Amazon.