Rats!!

[Azangie]

Any tips for rats in the coop I've literally bought everything under the sun snaptraps the bucket trap the poison trap which I hate I'm about ready to buy a BB gun I think all lives matter but population control if I just get two or three a night I'd be fine they carry diseases so I'm trying to wrap my brain around that being okay to kill them oh that sounds horrible I have a pigeon population as well I let them have their babies but every other egg I take who knew this would be my life I'm in the city and I have a small farm now # crazylady

 

[Allthefloofs]

Ugh. I feel you!!! I have some luck in the cool season with zap traps (in Phoenix AZ) and some luck with some absurdly expensive goodnature
Traps. The goodnature ones have a trigger that breaks their necks via a pressurized piston when they move the trigger. Otherwise I was live trapping but couldn’t make myself kill them (I have had pet rats before) so I ended up driving them 15 miles out and that isn’t a sustainable plan. We have city rats so they are wise to traps, peanut butter and candy bars don’t work on them. I have to match what I have growing in my yard (pomegranates, oranges) as they get ripe. Pomegranates seem to work best for now, one every couple of days lately. Good luck, I know the struggle!

 

[Azangie]

Ugh. I feel you!!! I have some luck in the cool season with zap traps (in Phoenix AZ) and some luck with some absurdly expensive goodnature
Traps. The goodnature ones have a trigger that breaks their necks via a pressurized piston when they move the trigger. Otherwise I was live trapping but couldn’t make myself kill them (I have had pet rats before) so I ended up driving them 15 miles out and that isn’t a sustainable plan. We have city rats so they are wise to traps, peanut butter and candy bars don’t work on them. I have to match what I have growing in my yard (pomegranates, oranges) as they get ripe. Pomegranates seem to work best for now, one every couple of days lately. Good luck, I know the struggle!

So helpful thank you I have had pet rats before also... Just population control

 

[Allthefloofs]

So helpful thank you I have had pet rats before also... Just population control

I totally feel you! Last night one was climbing on our Ring doorbell. I was like . Gotta find a way to reduce the population!

 

[cmom]

I had an infested coop. It had inside walls and a ceiling and rats built nests in them. When I started renovating the coop, dozens of rats of all sizes poured out. I tried many different thing and still saw them, including water in a bucket with sunflower seeds floating on the water. I resorted to using poison because there were so many and I saw some in our barn which is behind the coops. I put rat bait stations in the barn in places where only the rats could get to them. The bait that came with the bait stations didn't work so well so I bought some bait that the feed store down the road used. The rats loved it. I did notice tunnels around the coops which I'm sure were made by the rats. I didn't find any dead rats so I'm pretty sure they went into their tunnels and died. The baits haven't been touched in quite awhile. The bait boxes have a little window above the bait so it can be checked often. There are many ways to combat rats and threads on BYC about controlling them. Good luck...

The coop that was infested.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You cannot trap or poison your way out of a rat colony problem. What you can do is stop feeding the rats and they will leave in a few days.

Get your bulk feed in metal containers, get a treadle feeder, clean up any debris or cover that the rats can use to travel to and from the area so they are exposed to natural predators. Watch what you put in the compost bin or leave out for the chickens, make sure nothing is left over during the day as well as at night.

Rats cannot survive in large numbers in a natural environment. Food supply is only so much and other critters are competing for the limited food and natural predators are constantly preying upon the rats as they travel around searching for a meal.

 

[Azangie]

I had an infested coop. It had inside walls and a ceiling and rats built nests in them. When I started renovating the coop, dozens of rats of all sizes poured out. I tried many different thing and still saw them, including water in a bucket with sunflower seeds floating on the water. I resorted to using poison because there were so many and I saw some in our barn which is behind the coops. I put rat bait stations in the barn in places where only the rats could get to them. The bait that came with the bait stations didn't work so well so I bought some bait that the feed store down the road used. The rats loved it. I did notice tunnels around the coops which I'm sure were made by the rats. I didn't find any dead rats so I'm pretty sure they went into their tunnels and died. The baits haven't been touched in quite awhile. The bait boxes have a little window above the bait so it can be checked often. There are many ways to combat rats and threads on BYC about controlling them. Good luck...
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The coop that was infested.
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I have a trap like that it came with the green bait and your right they don't like it I even tried crushing it and putting it peanut butter with baking soda and some bird seed that didn't work either I will have to try the yellow bait thank you

 

[cmom]

Also,

 

[Azangie]

I have a trap like that it came with the green bait and your right they don't like it I even tried crushing it and putting it peanut butter with baking soda and some bird seed that didn't work either I will have to try the yellow bait thank you

 

[Azangie]

All the chickens food is keep inside but ranch homes all around me and we are all trying to fight the problem my house is a haven for all kinds of animals pigeons hummingbirds flies I know I'm not going to get rid of them but I would like to control the population so they stopped eating my plants