Rats!

[cmom]

So I have mice and with traps and controlling the food left out I've controlled the mice, (or at least given that appearance ) about 3 months ago I had 1 rat that I saw in the aviary, and I put the enclosed poison baits out but nowhere the dogs can get to them (basically outside my fence in my driveway) and stuffed up any holes I found. I saw the rat a few days later and it was clearly not well, I tried to grab it but it still ran away, haven't seen evidence of a rat since. Putting the food away at night and cleaning up the scraps really helped control the rodents. But when I saw that first rat I flipped and I kept seeing that scene from Disney's Ratatouille when the colony is exposed and there are millions of them hiding in the ceiling. But I haven't seen any since, so maybe it worked.
I think the key to success is control the food supply. That worked for me.

I have generally around 200 birds and more when I start hatching. I do have 40# hanging feeders in the coops and I have seen no evidence of the rats getting into the feeders. Your story of Disney's Ratatouille reminded me of my infested coop. That is kind of what I was up against. When I started taking out the ceiling I was amazed at the dozens of rats of all sizes that came out. I had to move because they were jumping everywhere and some nearly landed on me. First I put a bucket of water out with sunflower seed floating thinking they might jump into the bucket thinking it had something good in it. I even put a ramp up on the bucket. No takers. They avoided the traps no matter what I used at bait. I tried the sticky traps and the snap traps but they weren't interested. Not sure where they all went but I had put out the rat bait stations in places where nothing but the rats could get to it. It can be done responsibly where pets, kids and other critters don't have access to it but still allow the rats access. There is the possibility of second hand poisoning but usually when a pet eats a dead rat it may make them sick but generally not fatal. Eating the actual bait could be. The rats did seem to like the poison. I haven't seen a rat or any more tunnels around the coops in quite a long time. I'm sure rats are way different than mice.

 

[drmolarmagic]

I have generally around 200 birds and more when I start hatching. I do have 40# hanging feeders in the coops and I have seen no evidence of the rats getting into the feeders. Your story of Disney's Ratatouille reminded me of my infested coop. That is kind of what I was up against. When I started taking out the ceiling I was amazed at the dozens of rats of all sizes that came out. I had to move because they were jumping everywhere and some nearly landed on me. First I put a bucket of water out with sunflower seed floating thinking they might jump into the bucket thinking it had something good in it. I even put a ramp up on the bucket. No takers. They avoided the traps no matter what I used at bait. I tried the sticky traps and the snap traps but they weren't interested. Not sure where they all went but I had put out the rat bait stations in places where nothing but the rats could get to it. It can be done responsibly where pets, kids and other critters don't have access to it but still allow the rats access. There is the possibility of second hand poisoning but usually when a pet eats a dead rat it may make them sick but generally not fatal. Eating the actual bait could be. The rats did seem to like the poison. I haven't seen a rat or any more tunnels around the coops in quite a long time. I'm sure rats are way different than mice.

I hear ya!
But I did learn something when I was doing research on the rat poison systems, I got 4 yes 4 different products and after 2 weeks swapped out the old for a different product. I was told that the rats may not die from it but just get ill and then don't try it again. So by rotating the "flavors" its more likely to do the job and even have them carry it back to nest where it can control the next generation of rodents.
I couldn't tell you if it always works as I said I just saw one rat...... it does seem to be working on the mice as well along with the traps. The only bait I ever use in the traps is Peanut butter

 

[cmom]

Usually if there is one rat, there are likely many more around.

 

[cmom]

I never saw many rats when I found out my coop was infested. I would see a rat now and then. I wish I had thought to get a video or pictures of the rats that came out of the coop. Dozens of them in all sizes. I found several nests in the ceiling and the wall cavities. You may have just one rat but not likely. Again good luck...

 

[drmolarmagic]

Hey! Don't you all see I clearly in Denial!!!! I figured there are more but I haven't seen any evidence since, So trying to be positive

 

[cmom]

Hey! Don't you all see I clearly in Denial!!!! I figured there are more but I haven't seen any evidence since, So trying to be positive

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rodents will just eat during the day if you take the feed in at night. Few chickens will mess with a full sized rat, mice they can eat. Might choke to death doing so though.

Get a treadle feeder, control the feed and you control the rats. They will leave once the colony starts to starve and most will be caught out traveling

 

[drmolarmagic]

Ok found what could be a rat hole, asked the dog and he denies digging it, so it could be a rat........but I'm still in denial.....

 

[Callender Girl]

Denial is sometimes all we have left. And, are you SURE you can trust that the dog is telling the truth?

Seriously, damned rats!!

 

[Geckolady]

I had rats last winter that tunneled from one coop run to another. I tried several things and finally landed on an electronic trap that zapped the rats when they entered it.

I didn't have to touch the dead ones, which was much nicer than the giant snap type kill traps. I had also tried those, with limited success.

My attempts at catching mink with humane traps failed, so I skipped that step with the rats.

As far as using strong essential oils to repel the rats, (stuffing soaked rags into their tunnels) I would have been better off dripping peppermint oil into my bath water to help me relax after seeing the vermin.

Since then, I have installed hardware cloth under those two coop areas. I used to feed the ducks in their run, but since they are free during the day, I now have their feed dish about 20 feet away from their home. Also, I have always kept the feed in metal garbage cans.

Good luck in your battle!

I actually succeeded in getting rid of a mouse using essential oil once, even though everybody says the oils are basically useless.

I had a mouse in the house. I took two or three extra large bottles of essential oil of peppermint and soaked a few rags with all of it, then stuffed the rags around the pipe hole where the mouse ran when it saw me. I went to work, and it was a nice hot Arizona desert summer day. When I came home for work, the peppermint fumes hit me when I opened the door. I opened the windows and tossed out the rags. That wasn't enough, so I opened both doors. Mice could have come in, but had enough sense not to. The mouse left in disgust and never returned. I thought about sleeping in the car that night. I like the smell of peppermint, but only in reasonable levels. So I managed to get rid of the mouse using peppermint oil, but wouldn't recommend it. The house did smell nice for most of the summer after the original fumes died down. I still hate mice.