Rats

[Out to Pasture Sanctuary]

We had a huge rat problem here at Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary in Oregon. First we put the feed bags in metal trash cans then adopted fixed feral cats. This helped but what really ended the rat problem finally were the rat proof feeders from The Carpenter Shop. The feeders work really well and we have been very happy with them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad you were able to find a solution!

Thanks for sharing

 

[Lor]

Rats are such a pain. Glad to hear you have had success with ridding yourself of them.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Yes feeders are such an attractant
Good to hear you have had success with your feeders!

We feed wild birds too and the bits they drop on the floor attract them too. I do try to remove my chicken feeders on a night. We’ve had a bit of luck lately with shooting them. We got a beast the other evening under the wild bird feeder. Looked to be a pregnant female so a few less rather than just the one.

 

[chicknmania]

I swear we have never had a rat problem like we've had this year! I just can't get rid of them, and our cat got really sick with a bad bacterial gut infection from eating rats and then getting worms from them on top of that. He's always out there hunting, or was, anyway. I've had good luck knocking down the rat population with RatX and also cinnamon oil, but I need about five gallons of cinnamon oil, seriously. I don't know how much RatX is needed to kill a rat. I put some out there tonight in their favorite hiding spots, and I could hear them coming to eat it before I even left the barn. Gross. .I'd love to find someone that wanted to sit out there at night and shoot them, at least if they are a good shot!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We had a huge rat problem here at Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary in Oregon. First we put the feed bags in metal trash cans then adopted fixed feral cats. This helped but what really ended the rat problem finally were the rat proof feeders from The Carpenter Shop. The feeders work really well and we have been very happy with them.

Can you post a picture of these feeders and/or a link? Thanks!

 

[chicknmania]

We had a huge rat problem here at Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary in Oregon. First we put the feed bags in metal trash cans then adopted fixed feral cats. This helped but what really ended the rat problem finally were the rat proof feeders from The Carpenter Shop. The feeders work really well and we have been very happy with them.

I'm glad you have had good luck with them, but rats will live anywhere whether there's food or not. Everybody has outbuildings in our neighborhood, and rats are everywhere. They were in our barn long before we had poultry. But we just have never had them as bad as this year. I looked at the ratproof feeders, we'll think about getting them. Thanks for the information!

 

[chicknmania]

* I should have explained that in case anyone has not tried this, I read on a pest control company's blog about peppermint oil. It said that it will kill rats and mice. I knew that it would repel them, and I've used peppermint oil when we sometimes have had a mouse problem in the house, and the mice do disappear, but I always thought it just repelled them. The blog says that peppermint oil will cause damage to the lungs of mice and rats, and it will kill them. You're supposed to use 30 to 40 drops of peppermint oil on a cotton swap, and put it where you know they are, where their holes are, etc. So I just dropped the oil into the dirt at the entrance to any rat hole I could find in the barn. 40 drops per hole. It did work really well, we didn't see any rats, or evidence of rat activity, for about a month. But, you have to keep doing it. The barn smelled pretty nice, though!

Also, we found that the rats wouldn't eat the Rat X throw packs after awhile. But, if you open the throw packs and pour them into a container like a small can, you can mix the Rat X pellets with cornmeal or cocoa powder, and they will eat that, and RatX also works well and is not toxic to other animals. We've also mixed Rat X pellets with peanut butter or jelly. You're not supposed to let the pellets get wet, but I think the rats always eat the pellets before they have a chance to get really wet from peanut butter or jelly.

Lots of good info on here re ways to get rid of them. Thanks, everybody.

.

 

[Cryss]

We had a huge rat problem here at Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary in Oregon. First we put the feed bags in metal trash cans then adopted fixed feral cats. This helped but what really ended the rat problem finally were the rat proof feeders from The Carpenter Shop. The feeders work really well and we have been very happy with them.

I’ve found several treadle feeders but haven’t found one called carpenter shop. Can you give a link?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Just Google ratproof chicken feeder and you will find it.