Risk of disease from rats?

[jools2014]

Hi all,

I have a pretty big problem with rats in my chicken pen. It all started when we kept corn down there-it was first in our garage but my brother complained when he saw a rat in there. So we moved it into the chicken house. BIG MISTAKE. Now I know we should've kept food in metal containers. For over a year we never had a problem with the normal layers pellets, never saw a rat, food was out for chickens all day. It was just the corn that attracted them and now we can't get rid of them. Corn is only a treat isn't it? The chickens don't NEED it? It seems 10x worse for attracting rats than just the normal layers feed. I never keep mixed corn now.

Anyway, my question is about the threat of disease from rats. I know they carry disease but I have never actually read a case of anyone catching a disease from a rat or their chickens catching a disease-salmonella etc. And a lot of us are having to deal with these pests keeping chickens. So I just wanted to know the actual level of threat they pose. I'm in the UK so just dealing with the common brown rat. I mean you could say anything carries disease-humans included!

I have thought about getting a cat (a chicken friendly one!) to kill them or at least deter them, which seems the most "natural" option, before I resort to poison. But again i have read that it may not be a good idea due to the risk of disease, and I do not want the cat to get ill, or pass something onto us.

We caught a few rats in a humane cage but as we all know rats are very smart and suspicious of cages, and we have way more than a few so really need to deal with the problem in a big way. Is the poison used nowadays fairly fast acting? I know when it comes to rats most people don't care whether they suffer or not but it is an issue for me. I will have to resort to it soon I think though. But has anyone else used cats to catch rats with success?

My brother wants me to get rid of the chickens and said I was "like a 9-year old" for having chickens-ha I thought, try telling that to everyone on BYC and see what you get!

 

[chickiedoodahs]

Hey I'm in the UK too and the fist thing I'd say is to store the food in a way that the rats can not get to. If you have to keep food outside then get metal bins to keep it secure, lift all feed when the chickens have gone to bed and secure the chickens in the coop so rats can't get in. I've heard of some rats killing chickens especially if you have young birds.

I don't know about diseases spreading but I definately don't want rats in my chicken coop and run because I don't want my chickens eating rat poo!

Personally I'd set some rat poison to get the numbers under control before using a cat, rats breed at a horrific rate and 1 cat won't be able to control a already established population of rats.

 

[jools2014]

Hi,

Yeah you're right, wish I'd just used poison in the first place instead of letting the problem get worse and having to resort to poison now probably anyway.

I store the food in a big plastic container-they don't seem to have gotten in there, if they did I would move it to a metal one. They come round all day though-I think it's worse in the day, you know you have it bad when they come round in the day! It's weird though, they just seem to go in and out of the house/pen, straight in, straight out,wonder if they are taking pellets back one by one to their nest or something. Maybe it looks worse than it is as you see the same rat go back and forth thinking it's a different rat every time.

I have to keep the food down there in the day, it would be too much trouble to stand there waiting for the chickens to finish eating, put the food away, then go back later and put the food out for them again. I am probably going to buy this big metal feeder that only the chickens can operate. I think the rats probably go for the water too-I have a couple of ducks too and so there is always water down there too-argghh just a nightmare! Our pen was also very shoddily put up and there are gaps all round the bottom for rats to have free access (right next to a wood! So it's pretty much heaven for the rats). Another thing to save up and get redone-more expense!

They chewed through the wire for the light I had in the hen house but that wasn't a big deal. I don't think they steal eggs and they haven't hurt the chickens in any way. Not trying to make light of it, I know it's a problem and I have to get rid of them, just guess I've been quite lucky that they haven't done any major damage...yet.

 

[chickiedoodahs]

If your seeing 1 rat then there is no doubt more, I'm from a farm so have always had to deal with rats and generally they won't eat eggs/kill chicks or chickens if they have freely available food but that's not to say they won't decide to try a new food!

Get poison as a priority and then save up for more proofing of the coop but rats are sneaky buggers and will find a way into the most protected of coops if they want to! Good luck,never nice dealing with pests but the family pets come first

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I use the tamper proof bait stations with chunx poison. Really safe way to use poison. I keep the bait boxes right in the run and keep the hanging food container out at all times. I dealt with a rat problem and it's no fun especially if a few get in the house. Anyone with chickens should have at least one bait box in the run and food bags in metal containers in shed.

A locking bait station similar to this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Protecta-LP...412?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5533eda4

You can find deals on packages of three. I use the dark green Tomcat chunx bait.

 

[jools2014]

Thanks everyone. My mother went out and bought some rat killer already when my brother started complaining about them. Just need to buy a bait station I think for it.

Chickie- there are loads of them. I used to go down at night to shut the chickens up and about 10 would sometimes run out-it wasn't so bad over the Winter, but getting worse again. Should've sorted the problem out before.

What are you supposed to do with the dead rats, how do you dispose of them? We are lighting a bonfire soon so I thought we could just put them all on that then light it. I'm not looking forward to finding dead rats everywhere but got to be done I think.

Is there any chance of contamination, like say a rat eats the poison, then goes and eats some chicken food or drinks from the water drinker, can any poison be passed on like that? Just want to be so careful and not make any mistakes and put any other pets/wildlife at risk.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Enter in google scholar the sentence
" rodent transmitted diseases" and learn something about rodent and disease!

 

[Weehopper]

Only the Plague. The fleas that the rat carries transmits the disease. There a few cases of it in the US every year. So that's something to think about. We have been dealing with the lil buggers for years. Of course, poison is the best thing for getting rid of them, but you will never eradicate them all. The absolute best thing I have seen to get rid of them is (are you sitting down?) a weasel. I had been noticing that I was not seeing signs of rats in a few months, and then, I saw the weasel. He's a quick lil guy. My first thought was well there goes the chickens, or at least the chicks. Turns out, in my case anyway, rats and mice were easier. Two weeks ago I surprised him with a mole in his mouth. I wanted to kiss the lil guy! Haven't had much of a problem with moles this year either.
I don't let my dogs chase him; at least not while I am around. He is, after all, a warm fuzzy in their minds.
Cats and dogs help, but as I said, if you have livestock, you will have rats and mice. You just need to do everything you can do to control their numbers.

 

[Weehopper]

If they can chew through wire, they most certainly can, and will, chew through plastic feed containers. I can't stress enough, get metal cans with good lids.
The urine and fecies of rats and mice is toxic to birds of all kinds. If they get into your bins, you will have to dump the feed. My birds don't have unlimited access to feed. I feed twice a day, in measured amounts. Chicks are a different matter . Feeder is put down in the morning, and picked up in the evening. My adult birds free range during the day. Honest, they will not starve without unlimited feed in front of them. They get a goodly ration in the morning and evening feeds. Also, it keeps them friendly, too. They come to me at feeding time, and I can look them over. Also, hen's with chicks free range during the day. If I see them hanging around the feeding area, I will set out a feeder with chick starter for them. And I pick it up when they are finished eating. It's kind of a hassle, but I enjoy being out there and watching them grow. I hate mice and rats.

 

[jools2014]

Akrnaf-Oh I know rodents carry all sorts of diseases, but then so does anything. Reason I was asking is that I don't want my pets to catch something, say if I was to get a cat, it would maybe be a bad idea to have it go after rats if the risk of disease is that big. I also have a little terrier and she actually almost killed a rat the other night-saw it sat in the chicken house when I went to shut them up and dog managed to get it but let it go and it got away in the end through a hole in the chicken house door-it's made of wood (just the door) which the rats chewed through. Need to fix those holes up. Would just leave my terrier down there for a bit if I could but unfortunately she barks non-stop if left on her own for more than 5 minutes! Need to get me a weasel!

Yeah I guess it wouldn't be too much hassle to wait whilst the birds eat. Just until I can buy one of those metal feeders that only the birds can operate anyway.