After 30 years of keeping hens with no problems, this year I've got a rodent infestation. They took up residence in my greenhouse and garden shed. They are now in the hen house.
I've done tons of reading about what attracts rodents; rodent free chicken feeders; rodent deterrents, etc., etc.
I'm posting here in the hope that others' experiences could prove helpful. I don't want to surrender my hens but am almost to that point in time.
I've contracted with exterminators who assure me that their "safe" product will eliminate the rats while safeguarding my pets and the wildlife.
Am very open to any help I can get.
And it will keep them in business because assuming their product works, the rodents will quickly learn to avoid the poison, but even if they are starving and the poison is the only available "food", once wiped out a new population will find the empty territory and recolonize your coop.
If you are looking for a solution it is very, very, simple.
Stop feeding the rats and they will leave.
You are jumping directly to the third leg of rodent control, elimination. Sanitation is first, then exclusion, then elimination.
Sanitation, bulk feed in metal drums with tight lids, a proper treadle feeder that is actually rat proof, most are not, check the negative reviews very carefully and believe the, then cleaning up the paths to and from the rodents food source, water source, and where they live. The idea is to deny them the food and force them out into the open where natural predators like raptors, snakes, and mammals can thin their ranks. Most territories have a limited amount of natural food available, rodents thrive where humans mess things up. You might spend $200 doing this unless you have a neighbor violating city codes. Bonus, the elimination of the food source starves the rodents in days, they will eat the poison bait out of desperation, and they will be forced out into the open during daylight to find new food sources and natural predators, even dogs will kill them rapidly. The bigger the colony, the faster it collapses. The adults will kill their babies first trying to survive.
Exclusion is the second least expensive form of control it is probably an order of magnitude, 10 x, the sanitation method. Fort Knox coop basically, no free range either. Hardware cloth, no opening over the size of a dime's diameter. DYI this, might cost you $1000 for the materials if it is a small coop but it will work.
Elimination, poison and traps. Initially effective until the rodents learn of the dangers of the bait and traps. Never completely eliminates the rodents, never really ends as new rodents move in or are bred and raised. It can take some down but never will you be free or rodents without constant expense and work. Kind of like a cure for cancer, that will never be allowed to be developed because treating cancer is more profitable than preventing or curing cancer. Over the years you will probably spend as much or more than the exclusion method or you will just learn to live with the rodents and wild birds and pay far more in stolen feed and the constant supply of disease and pests like lice.
Search for Howard E.'s posts on rodent control and for treadle feeders on this forum and on the feeding forum. This topic has been beaten to death a hundred times over so you will find a huge amount of discussion on the topic.
Good luck.
