Roof Rats. I can’t remove the food (citrus)

[cmom]

A possum actually tore open a couple of bait boxes to get to the bait so I bought a couple more bait boxes and put them in the cages. The possum couldn't get into them. After doing some research I found out they are immune to rat poison. Caught in the act. Since I have the bait boxes where the possums can't get to them, I haven't seen them in the barn.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Several people hit upon the answer that always works, stop feeding the rats and they will leave. You have a wonderful red and white rat feeder hung inside your coop, I am sure they are grateful for the 18% protein. I know, the company markets them as "rat proof" but the amazon reviews say otherwise. Likewise, having the feeder off the ground does nothing to stop rats from jumping up into the feeder. And the cost, $59.00, that is within 10% of an actual metal treadle feeder that will stop the rats.

Oranges, mostly carbs and 87% water, less than .2 grams protein per large orange. End result, a rat would starve to death on oranges. Without a source of steady protein (AKA chicken feed) the rats would have to leave or be severely limited in number in line with the available natural food.

First step, make sure your bulk feed is in metal containers. Second step, replace the plastic rat feeders with a good metal treadle feeder. Third, clean up any debris, plants, or items that allow the rats to travel to and from the coop so their natural predators. Done. Rats will leave quickly once they begin to starve.

Do a forum search for Howard E posts. He is probably the foremost expert we have on rats and has done a lot of research. Here are three of his posts that explain everything you need to know about rats and how to eliminate them for good. Actually there are three steps, sanitation, exclusion, and elimination. You do the first step correctly by putting feed in metal containers and buying the right treadle feeder and the other two steps will not be needed nearly all of the time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

Or do like others do and make a hobby out of trying to outwit rodents by building a Fort Knox coop, trapping, or poisoning. Spoiler alert, the rodent species win every time.

 

[hayley3]

If people would stop killing all the foxes, coyotes, snakes, etc. that prey on the rats, then we wouldn't need to use poison.
But since that's not gonna happen, I want to feed my chickens and they are messy. It's chicken life.

 

[Allthefloofs]

We are in Scottsdale and we have the same issue. We have 4 orange trees, a couple plums, two grapefruit, one lemon, one key lime, a pomegranate and a cocktail tree. The only things they don't eat are the lemons and limes. Everything else is gone before it is ripe. They eat through everything, including the stucco. I don't leave food out at night, and I have it set up so there is very little waste, I have trays under the girl's feeders and they catch all but a sprinkle of food. I also pull water at night. They eat the citrus and the pomegranates. I can't cut every tree down. I have zap traps that occasionally work, but we are in a livestock area, surrounded by horse properties so the rats live there too. This year they have eaten through the stucco and roof areas and now we have herds of them in the roof. Like stampedes. We have paid "professionals" thousands to seal the roof only to have them eat through in several other areas. The big issue we have is that once we seal the holes they die in the attic and it smells for a few weeks, until they eat in/out. To be clear, it's been an issue before we had chickens. My point in the post is that in PHX it's not really about the chickens, roof rats are bad because of the citrus/fruit trees. Chicken feed is just a sweet bonus for them.
I have the runs and coops set up so there is an automatic door on each of the coops. They can't get into the girls at night. I have two coops, one Omlet with an auto door, one prefab with an omlet auto door. All the prefab coop panels are double layered hardware cloth. The rats have the run, but they can't access the coops. I have hardware clothed a small run, but they find ways in. Always. The coops are the only thing I have reliably been able to secure. In the winter the zap traps do pretty well. I also had great success with live trapping but I don't have the heart to kill them and driving them into the desert isn't sustainable.

 

[ackie]

Not that anyone was wondering, but I've has 0 luck with my live trap with PB in it

 

[WindingRoad]

I don't think that that is what the article is getting at, It says to stop "feeding" them, meaning you need to stop giving them a free meal, of open chicken feed. They have to work quite a bit harder, to get up in a tree to eat, and will be discouraged and may leave, if they are driven out with all of the other additions mentioned in the article. Anyway, I get your point, it is funny to think about.

I bet the fruit is falling off the trees onto the ground.

 

[WindingRoad]

Several people hit upon the answer that always works, stop feeding the rats and they will leave. You have a wonderful red and white rat feeder hung inside your coop, I am sure they are grateful for the 18% protein. I know, the company markets them as "rat proof" but the amazon reviews say otherwise. Likewise, having the feeder off the ground does nothing to stop rats from jumping up into the feeder. And the cost, $59.00, that is within 10% of an actual metal treadle feeder that will stop the rats.

Oranges, mostly carbs and 87% water, less than .2 grams protein per large orange. End result, a rat would starve to death on oranges. Without a source of steady protein (AKA chicken feed) the rats would have to leave or be severely limited in number in line with the available natural food.

First step, make sure your bulk feed is in metal containers. Second step, replace the plastic rat feeders with a good metal treadle feeder. Third, clean up any debris, plants, or items that allow the rats to travel to and from the coop so their natural predators. Done. Rats will leave quickly once they begin to starve.

Do a forum search for Howard E posts. He is probably the foremost expert we have on rats and has done a lot of research. Here are three of his posts that explain everything you need to know about rats and how to eliminate them for good. Actually there are three steps, sanitation, exclusion, and elimination. You do the first step correctly by putting feed in metal containers and buying the right treadle feeder and the other two steps will not be needed nearly all of the time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

Or do like others do and make a hobby out of trying to outwit rodents by building a Fort Knox coop, trapping, or poisoning. Spoiler alert, the rodent species win every time.

Ha ha. the rats stand on their back legs and eat WITH my birds. From a treadle feeder.

 

[ackie]

A possum actually tore open a couple of bait boxes to get to the bait so I bought a couple more bait boxes and put them in the cages. The possum couldn't get into them. After doing some research I found out they are immune to rat poison. Caught in the act. Since I have the bait boxes where the possums can't get to them, I haven't seen them in the barn.
View attachment 2422160

I had a possum eating my eggs

 

[WindingRoad]

Several people hit upon the answer that always works, stop feeding the rats and they will leave. You have a wonderful red and white rat feeder hung inside your coop, I am sure they are grateful for the 18% protein. I know, the company markets them as "rat proof" but the amazon reviews say otherwise. Likewise, having the feeder off the ground does nothing to stop rats from jumping up into the feeder. And the cost, $59.00, that is within 10% of an actual metal treadle feeder that will stop the rats.

Oranges, mostly carbs and 87% water, less than .2 grams protein per large orange. End result, a rat would starve to death on oranges. Without a source of steady protein (AKA chicken feed) the rats would have to leave or be severely limited in number in line with the available natural food.

First step, make sure your bulk feed is in metal containers. Second step, replace the plastic rat feeders with a good metal treadle feeder. Third, clean up any debris, plants, or items that allow the rats to travel to and from the coop so their natural predators. Done. Rats will leave quickly once they begin to starve.

Do a forum search for Howard E posts. He is probably the foremost expert we have on rats and has done a lot of research. Here are three of his posts that explain everything you need to know about rats and how to eliminate them for good. Actually there are three steps, sanitation, exclusion, and elimination. You do the first step correctly by putting feed in metal containers and buying the right treadle feeder and the other two steps will not be needed nearly all of the time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

Or do like others do and make a hobby out of trying to outwit rodents by building a Fort Knox coop, trapping, or poisoning. Spoiler alert, the rodent species win every time.

Many people here have said that poison works for them. I've not found that my self.

 

[ackie]

Spoiler alert, the rodent species win every time.

Very off topic, but there is a great video somewhere of a guy trying to keep squirrels out of his bird feeder by making more and more elaborate obstacle courses and its hilarious.