SERIOUS rat problem

[Chary]

So my parents have been complaining about having rats in their chicken run for months now, but I had no idea how BAD it had become. Just to keep it short
1. They are huge. I'm talking 8 inches at the very least.
2. They have completely taken over the pen. Mom told me they devoured an entire batch of baby chicks in just a few days.
3. Gaping rat holes in the ground all over the pen. They must have an entire system running right underneath our chickens feet.

I've heard of taking the food away at night, using essential oils, dried mashed potatos, etc. What I'm mainly concerned with is their nest. Does anyone know how I can get rid of that? I'm not afraid of getting a little "redneckish". Can I pour stuff down the holes or something? As soon as I heard they ATE en enitere batch of chicks I knew something needed to be done PRONTO.
Thanks y'all!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm so sorry for your losses to the rats. I truly empathize. Been there too.

We had a recent rat thread, which was really good, but which I can't find for you at this moment, so I'll summarize from it and what's worked for me (I have a mighty struggle with rats due to my local environment).

It is a war of attrition...each step lowers the numbers until you finally hold back the rushing tide...however in my experience, you NEVER eradicate the problem...just keep it at bay.

1. Remove all feed at night time. (But be aware, they'll just come out in the daytime and feed...but it helps at first). See next step.

2. Remove cover around coop (bushes, brush, firewood piles, debris). Anything that offers them hiding and safety cover (but mine will boldly cross open territory even with hawks around). This will deter some. See next step.

3. Plug up holes in the coop, under the run, dig out tunnels. (Be aware they will chew through plywood siding to get to food/animals inside the coop...I plugged everything up and now have holes in the SIDES about halfway up...HOW? no idea.) This will slow the varmints down...some. See next step.

4. Skip the herbs. I'll just tell you straight out...they don't work. I've tried the "kinder" sort of remedies...they are worthless. My rats ate the herbs, pooped the "plaster paris" or mashed potato internal blockages....don't waste your time on herbals.

5. Put out traps with peanut butter. This will work for a short time until they figure out how to trigger the trap and still get the peanut butter...or they simply cannabalize the rat on the trap....this cuts down on some of the population...for a short time. See next step.

6. Consider getting feral cats or a good rat terrier (my personal favorite solution). My rat terrier has 30 kills under his paws, and I too have LARGE rats. He goes out with me nightly (then gets a swab down from mom and we curl up for a Netflix movie). Many of my friends rely on barn cats. VERY effective if you can do it. I've trained my ratty to ignore baby chicks (but I don't leave him out alone with them). To my knowledge the barn cats did not bother the chicks, but I'd put the chicks in a safe location away from cats. See next step.

7. Get and place generation 1 poison out in covered bait traps or overturned milk crates. Generation 1 is the blood thinning type of poison so it needs to be eaten several times before it is effective, so it's much less dangerous to pets and other animals (Vitamin K is the antidote if eaten in large quantity by a pet). Avoid the generation 2 one bite poisons as they are neural toxins that kill in one bite, much more deadly to pets and other animals. There are now some more "friendly" poisons that act on the thiamine channel (?) if I remember right. I can't vouche for those. I have used generation 1 blood thinners with great success.

Bottomline...cleanliness and then cats/dogs if you can... and mostly baited poison (that won't hurt cats/dogs).

Good luck
LofMc

 

[Quatie]

I have also had some success with live traps. There are few types that you can use to catch multiples in a night. They are more likely to get trapped again in live traps. I euthanize them after I catch them. Someone I know had great success with bucket log traps. He caught like 12 rats in a night.

 

[TOR]

I am going to make this weasel trap, but I think it would work well for rats also. I killed a weasel few days ago in with my chickens. heres a link if your handy at making anything this is not hard to make, could be made with scrap wood from a pallet or whatever laying around. There are videos on youtube also. I would not be afraid to put this with my chickens,
http://sullivansline.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3715

there is also a gasser from amazon I have never used one has good reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-279001...targid=pla-310328242297&psc=1#customerReviews

You have Norway rats sounds like, they can tunnel deep up to 4 feet but usually from what I read about 18 inches

I had rats few years ago and used a strong poison, not the blood thinner warfarin. I had pigs at the time and tried traps, but would not work cause they go after the pig food, Once I took the pigs to get butchered I poisoned the rats. They all disappeared.

Sounds like your problems is much worse as they have been there awhile and having babies. Rats can do a lot of damage. Had one chew through 1 inch oak in a outbuilding. I have read a full grown rat can take down a full grown chicken. They get on their back and chew the neck till they bleed out.
I like the gasser from Amazon. I will have to look into it for wood chucks.

Sounds like good advice from post above.
Good Luck

 

[Egg Blues]

On YouTube there are videos of catching them in a large glass bowl of peanut oil--lots of them at once. Once they get soaked in the oil, they're too slippery to climb up the sides of the glass bowl. The oil smells attractive to them, and once one gets in and cries for help, it catches the attention of others.

I haven't tried it, but it sure sounded plausible. What I _have_ tried is putting food at the bottom of a large, smooth-sided garbage can, too tall for the rats to jump out. Once at the bottom, they can attract others, too, who also cannot get out. I've caught multiple rats in a night this way. You just have to make sure that the top of the can is accessible in some way. Once they're at the bottom, they find it's too much of a jump, and they're stuck.

They're not all that clever sometimes.

Boric acid is said to reduce their fertility, but it won't kill them. Probably a waste of time to bother with it.

I use the live traps, and bait with bread. Then euthanize them so they don't come back. I find this method more convenient, safer, more sanitary (I don't have to touch the rat, dead or alive), and often more effective (I think it catches the rats more consistently than the traditional snap traps).

 

[Acre4Me]

problem that bad? POISON.

You may need to relocate your birds temporarily to fully address the situation. This can be temporarily living in the garage, or at another location entirely in the yard or elsewhere.

Buy and/or borrow traps so that you have many traps to set out. Buy 2-3 kinds of poison. Some rats prefer one over another.

Irregardless of the above, if there is easy food for them, they will be less inclined to eat the poison. So clean up everything - inside, outside to where there is NO food except poison.

Rats eat poison and are highly inclined to go back home to die. So, there is a very high probability they will die below ground. There is limited risk to your pets bc of this, and you should wisely keep your pets from the area while you are eradicating the rat problem so it doesn’t worry you.

Research the types of rat poison if you want, there are several modes of action. But, you will buy what is convenient to you and easy to obtain. You may need buckets of poison bait blocks at this point. We buy buckets and we do not have a noticeable problem with field mice ( no rats) we just use the bait stations and change out bait every few months and we keep 2-3 kinds on hand. Our Barn cat is alive and well despite all the bait stations.

 

[Acre4Me]

Just got a nice little rainstorm for a good 15 min it rained pretty heavily. A nice compliment to the watering I did earlier. Now have to go inside to clean!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Stop feeding the rats and they will leave. Works every time. Get a good treadle feeder with a spring loaded door and clean up any food sources like compost or spilled chicken feed. No use taking the feed in at night, a treadle feeder stops the feed theft and the spillage. Here is one of Howard E's old posts that is a gold mine of info on dealing with rats along with some of my comments.


"To the OP (and others like them), if you will spend the time, everything you need to know about rats and how to get rid of them will be found in the links below......

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




This last one is a review of a rat proof chicken feeder built and sold by a BYC member, who is a staunch advocate for the plan of getting rid of rats by starving them out. Remove all sources of feed and they will be forced to move on or starve to death. If you are firmly against the use of poison bait blocks......for whatever reason.......then this is one of the best actions you can take. Bulk food in metal trash cans.....chicken feed in metal rat proof feeders. Can't get to the feed and birds do not spill and waste feed that the rats can survive on."

And the short version of Howard's post? Sanitation, exclusion, elimination.

Sanitation, bulk feed in metal cans or barrels with tight fitting lids, a treadle feeder, clean up the avenues of movement so the rodents have no cover to protect them from their natural predators. In my opinion and experience this is the quickest, surest, and cheapest way to solve a rodent problem.

Exclusion, plugging the holes and building a Fort Knox chicken coop and not leaving an opening for free range. Tough to do and expensive but it could work for rats.

Elimination, poison and traps. Problem is that rats are smart and will quickly learn to avoid both traps and poison bait. Were you to clean them out, the lack of sanitation would mean a new population of rodents would move right in. And there is risk and no end to the process, keeping fresh bait out. However, if you have done your sanitation using poison becomes effective as the rats are starving and will likely try the poison bait. Not needed though, they will leave in a few days as long as you are not feeding the rodents with a compost pile or other animal feed. Not all will leave, your area will have a natural carrying capacity for rodents, natural feed, but that natural ability to sustain rodents is quite small and the natural predators keep them in check and under cover as the rodents hustle to find this natural food.


Do a forum search on "rats chickens" and you will find most of the old wives tales exposed and read of long epic battles against the rodents. Sanitation, exclusion, or elimination all have associated costs but you are already paying for the feed and will recover the initial costs quickly with the first method.

Good luck and remember, it isn't just the stolen feed, disease and predators come with rodents.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Good solutions on this thread. Don't do what I did as a teenager when I poured gas down a couple of holes and then threw a match in an adjacent one which ignited the fumes. The resulting explosion shook the very ground and several rats that were on fire set the woods on fire and even my coop at the time. This would be considered more than a little redneckish by the way.

 

[Yvette In California]

This is so helpful! Our chicken run has been infiltrated by what was at first one rattie. The other night I went out to grab a trash can and there was like a family of super healthy, well fed rats doing their nightly routine of eating the leftovers of what the girls had. They are getting in via the roof area, as the grid is bigger and easy for them to slip in.

As always, I'm always grateful for the content here, ease of finding the threads and articles, and the thoroughness of members sharing info. Al, thank you so much for your comprehensive info.