SERIOUS rat problem

[Al Gerhart]

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.

Have you seen that video of the dude that did this to gophers on his manicured lawn? Beautiful sod lawn, blown to bits after he used propane to flood the tunnels and tossed a match in.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Have you seen that video of the dude that did this to gophers on his manicured lawn? Beautiful sod lawn, blown to bits after he used propane to flood the tunnels and tossed a match in.

No I haven't seen it but I feel for the guy... if he was like me at age 16, it seemed like a good idea at the time until it wasn't.

 

[jburts]

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!

Get a cat or 2 they will keep rats away we had to get another cat when our other one died. So far the rats left

 

[McChooky]

If your rat problem is as huge as you describe you might want to consider building a predator proof coop and run covered with 1/2" hardware cloth and an apron in a new location.Starving them out is the easiest method of controlling predators and rats.

 

[PopoMyers]

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

View attachment 3163583

I used the gassers once. Moles did not die. May not work for rats, as they will just evacuate the tunnels through one of the many exits.

 

[ChookieG]

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.

Treadle feeders don't work! The rats and mice figure out how to use them very quickly. I found a mouse in my treadle feeder one morning after just using it for a week - it was disgusting with droppings everywhere. It may help reduce the problem during the day but you will still need to disengage the foot trigger at night.

Also as you have a severe infestation a treadle feeder would be something you wanna get only later as it will take your chooks a few weeks to learn to use it.

 

[Al Gerhart]

No I haven't seen it but I feel for the guy... if he was like me at age 16, it seemed like a good idea at the time until it wasn't.

Enjoy...

 

[Al Gerhart]

Treadle feeders don't work! The rats and mice figure out how to use them very quickly. I found a mouse in my treadle feeder one morning after just using it for a week - it was disgusting with droppings everywhere. It may help reduce the problem during the day but you will still need to disengage the foot trigger at night.

Also as you have a severe infestation a treadle feeder would be something you wanna get only later as it will take your chooks a few weeks to learn to use it.

What brand of feeder were you using? Might I assume that since you are from New South Wale in Australia and have a Grandpa Xi feeder? If the feeder is properly designed with a spring loaded door the only way a mouse could get into the feeder is while a hen was eating or there were dozens of rats with enough mass to physically overcome the spring tension and mob the feeder. This has happened in commercial flocks, dozens of smothered rats inside the lower feed tray. Once cleaned out and even after being sanitized with bleach the customer said the rats refused to touch the feeder. One by one two dozen feeders were mobbed but at the end they were either out of rats or the rats had moved on because there were no more rats in the poultry house.

This won't happen with the Grandpa feeder, AKA the Grandpa Xi feeder as they are made in China. There is no spring loaded door, even a tiny ground squirrel that weighs half of grown rat can push the lid open and eat. So the mice get in and out easily once they figure it out, plenty of videos on their Amazon review page and on Youtube proving this.

And I am puzzled. What brand of treadle feeder allows you to "disengage the foot trigger" at night? Even if there was such a feeder the rats would simply eat during the day.

Your last paragraph causes me to assume you had a Grandpa Xi feeder as you stated it takes a few weeks to train the chooks. The Grandpa Xi feeder requires it to be blocked open partially for several weeks, you are right about that, which is one of the huge problems with the Grandpa Xi feeder. Never, ever, block open a treadle feeder as it does two very bad things; first it teaches the rodents that the feed is still there and also how to operate the treadle. Second it teaches the hens that the treadle isn't supposed to move so when you transition to a partially open feeder the hens are spooked to see the door move. They think at this point that the scary overhead lid isn't supposed to move when they use it so the training is prolonged.

A well designed treadle feeder has a door that swings inward, has a very narrow and distant perch step, able to be grasped in their claws just like a roost pole, and the door has a heavy spring providing tension so that mice or five or six rats can't just push the door open. The distant and narrow treadle prevents rodents or pigeons from overwhelming the treadle and still reaching the feed. They might pull this off but will move forward to eat and the door closes. Most vermin aren't going to have a level of cooperation to pull this off.

We started out with a counterweight on our feeder, later added a spring between the top of the feeder and the door crank on the end of the axle to add the spring tension needed. That left one problem, the slender wire could flex and this made the spring tensioned door less effective although for 12 years we still maintained a nearly five star rating on our own review site and top of class rating on the honest (no Amazon commission links) independent review sites. Late last year we started beta testing on a new double spring/no counter weight version of our feeder with the springs connecting directly from the door to the inside of the front feed tray, mostly covered by the top front cover. The springs are adjustable in tension by using four holes at the top of the front feed tray, the wire link that pulls the door open when the treadle is depressed now operates ONLY in tension so the full force of the two springs prevents the treadle from being defeated, shy of a five pound rat that had a body a foot long. Which doesn't exist and if it did it would eat the chickens anyway.

So treadle feeders do work as long as you avoid buying the Chinese made Grandpa feeder or one of the many knockoffs that are also made in China. I think the Aussies have one or two feeders made in Australasia but they are still inferior feeders with huge honking treadle steps, no spring loading of the doors, or they have poor door opening mechanisms that quickly jam due to the litter building up under the treadle. And there is a reason why our feeder hasn't been copied and mass produced, it is too dang expensive to manufacture and still give away half of the retail price to distributors, drop shippers, or on platforms like Amazon. but it works as long as the instructions are followed for assembly, installation, and training. Yah gotta replace springs though, a buck each plus the horribly expensive 2023 mailing costs. Three springs cost 50% less than the shipping. LOL But like in war, amateurs discuss tactics while professionals talk logistics. In retail amateurs talk marketing while the professionsals talk about distribution. The point being our feeder is very unlikely to ever be knocked off in China because the profit margin is so low.

 

[FunClucks]

www.ratproofchickenfeeder.net

I have one. It totally works. But like previous posters have said, you have to remove all the food for a while before the rats leave, block the holes, etc. You'll need to protect your chickens from attack until the rats leave for lack of food, or until they are poisoned, etc.

Also, 1/2" hardware cloth is your friend. Any gap larger than 1/2" and you may have problems. My open air coop/run is completely surrounded by hardware cloth with a 3 ft apron. I've seen multiple signs of digging predators, and scat all over my yard. My coop/run is located about 15 feet from a stream, near several wooded fields, and I have a full complement of predators (cats, dogs, mice, rats, racoons, fox, coyote, hawk, snakes, etc.). 8 months and counting, and no signs of mice/rats or any other predator in the run. 1/2" hardware cloth and 3 foot apron for the win. Next time, I may make my apron 4 ft. I've had a few predators dig at the very edge of it, but they didn't make it far.

 

[ChookieG]

What brand of feeder were you using? Might I assume that since you are from New South Wale in Australia and have a Grandpa Xi feeder?

Are you implying that the whole of Australia is like that depicted in Crocodile Dundee? You obviously haven't been to Aust then.

If the feeder is properly designed with a spring loaded door the only way a mouse could get into the feeder is while a hen was eating or there were dozens of rats with enough mass to physically overcome the spring tension and mob the feeder.

Dozen? Isn't that just exaggerating it quite a bit? A 500g (approx a pound) weight is enough to trigger the feeder. Which means a couple of large rats will be enough.

This has happened in commercial flocks, dozens of smothered rats inside the lower feed tray. Once cleaned out and even after being sanitized with bleach the customer said the rats refused to touch the feeder. One by one two dozen feeders were mobbed but at the end they were either out of rats or the rats had moved on because there were no more rats in the poultry house.

Don't get what you're trying to say here...it seems contradictory.

This won't happen with the Grandpa feeder, AKA the Grandpa Xi feeder as they are made in China.

There is no spring loaded door, even a tiny ground squirrel that weighs half of grown rat can push the lid open and eat. So the mice get in and out easily once they figure it out, plenty of videos on their Amazon review page and o

And I am puzzled. What brand of treadle feeder allows you to "disengage the foot trigger" at night? Even if there was such a feeder the rats would simply eat during the day.

Your last paragraph causes me to assume you had a Grandpa Xi feeder as you stated it takes a few weeks to train the chooks. The Grandpa Xi feeder requires it to be blocked open partially for several weeks, you are right about that, which is one of the huge problems with the Grandpa Xi feeder. Never, ever, block open a treadle feeder as it does two very bad things; first it teaches the rodents that the feed is still there and also how to operate the treadle. Second it teaches the hens that the treadle isn't supposed to move so when you transition to a partially open feeder the hens are spooked to see the door move. They think at this point that the scary overhead lid isn't supposed to move when they use it so the training is prolonged.

A well designed treadle feeder has a door that swings inward, has a very narrow and distant perch step, able to be grasped in their claws just like a roost pole, and the door has a heavy spring providing tension so that mice or five or six rats can't just push the door open. The distant and narrow treadle prevents rodents or pigeons from overwhelming the treadle and still reaching the feed. They might pull this off but will move forward to eat and the door closes. Most vermin aren't going to have a level of cooperation to pull this off.

We started out with a counterweight on our feeder, later added a spring between the top of the feeder and the door crank on the end of the axle to add the spring tension needed. That left one problem, the slender wire could flex and this made the spring tensioned door less effective although for 12 years we still maintained a nearly five star rating on our own review site and top of class rating on the honest (no Amazon commission links) independent review sites. Late last year we started beta testing on a new double spring/no counter weight version of our feeder with the springs connecting directly from the door to the inside of the front feed tray, mostly covered by the top front cover. The springs are adjustable in tension by using four holes at the top of the front feed tray, the wire link that pulls the door open when the treadle is depressed now operates ONLY in tension so the full force of the two springs prevents the treadle from being defeated, shy of a five pound rat that had a body a foot long. Which doesn't exist and if it did it would eat the chickens anyway.

So treadle feeders do work as long as you avoid buying the Chinese made Grandpa feeder or one of the many knockoffs that are also made in China.

Granted there are many products made in China where quality leaves much to be desired...but I fail to see why "China" has to be a continuing example for your justifications. In a world rife with hate and dissent I think we shouldn't be delving into greater insinuating and condescending undertones.

Moreover, there are many top famous brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nike and the likes that are manufactured in China. And I'm sure your underpants will be too....and I'm sure that's just one of many items in your household that's made in China too....China-made products are just ubiquitous. Let's not insult the entire nation based on one unfortunate product... the country has many natural beauties and wonders, and friendly people just trying to make a living like most in the rest of the world.

I think the Aussies have one or two feeders made in Australasia but they are still inferior feeders with huge honking treadle steps,

Again ....you think.... but ignorance is bliss I guess...

no spring loading of the doors, or they have poor door opening mechanisms that quickly jam due to the litter building up under the treadle. And there is a reason why our feeder hasn't been copied and mass produced, it is too dang expensive to manufacture and still give away half of the retail price to distributors, drop shippers, or on platforms like Amazon. but it works as long as the instructions are followed for assembly, installation, and training. Yah gotta replace springs though, a buck each plus the horribly expensive 2023 mailing costs. Three springs cost 50% less than the shipping.

Are you even supposed to be advertising your products on BYC?