suggestions on controlling rats in barn/tack room....

[65browneyes]

My first suggestion, OP, was barn cat as well. I have one. He's a phenom, too. Does such a STAND UP job with sleeping on MY bed all day, then sleeping is HIS bed all night in the feed room, watching the rats play! LOL

He's not the best barn cat, but he's young, I'm sure he'll learn...........I hope.........

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, a barn cat is your best bet, esp. as long as they are actually mice and not rats per se. Since not all cats are skilled or motivated mousers, the safest thing is to get an adolescent (or two! highly recommend two) from a litter of someone else's barn cats whose mother is a good mouser. Ask around horse people and feed stores, spring is coming. If you can wait that long

If not, like others have said, look for a feral relocation outfit, or call lots and lots of rescues and shelters and learn to turn a deaf ear to the ones that want to berate you.

The rats/mice/whatnot are there largely because FOOD is there. Make absolutely totally sure you are NEVER leaving EVEN SMALL spills of grain etc. Just a couple pieces of corn is a meal for a mouse.

Can you grain your horses in their turnout areas rather than in the barn? That will help considerably as well. A lot of rodent meals come from what horses spill. It may require you to stand there while they eat to keep them from reassorting themselves among feed tubs if you have group turnout, but truly it goes a LONG way towards discouraging barn vermin. Use those indestructable fortex tubs on the ground, they're great.

And obviously make totally sure your grain storage is 100% rodentproof.

Our current solution up here is wait til the barn nearly floods then freezes (to shoo them out of underground hidey holes) then have a few nights that get down to -20F. Amazing the dent that'll put in the barn mouse population. Probably not going to work for you, however <vbg>

Good luck,

Pat

 

[s6bee]

In the barn where we keep our horses the owners have always taken in ferile barn cats. There should be an organization in your area ( ask your local shelter ). They trap these cats/kittens, spay/nueter them, give them thier shots, etc. and then you can adopt them. Most of the time they are free too. We have 4 at our barn right now. They have been there at the barn for a year and are just now letting us pet them. Usually you would keep them in an enclosed area for a while so they know your place it "home". But really cats are your best bet!

 

[FLchook]

Ya, kinda figured cats would be best. I didnt think of looking for places that specialze, or have cats that would be good for the barn. When I was at the feed store today, I actually saw a flyer from a rescue that is looking for homes for barn cats. Up to date on shots and everything. Guess Ill start there.

As for a warm place, they will definatly have a warm place if they need it, but its not a huge necesity here. Our average nights are in the 50s hehe.

I have to feed in large bins, so the mice cant get to it any longer. occasionally, some does get spilled though. We feed the horses away from the barn, which im sure helps alot. Since its so warm here, my 2 babies have total turn out. They have cozy stalls to go in when they choose, but mostly they roam the pasture. They are old retired polo horses, so we keep life pretty simple for them

Now for the hard part.....convincing the hubby. Wish me luck.

Thanks,
Shannon

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
Oh, just bring them home and say that they "appeared" in your barn!

 

[Moonwalker]

We have 4 farm/barn cats 2 of which sleep in the barn and we still have rats. Both of these cats will catch the babies, but not the big ones. We do have to resort to poison a couple times a year when they start to get out of hand. We put the bait packs back in holes under the buildings where nothing but the rats can get to them. The down side to this is that you have to keep a sharp eye out for dead/dying rats and dispose of them before the chickens or cats can get to them. The kind of bait we use is inert until they drink and then kills then within a few minutes, so we usually find them near the water troughs where they are easy to collect.
We were pretty much rat free for several months after an agressive session last year of poison and re organizing the feed room. We also had a corn snake livinf under part of the foundation, that I'm sure accounted for many baby rats, but he would be in hibernation now.
We use big galvanized stock tanks to store the feed in. I use a couple of big pieces of plexiglass we happened to have lying around for covers, but plywood would work. We also put a couple of the sonic pest repellers in and that seems to help with keeping them out from under the pallets we store the feed that won't fit in the tanks.
We did not have a single bag chewed or see any droppings for several months until about 2 weeks ago. I think the survivors of the poison campaign moved out into the woods and came back when it got so cold.
There really is no way to get them to just go away. If you have a bad infestation, you have to erradicate them by poison or traping before a cat, snake or dog will do much good. They can only eat so much! If you only have a few, then start with the cats. Live traps work great, but you still have to dispatch what they catch cuz if you let them go, they'll find their way home.