Terrible rat problem

[Nathaniel Walton]

Up until recently whenever i have had rats i have managed to eradicate them by any means necessary, traps, gun, poison etc as i hate them with all my heart. but recently we had severe snow for around a week and with nothing else to eat the rats seem to have found the hutch with my flock of 27 hens. I am trapping them constantly but only getting 2-3 a week, and the poison seems to be something they have figured out. can anyone give me and techniques to get rid of these PESTS?

 

[SueT]

You're in luck...there's an excellent rat trap thread!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-better-rat-trap.1212757/page-3#post-19749666

 

[Nathaniel Walton]

You're in luck...there's an excellent rat trap thread!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-better-rat-trap.1212757/page-3#post-19749666

Thanks!!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I was looking for that link...

And gonna call @Howard E to see about gettin' ya any good tips.

ETA: I bought my trash can this week to build one.

 

[Nathaniel Walton]

I was looking for that link...

And gonna call @Howard E to see about gettin' ya any good tips.

ETA: I bought my trash can this week to build one.

That's great!

Just been onto the website and ordered a dunk the rat trap I can't to *hopefully* catch some of the little/big buggers! School Easter holidays set to be busy for me. Setting new batch of eggs, setting up a dunk the rat trap and hopefully will have brilliant results with both!

 

[Jetblack2004]

I know the feeling. Rats are a huge pain. Good luck with your new trap! Tell us how it goes

 

[Nathaniel Walton]

I know the feeling. Rats are a huge pain. Good luck with your new trap! Tell us how it goes

Thanks... It will be about a fortnight but i will do!

 

[Howard E]

The rat trapping thread is interesting, but the best information on dealing with your rat problem is found here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rats-when-the-army-went-to-war-on-them.1216226/

The good stuff starts on page 2 of the thread. What you quickly realize is that with a severe rat problem, you can never trap your way out of it. You have to get them all and you can never do that with traps alone. They can easily repopulate faster than you can trap them. Best use for traps is once you have rat proofed a residential house or other structure where the smell of dead rats would be bothersome, you use traps to clean them out of the house. And to monitor for future activity to make sure they do not come back. And just to play around with if you want to harass them while other more effective methods are at work. And a big reason for the trapping thread was to provide a resource when the time does come to start trapping. Finding a trap that will actually work. Most commercial made rat traps are not nearly big enough for some of these large brown/Norway rats.

Getting rid of a severe infestation is a multi-step process, that starts with elimination of access to feed, which is what draws them to you in the first place. Second step is to limit entry into wherever they are feeding. That means rat proofing the structure. If those are not enough to get them to move on, next step is to use one of several poison options, served up from a secure bait box. Likely as not, poisons won't be effective until rats have been starved out of wherever it is they are getting their feed now. No reason for them to take the bait if the safe buffet is open elsewhere. But once they get hungry enough, the bait blocks start to look a lot better to them. BTW, a lot of folks fear the use of poisons, so shun then. Too bad.....often times that is what takes out the vast majority of a rat infestation. So don't give up on the poison option just yet.

BTW, it so happens that my ancestors came from Bradford/Leeds area of Yorkshire. Left around 1840......some rumors have it one step ahead of the law!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

That's great!

Just been onto the website and ordered a dunk the rat trap I can't to *hopefully* catch some of the little/big buggers! School Easter holidays set to be busy for me. Setting new batch of eggs, setting up a dunk the rat trap and hopefully will have brilliant results with both!

You will need multi methods. Switch them out periodically because they are fast learners.
I have had a Rat War going on for years. I started self titled thread named that in this thread category. It has tons of 411 from a lot of people in it.
Good luck. They reproduce so rapidly. Clever and keen. The devil in disguise.

 

[All_my_peeps]

We’ve had great success controlling mice/rats with a few excellent feline hunters. One just happens to enjoy sleeping in the coop .