Unwelcomed RATS!!

[dadezbombz]

Hello All!
I would like to know if anybody can help my family and I. We have 8 Rhode Island Reds. A few days ago my father was going into the coop to feed the ladies and sitting there eating the chicken food was a large rat. My father said the rat did not even move or bother the chickens, they were eating beside it. I am afraid because of all of the diseases they carry, and I do not want them inside the coop!! (For obvious reasons!!!) I was trying to brainstorm but since we are new to the "chicken" world, we are not sure how to go about making sure the rat(s)? do not get into the coop. My father built a small door for them to walk into and out of the coop. This is how they get in and go to bed at night when it gets dark out. I am assuming that the rats are just getting right in through that opening.

Any ideas for how to get rid of them?

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.
Thank you!!

Desiree from CT

 

[mutantroosta]

we saw a rat in our hen house once, was hiding in one of the hutches... gave it a fright and it vanished, not been seen again.. how ever, the woman next door feeds/breeds stray cats and from time to time ive sen one or 2 of them sleeping in the hen house not bothering the hens and maybe keeping the rats away

 

[dadezbombz]

I know..I told my father that and tried to pitch a cat to him, but my mom will not have it. My German Shepherd likes to play to much with cats and thinks they are all his size!!! So unfortunately , a cat is out

 

[mutantroosta]

theres always a cha wa wa (cant spell it propper lol) or and foxie or any other terrier (apart from bull terrier) are good rat dogs

 

[Mrsfoote]

Our neighbors did construction on their house all summer, which meant...all their rats came to our yard. So we did it old school...dad took a bunch of traps tied them down with fishing line, on places like the fences, near the trees , on top the coop...on the ground but made sure to pull all traps in the A.M. rigged them with hot dogs. First night 12 traps got 13 rats....lol. Second night 9...we're talking at least 40-50 rats seen in the yard. After that apparently they got the message.

 

[lemondsm]

We just went through this too. Our neighbor cleaned out her barn and we had them hopping through the yard and they invaded our garage. It was terrible. Two climbed into the air handler of our ac in the garage and fried themselves by chewing into the electrical wires. Talk about a smell. Took us a while to figure out where it was coming from. We have taken our feed out of the garage and that helped some and killed a few with a piece of wood when they ran out in front of me. (that was gross but it was more of a reaction) I set traps (brand new) and they will not touch them. We also read online about using a 5 gallon bucket....that didn't work either. We are trying to avoid poison. I am thinking about trying glue traps next. I believe by removing the food source they are moving on but I am pretty sure there are still a couple hanging around. Be very careful if you have any chicks, pullets or young cockerels. I had one attack my pullet and they pulled a chunk of meat out of her neck and a ton of feathers. She survived but it was a close call. Good luck to you.

 

[islpet]

I know what you mean about traps. I have never caught a rat in a snap trap. I've had them go into the electronic shock traps and you can also catch them in live traps but by far I've caught the most with the dogs. They HATE rodents of any kind and unfortunately we had a rat get into the engine compartment of our car and the dogs almost chewed off the fender and all the plastic trim from underneath. They got the rat, but the car took the brunt of it. If you are using traps try to wear gloves when you bait and set them out and try to "hide" them behind feed bags etc. where they don't stick out as obvious traps. Good Luck. Nothing is more upsetting to a lot of animals then having rodents around. I agree with them.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Try one of these. http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZU0...FESU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318711797&sr=8-2 We got one and put it in the garage, got 3 mice in 3 days. Works good. Easy clean up too, no blood like the traps, don't have to use posion and the chickens/cats/dogs can't get into it.