Us vs. The Rats

[Star and eclipsa]

I said AT LEAST 5 miles and AWAY FROM OTHER HOUSES. Probably in a forest or something, away from where people live.

I challenge you to find any place that you can actually get to that is 5 miles away from other residential areas.[/QUOTE]
https://goo.gl/images/LZBY8U

 

[jesss]

I really appreciate the enthusiasm for this topic. We use a hanging feeder and waterer already, but obviously tge aren't rat-proof! Is there a rat proof feeder people use?

We have talked about pouring in quickcrete but it seems like they will just dig alongside it. I guess I need to figure out better bait for traps, or some way to poison them with out poisoning my flock.

 

[Birdinhand]

consider digging out the coop, about 8" down, then rolling out hardware cloth and attach it at the seams to create an impervious envelope. you may see some juveniles get through, but this will keep the adult females from getting to the feed and poultry droppings and quickly get things under control. it takes work and money but it should eliminate the problem. also, make sure there is no more than a half inch gap anywhere in the ceiling, walls, floor or doors.

 

[jesss]

Our coop is pretty big. That would be a huge undertaking. Might be worth it, if nothing else will work, though.

The entire run is screened with hardware cloth, which is also buried at least a foot underground. There are no gaps larger than 1/8" in the whole thing, except underground.

 

[All Ball]

A subject dear to my heart! Got them in my yard.

I've tried bucket trap - didn't work. Maybe with a garbage can instead of a bucket.

T-Rex snap traps in the shed worked for Norways - got rid of them, but not roof rats who are eating my tree collards .

Now I am trying to get them to eat YES the corn gluten stuff - it works by making the rat forget to drink water and it safe for other species. It is called RatX. They didn't touch it for months but I've gotten VERY GOOD at cleaning up any little chicken dribble and the rats have recently gotten into it. Now the aim is to get them to stuff themselves with it until they dessicate.

YES there are rat-proof feeders - google "rat-proof feeder" and you'll see the guy's treadle feeder. My girls didn't like it. Now I am trying very cheap "trigger-happy chickens" triggers that make a bucket into an automatic feeder, which is advertised as rat-proof if high enough from the ground. Hopefully the dumb girls will catch on - right now only half do.

Re other kinds of rat poison - nobody has mentioned that the big problem with most poisons is that they can kill lovely predators like my local great horned owls. So I won't use it - I would only use it if there was a way to trap or collect the poisoned animal.

Other options:

• I have a mini-coop - the top is based on the garden coop, but the bottom is hardware cloth and wood and it is raised off the ground. No rats can get in.
• I've heard good things about those electric rat traps.
• A new company is marketing something that interferes with rat reproduction. It sounds really promising - they tested it in the NY subway system. Right now you can only get it through a pest company. It's called ContraPest.

I will always have rats around here because my silly neighbor leaves cat food out 24/7 for ferals and there are a lot of fruit trees and low bushes and ivy in the neighborhood - great rat habitat. I have started researching how to landscape in a way to not provide rat habitat. I am cutting bushes high and away from the walls, getting rid of wood piles and will pick up fallen fruit each evening.

Best of luck! They say if neighbors can get together and implement an anti-rat strategy, it can be a big help toward getting rid of the problem.

 

[All Ball]

Also, if you search on here you can find a thread about a rat-proof waterer - the rats were getting into this person's waterer and people gave them suggestions on how to add a barrier to block the rats.

 

[JedJackson]

over the summer/fall, it became apparent there were rats stealing our chicken feed. We have had chickens for seven years and never had a problem with rats. We built a garden coop from plans we bought online, and covered the entire coop with hardware cloth, which we also buried 12" underground with river rocks. But the rats have dug an extensive network of deep tunnels more than a foot underground to get into our coop and eat the chicken feed. I tried trapping them, and while I was pretty successful, only the live traps worked. it is such a slow way to eliminate a population, and we all got tired of killing the rats we trapped. We don't want to use poison because of a fear that the chickens could somehow get the poison, or that a poisoned rat could stagger into their reach and they could eat the rat. (Chickens are crazy AF). We have been bringing ning in the food every night and putting it out in the AM but it's quite a lot of work and doesn't really work with our schedules.

At the feed store recently, someone told me to buy bulk corn gluten and mix it into small balls with peanut butter and drop them into the rats holes. I have searched BYC and the bowels of google and can't find other people who are using this method, but I will say that it seems easy, cheap, safe to have around chickens... but is it effective? Has anyone else heard of this? Do you have any other advice or tips for things I could try? Thank you!

I'm afraid the only real way to control a rat problem with poultry is to find a way to keep them from getting into the coop and gaining access to feed. It may require a lot of effort and money but nothing else will offer a long term solution to the problem. Poison could be effective, but there will always be more rats to take the place of those that have died if there is an easy food source around. And poison is deadly not only to rats but to a lot of other critters, including predators of rats. And of course chickens. So you have to be very, very careful with it, and even then something could eat the dead rats and be poisoned as well. For me it's just not an option.

I also don't buy into miracle rat killing recipes. If they were as good as is claimed then everyone would be using them. I think corn gluten is nonsense. It may stop them up but it won't kill them. Cats or dogs will help but as with poison, there will always be more.

Another thing that can help is cleaning up old heaps of branches or junk that are laying around the yard-- the less places they have to hide the less rats like it and the more vulnerable they are to natural predators. You might have some success with flooding their tunnels and shooting or stomping on them as they flee. Filling in their tunnels is always a good idea. And so is putting a skirt of hardware cloth around your coop/run, facing out. This is much more effective with most predators than just putting the cloth down in a trench around the coop, because most predators will dig as close as possible to the coop and will give up if they are digging against the wire, whereas if the wire just goes downward they will continue to dig until they reach the bottom. So it may be worth a try and even if it doesn't help the rat problem it will keep out other predators.

As for catching and releasing rats back into wild places-- No. Heck no. These are not native animals but feral, highly destructive imports. Destructive not only to crops and livestock but also to native plants and animals. Why would anyone release them and possibly cause a new infestation? Our wildlife has enough problems as it is and rats are certainly capable of finding their way back to where they were trapped and starting the problem up all over again.

 

[annanicole18]

Poison sadly was the only thing that got rid of my problem. Disgusting creatures had built quite a network of tunnels up before I had to throw in the non chemical elimination towel. I trapped and trapped but the few I caught never made a dent in the population. Pet safe bait stations and some poison cubes had my problem gone in less than a month. Key to the bait stations being appetizing is to be sure there isn't any other food source. Now I have an crazy hunting outdoor cat and fingers crossed he will take care of any new ones before they stake a claim. I am pretty confident in my Mortimer, that cat has been killing things since he was 4 months old! Kills snakes just to play with them and eats everything else.

 

[Birdinhand]

Our coop is pretty big. That would be a huge undertaking. Might be worth it, if nothing else will work, though.

The entire run is screened with hardware cloth, which is also buried at least a foot underground. There are no gaps larger than 1/8" in the whole thing, except underground.

looks like a great coop and very manageable sized run. hardware cloth comes in rolls, I go with the 4' rolls that are about $2.50 a linear foot. I'm thinking you could do your's for about $50-75. dig down 8" on one side, pile the dirt on the other, spread the cloth, mend the seams, move the dirt over the cloth, switch sides, dig the second side, lay down the cloth, mend the seams, spread the dirt back evenly throughout, voila, no more rats! there will always be s manageable background population, so don't be alarmed at signs of one here and there. I also keep snap traps out to keep control of the population of rats under my neighbors shed that is at the property line and catch probably one a month.

 

[Pjacct]

We recently cleared out our backyard jungle and for the first time ever we have a rat or mice problem. This morning I went to our storage bin (a lockable/sealed coolman) where they have knawed through the first outer layer of hard plastic. One more layer and they are in rat food heaven and then I’m sure there will be more which will bring arh!!!!
We have always kept food away from hutches and in sealed heavy duty containers, but I think as we have disturbed their old natural environment, they have decided to move on in.
Thank you to everyone’s comments here.... I think that we will be going the route of poison under our house and ensuring our chickens and child can’t access.