What am I dealing with here? Update - Hubby poked!

[sarahsark]

Quote:
Nope, my big strong hubby got out of their way - he moves pretty fast when he wants to!

good for him! I would've been racing the wind myself... Hate mice/rats, ew!

 

[justbugged]

This thread reminded me of an article that I read earlier today about Prince Charles estate. Apparently the Prince opened his estate up for a 12 day green festival, and it turns out that the estate is being over run by rats. They haven't figured out how to get rid of the rats in a environmentally correct way yet.

 

[Tala]

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I also use a bait station.
They are made pretty darn well and often used in foodservice areas. I got mine at TSC, Tomcat brand cost about $15 it was near the livetraps and rat bait type stuff.
I have not found any dead rats (nor did I ever see any live ones, but I know they were stealing eggs out from under my broody! and they ate the bait when I put it out)
nor have any of my dogs/cats/chickens been secondarily poisoned. It's working for me.

I've been told that cats *generally* won't bother something else's old kill/something that is already dead, since they are not as much scavengers as dogs and other animals are. Whether or not it holds true in real life, I don't know for sure. But I do know that when their prey stops moving they lose interest pretty fast, which leads me to believe that they wouldn't be very attracted to already-dead rats.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

If you use poison just be sure that the birds can't get to it. If it were me I'd use traps outside the coop/run baited with peanut butter. Put it in a tight spot that a cat or dog can't get to it or try using a box that is only as wide as the rat trap with a lid on it to get the dead rat out and reset the trap. Make the opening small enough so only rats and smaller can get in there. This comes from many years of trapping. If you want a specific animal, set your trap for that animal, nothing else. If the opening is small enough and the trap is set far enough back in the box so say a chicken can't reach it then you can set these in the coop/run without worry. Just depends on how long the necks on your chickens are. If there is a place they can get into, they will put their heads in it just to have a look see.

 

[Chickmate]

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Thanks for this advice. I'll make sure to bring the food in at night.

 

[Rozzie]

Poisoned rodents don't died immediately. They are a major cause of death for birds like owls. Owls are the best rodent control that we have. According to the World Bird Sanctuary, a single barn owl eats up to 2000 mice a year, but will die if it eats only ONE mouse that has eaten rodent poison.

Please consider carefully before resorting to poison.

 

[briana1975]

I probably would of poked it with a pitch fork. Rats are yucky. Maybe you need to borrow my little dog. He kills rodents. Boston/ Rat Terrier mix. I think it's great, my husband hates all the holes in the yard from him killing the moles.

 

[henney penny]

A mouse would not stand a chance in my coop the chickens would eat it ,they fight over them and pull them apart,one happened to run across the run a few weeks ago and did not make it.Thnak God I have no rats

 

[joebryant]

It befuddles me how anyone could deal with having a rat(s) in their chicken coop, or for that matter, anywhere near. I think that I would go to the nearest animal shelter and adopt every hungry, mean, ugly cat that they had.

 

[cheeps]

Luckily for us, my nearest neighbor is a cat hoarder, so we don't have a mice problem

I guess every cloud has a silver lining!!