Rats!

[tortoise]

Dreaded rats in the chicken coop. DH checked on chickens late last night and saw FIVE. 😣

DS14 cleared kitchen scrap remains from the outdoor run. We've been feeding daily instead of a feeder. I'm worried my little silkies wont get enough to eat.

The rats are living in tunnels under the coop. I want DH to line the coop with metal paneling next year, but it will be hard to convince him to do it.

 

[Mini Horses]

In my area those are felony charges....AND...animal control is sometimes over zealous! It's part of police department. Very active units here!!

 

[Okiepan]

At least there are NO serpents in the hen house , Just saying

 

[flowerbug]

if you're on youtube there is Shawn Woods channel where he shows various kinds of traps and i hate to say that for some time i was getting a lot of vicarious enjoyment watching mouse trap videos because they were causing so much damage and annoyance here (when i could not find out where they were getting into the walls of the house and making noises at night which would wake me up). i also have to say that it can be very addictive to watch those videos...

by watching his videos i learned a lot about mouse behaviors i'd not have learned otherwise.

through trapping i also figured out that sometimes it wasn't mice that were the problem but shrews.

now the only mice i have to regularly contend with are outside but they still try at times to chew their way in or i have to trap a stray one that manages to get into the garage. they do try to get into the AC unit and the crawlspace entrance as their is the neighboring berm with rocks and trees so i have to trap at times there to keep the population down and also keep an eye on things and trap through the winter if i see a lot of tracks around the house or those areas.

since i tiled the walls and ceiling of the old garden shed (and sealed the door better) i've not had any more problems in there. nothing for them to eat in there any more either. it's become Mom's fabric for quilting storage area and all the garden shed stuff is now in the garage for the most part so that's much more accessible for me to get at things too instead of trying to get them out of that narrow shed.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I hate rats! 😡 my husband eliminated most of them a few years ago by shooting them in the evenings, lol, but we have pigs… it’s hard to keep them away for good.

 

[baymule]

I use Just One Bite. It gets ‘em. Last winter we were overrun with mice. I put poison in secure places and no more mice. Then the rats made themselves at home on the porch. I used Just One Bite, putting it where the dogs couldn’t get to it. They really aren’t interested in it anyway, but I hide it. This stuff works!

 

[Hinotori]

We don't use poison because the ravens eat the dead rats. I use a ratinator and have treadle feeders. There are still rats out there.

I think the rats we have are a native species as the males don't have the giant dragging balls of brown rats. They also went after stuff in the garden. Chicken food glued down with a bit of peanut butter is the best bait if they find their way into this ancient house. They aren't big on meat.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this. So are you going to trap for now? I wouldn't even know where to start.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That is a battle I fight also. It didn't even start with my animals and their feed - it started with the neighbors next door who left birdseed out constantly. My animals get fed what they will clean up - feed is never left out but I guess with what gets spilled out of the feeders and what I might spill scooping it out of the cans is enough to tempt them to bless us with their presence.

When DH was hospitalized and I left the English Shepherds outside all night I'd come home from the hospital and find a "gift" that the girls had left me every day. These dogs are excellent varmint dogs. They are only limited by fences... We put out some poison this week in the feed trailer only because the neighbors and their free-ranging beagle are out of town. I don't want to poison someone's dog - especially not the sweet girl next door who will eat anything she finds.

I've had to reconfigure all my quail cages so the rats can't get in them. They will kill and eat a quail in a heartbeat. My cages previously were 1 x 2 wire - now they're all covered in 1/2 inch hardware cloth. No way a rat is getting in there now and I haven't lost a quail since I've done that.

It's a never ending battle.

 

[tortoise]

I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this. So are you going to trap for now? I wouldn't even know where to start.

IDK either. We have tried starving them out (for years!), forcing them out by filling their burrow with water, and poison. Those worked... sorta, but rats moved into the barn, ate my baby rabbits for a year until I gave up raising rabbits. Didnt have small animals for a year, but they came back after I got chickens again. 😡