# rats getting the chickens!



## Judith (Jan 10, 2003)

Rats are eating our chickens . One at a time they are disappearing. We have put out traps, poison you name it. What can we do to save our poor birds!


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

Are they getting killed when locked up in their coop?


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## mike692 (May 30, 2008)

Are these full size birds? If so I'd say it's something other than rats. In my experience rats will take chicks on occasion, but not full sized birds.


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## poultryprincess (Aug 9, 2002)

Get yourself an old tom cat......they won't come in & eat the birds any more. I'd side with mike692. If it's full sized chickens, then rats wouldn't be my 1st guess. Mink, weasels, & a lot of other predators are possible.


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## Judith (Jan 10, 2003)

It's definitely rats. The birds are kept in a shed structure. I went in the other night and there were 8 rats on an adult bird!!!! Absolutely disgusting


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

Judith said:


> It's definitely rats. The birds are kept in a shed structure. I went in the other night and there were 8 rats on an adult bird!!!! Absolutely disgusting


Ok thats is a rat problem, a serious one.

You have cats running around. We have a lot of cats literally everywhere and rats have never been sighted here. Put some cats in with the chickens at night.

Rats traps, lots of them. Bait them with dog food. Use live traps and snap kill traps! What kind of traps have you used?

Dont use poison on the rats. If a rat dies where a chicken can get it the chicken will eat it and then it to will get poisoned.

Get cats!!! Lots of big cats!!!


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## poultryprincess (Aug 9, 2002)

OMG - " 8 RATS"!!!!!!! in one coop - I'd be running, screaming @ the top pf my lungs......& I'm not afraid of rodents.....but " 8 " of them - like you said Disgusting. yeah, you're gonna need a bigger boat (sorry couldn't resist ) I'd go to the nearest shelter & get myself some Mature cats & rent / borrow / buy some rat traps. GOOD LUCK Judith!!!!!


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

forget the cats they are more or less a check or preventitive matter with rats!
when rats get so big cat goes on the menu and if theirs enough adult ( notice I did not say full grown) rats to make chickens disappear a cat wont help much ( good for young and juvinelles but not the adults) get you some 
GOOD JACK RUSSELLS ! Ive seen the smallest JR kill some pretty big critters
and people think pit bulls are ruthless! of course my female WGSD can kill some rats but those JR will be relentless in hunting and killing those rats.


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## Judith (Jan 10, 2003)

We caught 14 rats in one day using peanut butter. That was dumping the traps then reloading (ewwww) Most were adults so about 9 inchers not including tails! There were a couple babies but not many. You want to talk about girly screams!!! O boy . I am not a wimp but having them bolt past you in the dark is enough to curl anyone's toes!!! They are killing everything and at the moment I am losing a bird a day.


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

Good god! What a way to go! With your problem, you may need to try EVERYTHING - and stay at it. We had a huge problem and I remained vigilent about baiting (so long as the chickens couldn't get it). Also, burn, haul or remove anything that could be homes for them (if you can). Brush, junk piles, whatever - You probably already know this.

Can you borrow a rat terrier and leave it in the coop at night? I'm curious as to whether the presence alone would deter them. Problem is - a dog wouldn't have much access to chickens, who roost higher up. 

Sounds like just a nightmare! I'm so sorry to hear.


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

How about surrounding their coop with mesh wire?
Can you move all your chickens to a secure place for a few nights? Then maybe you can trap them all easier if the only food they can get to is what's baiting the traps.
Good luck..I'm glad I live in Alberta which has border patrols to keep our province rat free.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

Im going to agree you need to relocate your poultry and also if you dont already have it galvanised garbage cans to keep your feed in and strict control on what you feeding your animals like less feed more often so theres
nothing left to encourage rats. rats will also live on feces of many species.
so you will want to make sure any manure is kept up and away from your livestock. 

you can make a rat trap out of a galvanised trash can, you may be able to google it. basicly though you fill it half full of water. bait on one side and a 
tip on the other. when I say tip I mean a gangway the rats will use to try to get the bait after they get so far they get sent into the drink. rest is history.

you could also get some old style english rat traps they are hard to 
find hear but they are multicatch also.

rats are smart and thier will always be a few that will evade traps so the more
types the better once they see a danger they will avoid it so you want to get them the first time.

set as many trap types as you can see if you can borrow some terriers imo 
some jack russels and alert your nieghbors to the problem because if you have them so dont they rats are prolific and make it a concerted effort to elliminate the scourge.


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## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

||Downhome|| said:


> forget the cats they are more or less a check or preventitive matter with rats!
> when rats get so big cat goes on the menu and if theirs enough adult ( notice I did not say full grown) rats to make chickens disappear a cat wont help much ( good for young and juvinelles but not the adults) get you some
> GOOD JACK RUSSELLS ! Ive seen the smallest JR kill some pretty big critters
> and people think pit bulls are ruthless! of course my female WGSD can kill some rats but those JR will be relentless in hunting and killing those rats.



And how do you keep the Jack Russells from killing the chickens when they run out of rats?
Linda


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

you relocate the chickens till they run out of rats. but once you had it in check the birds could go back in the coop and the dogs could be left to patrol outside. with my dogs all i have to do is tell them its a baby and they wont touch it! of course I trained them that babys are off limits and they are smart enough to remeber that training. well Ive been around terriers most of my life I prefer shepards and havnt actually owned a terrier of any sort so I dont know if you could imprint that on them I know they are high drive and seen what they can do though. If this wasnt so urgent a matter I bet a jr raised with chickens would pay them no nevermind. had a bud that had three boxers that adopted the chicks he brought home and even after they had grown wouldnt let you near them. so many thing are possiable with a little thought and understanding of the nature of things and sometimes with out our intervention.


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

Box the chickens at night and put them in a safe place, and poison like crazy! I like the blue wax blocks because nothing else eats them, but rats love them.

All the other advice is good, but frankly, it's hard for me to keep the place cleaned up good enough to keep rats from being around. Keeping the feed boxed up is the best advice, and dealing with the rats with poison when you get a "rat bloom" going on.

I hate rats! Good luck dealing with them.

Jennifer


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## Joe123 (Feb 24, 2008)

Sorry to hear you have rats. We here at our place battleing rats. Still not able to kill them, been sitting outside for 2 nights with shotgun an these rats outsmart me so far but soon going to blast them sky high I hope.

Hope you get your rat trouble under control soon.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Jennifer L. said:


> I like the blue wax blocks because nothing else eats them, but rats love them.


Jennifer, can you provide us with a brand name? I've never seen those here, just the green waxy ones and the rats don't seem to find them enticing.


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## bullsie (May 15, 2009)

You have to make your hen house rat proof or anything you do now will just be useless. Once you have your coop secure, then begin your extermination of the rats.


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## AlleyKatz (Jun 10, 2009)

Here is a cheap very effective poison. Be careful. Go to home depot and buy a box or plastic container of Plaster of Paris in the paint department. It is cheap. 

if you add water it will harden but you do not want to do that.

Mix peanut butter with plaster of paris. mix real good. then put out to let them eat. Do not let anything else eat it. Be careful. One way is to put inside a box so the rats can get into the box but nothing else. 

This is actually more effective than rat poison. But it does not last a long time in a box so they do not sell it. You want to keep it dry. the oil on the peanut butter is ok but no water. Once they eat it then it changes chemical composition and kills the animal. 

You can go to Garden Web and do a search of plaster of paris and you will find several long discussions of this usually on getting rid of squirrels which people there call tree rats. I would expect the rats to die down in their hole and not in the hen house. 

If you try this let us know how it works. I would definitely go to a paint store and get some immediately. This does work and it is super low cost. Add plenty of PoP to the peanut butter to make it a little dry so it crumbles up and does not stick to the plate etc. 

With your situation I would make plenty today. They are going to chow this down. Good luck I will check back to see how you do.


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## AlleyKatz (Jun 10, 2009)

If you have some kind of sort of pure animal fat like chicken fat or bacon grease you might try mixing PoP with that. 

Meat will probably not work since the meat has water and that will ruin the PoP to not work. I bet bacon grease would work for rats. But peanut butter is easy to obtain. 

This mix of PoP with peanut butter should stay good for a few months if kept away from water. You have such a huge rat problem I would make up a big batch this first time to hit them hard right away.


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## maranlady (Mar 28, 2008)

There is a poison called "just one bite" It works, very potent. Some rats are immune to rat poison because it is basically a blood thinner that is suppose to start a bleed in them to kill them. This will kill all, becareful of your other animals though.


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

"Just one bite" is what worked well for us too. I chop it in 3 inch chunks and smear it with peanut butter, then shove it way, WAY deep into their holes. I've never had much luck with bait boxes. 

I wish the Just One Bite were bright pink or something though. Upon a rare occasion, i will find the chunk pushed back out of the hole and in full access to the chickens - which is why I never use the pellets. I'm afraid theyd be scattered everywhere! If it were a bright color, I could spot it more easilly. That's the hazard with poison - but to ease fears, I've been baiting as needed since our big battle last summer - and I haven't lost a chicken yet. (kana-a-hara, hish visholem!)


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## AlleyKatz (Jun 10, 2009)

Judith

How goes the battle.

Are you having any luck

Does any bait disappear.

On another thread someone was using live traps with some luck. He caught 6. but he hopes that was the total. 

Someone else live trapped and shot them with a pellet gun in the trap point blank. I would tie a rope to the trap and drop it in water to drown them. I would then walk away for a half hour and go back. I would not stand around. 

The best prices on traps is Wildlife Control Supplies. I think they are in CT. they are on the web do a simple google search of the name. the site is down on maintainance. here is the addy. It should be back up soon. It was up a few days ago. 

Place your order online or call us Toll Free at 1-877-684-7262
P.O. Box 538, East Granby, CT 06026


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Ick.

I raise pet domestic mice and rats for pets - you'd be surprised what excellent pets DOMESTIC rats make, but I still don't like wild rats/mice.  

I'd say relocate your chickens and use the plaster of paris poison idea for about a week, everywhere. And, clean up as best you can around the barnard. Even if you don't ever see rats elsewhere, put out the poison randomly, because as soon as they run out of food in one area, they'll go looking and range a bit. 

Also, if you have lots of grain in your barn or barn areas, I suggest MORE CHICKENS! I love my chickens for so many reasons other than their eggs. They eat the rabbit food below the rabbit cages, scrape poo piles around, and 'turn over' the bedding in my barn to prevent ammonia smell. Since I've had chickens, my barn has never once smelled. They also clean up scraps of grain and everything that I might drop. I'm always sure to sweep the barn out towards my hens, so they get all the food that mice might otherwise want.

For feed bins, try switching to metal garbage cans that they can't chew through, and also only buying as much grain as you need at a time to prevent the rats from chewing into feed bags waiting to be used. 

Then, get a bunch of cats (don't forget to spay/neuter!) and they should keep the limits down from now. My place WOULD be a mouse/rat haven but I have barn cats, it seems just having them around prevents a lot of problems.


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## AlleyKatz (Jun 10, 2009)

Judith

I do hope you report back here.


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