# HELP-Rats invading my coops!!



## Goatalicious (Mar 22, 2017)

Does anyone have a solution to rat/mice problems? I have 3 coops all had hanging 5gal bucket feeders. Have been using them for months just recently however in the newest smallest bantam coop the rats figured out how to get on the feeder & have chewed the lids off, then days later started doing it in the next door coop also. 3rd coop is separated by 3 other pens so havent had the problem there yet. Now I'm having to feed in the morning & as soon as all my chickens & ducks are resting i have to remove all feeding dishes from the coops, then having to feed again later in the day. Since this has been happening I've noticed alot of fighting. Which I'm assuming is happening out of hunger since it was not happening at all when they had feeders that they could all free feed from. Also im noticing that i have less eggs, not sure I g they just arent laying or they are being taken by the rats! So does anyone have any solutions to rat problems that will be safe for my chickens & ducks?? I'm in desperate need of an immediate solution to this problem.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Traps. Cats.


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## KatieO (Mar 24, 2017)

Rats and mice are very common for me because they live under my coop. I am currently building a new coop that is elevated that can help with them living there, but what I have done so far is traps and moving the coop around (if possible for you). It can always be tricky, but good luck. Just be sure you place traps safely away from the birds.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

I had a friend who dealt with the rats by arming her teen son with a pellet gun. :-o 

You can try soaking cotton balls with peppermint oil. It is supposed to repel mice. But rats may be too smart for that. I'm thinking your best bet is traps....


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## Karen (Jun 22, 2010)

I second the barn cats suggestion. Some shelters even have cats that are not people-friendly who need home - which would be perfect for this.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

My neighbor feeds stray cats & they NEVER catch any rats for me. All they do is poop everywhere. They eat in his yard & poop in mine! And when we used to let out cats out doors, they killed mice, birds, baby rabbits, snakes-but not one rat.

I'll be following this thread because I have so many rats. They don't go in any trap. I don't think they eat any bait. There's a guy around here who has a pack of Rat Terriers he'll bring to your farm, but my place is too small to be worth his time. Every time I feed my goats I have to dump rat dropping out of their buckets first. I'm worried they will give my goats a disease or parasites.


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

I had never had a problem in my chicken coop ( a horse stall with an outside door) until I raised meat birds in another stall 
The rats had dug tunnels under all the stalls. I didn't realize we had a problem until sections of the floor started caving in on the edges. My cat came up with a tail one day and it was huge! 
I bought the tomcat bait chunks in the red bucket and started putting the chunks in the tunnels. There's also a holder that you can put them in, but I found directly in the tunnels the most effective. Had to be really good about putting chunks in every few days, but before a month was over, they were gone.
https://www.strombergschickens.com/...traps?s=GSHP&gclid=CJeDua7IgNMCFRWewAodwJIDpw


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

We don't really have rats in ND (the occasional one maybe) but I'm curious if they would fall for that 5 gal bucket trick? Or are they too big......and could get out ?

I know with mice, I've caught far more just having a little bit of feed in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket, than I ever did with the box traps.


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

I'm with the cat choice. I kept getting mice/rats everywhere in my barn everywhere you go you run into a mouse!!! So I took my cat Bubba who was being very naughty and potting in the garden so we killed two birds with one stone and took Bubba to the barn and have had no problems with mice/rats. I tried the whole traps thing it worked for maybe two weeks and then it stopped. We found litter after litter of baby mice and I think one litter of rats but we got rid of them and my cat has kept the population down and almost extinct but occasionally I'll find a dead mouse here and there.


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

But since there isn't many mice to catch anymore he started catching squirrels!!!


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