My birds are inside at night and free range during the day. They lay at all times but production has been down recently. i have seen evidence of rats - one dead just outside barn after putting poison down outside barn where chickens can't get it. I'm sure there are more.
2007-01-10 00:54:27 · 17 answers · asked by doganjo 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
Are you sure that it is a rat? Decon does the trick every time, but it will also kill other animals that eat it so be careful with it.
2007-01-10 01:00:37 · answer #1 · answered by crested_love 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you SEEN the rats removing the eggs or have you seen the rats eating the eggs? Poison for the rats is too risky and not good for the environment. Consider building nests that the rats cannot access. This can be done MANY different ways. By the way, egg production is low this time of the year anywhere. Pretty soon you should see more production. Get the kitties and get creative with the boxes and make sure your chickens are very well fed and are young. Many types of breeds don't lay well beyond three years of age. Good luck!
2016-05-23 03:43:48 · answer #2 · answered by Nedra 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Find any and all holes in the walls of your barn. Place a package of poison anywhere the chickens can't reach.
In most places the weather has gotten cooler over the last few months. Chickens naturally slow down in production in the winter months. We have a ton of show and laying birds and a lot of rats. We have never had a problem with the rats stealing the eggs, but we still keep poison in the barn out of reach of the other animals.
2007-01-10 01:03:37 · answer #3 · answered by Horsetrainer89 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Keeping poison around is a really bad idea. Rats can be eaten by lots of animals and the poison can kill them too. Killing animals that are helping to keep the rat population under control isn't helpful. I'd recommend a trap. They work well and kill cleanly. Work to keep your barn area free of feed and pick up your eggs before dark when rats are more likely to be foraging.
Also, the electronic rat chasers you see for sale actually DO work. I believe most recommend randomly turning it on and then leaving it off for some time. We've had great luck with these.
2007-01-10 08:20:07 · answer #4 · answered by SC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i usually look for the hole that the rats are using and bury some sort of rat poison in that hole. i make sure that i take a stick and push it as far down in the hole as i can and then fill it in. that way even if the chickens scratch at where the hole was they don't end up eating the poison. try to collect eggs several times a day so that they are not lying around.
i've had problems in the past with rats and raccoons. if you keep putting poison out and collecting eggs there will be less rats. just keeping up with keeping the eggs picked up and not a lot of wasted grains lying around really helps out.
good luck.
2007-01-10 01:03:42 · answer #5 · answered by *~ riddles ~* 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would suggest grabbing a few cats first off. If you have elect in your barn you can get the plug in rats chasers (sonic sound) safe for all no rodent animals, found at all hardware stores. Just plug in an walk away lol, I have them all over cost around 10 $ or so. My dog and cats took care of my rats ,mice,squirrel's,moles, and so forth. Not sure how many chickens you have but you may have to pin them up and deal with this rather unpleasant task, rats will breed and breed and breed. Good Luck
2007-01-10 01:20:31 · answer #6 · answered by whateverhohum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are several pesticides to remove rats. If you would prefer a less abrasive method there are live traps to just relocate the pesky little devils. There are also professional "Rat Catchers" in some areas. Rats reproduce quickly so you need to move quickly with what ever method you use. Do you have cats/dogs? Sometimes that is all you need to have them move out. Hope this was some help.
2007-01-10 01:05:03 · answer #7 · answered by Sandy W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Poison is dangerous and could kill the chickens as well if you are not careful. I think that the best solution is to get a few kittens to take care of that situation. If you get them young they will adapt fine to the chickens and will keep the rats away.
I have raised chickens and I rescue cats and have not had any problems with them getting along.
2007-01-10 01:03:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In La. you can get rat poison at the Health Dept. and it worked good for us.The chickens never died and we had it out all the time.We had several roosters and we had feed, and didn't want rat droppings in or around it.You may get some at the feed store---Just ask the people that you buy it from. How about a cat?Are your chickens in coops? If so,a rat will not hang out where there's a cat........
2007-01-10 03:02:58 · answer #9 · answered by Maw-Maw 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If anything, you could call somebody and see what they can do to get the rats out of the barn, or try to find something that can get the rats attention, and then take care of them from there.
2007-01-10 01:11:42 · answer #10 · answered by Murphy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My former in-laws raised peacocks and had problems with weasels, skunks, and rats.
They put a berm around the peacock area. They dug down maybe a couple of feet making a concrete wall, then attached some heavy, dense chicken wire (about 2 layers) around the area. It sort of looked like a fortress, but they didn't have any problems after that.
2007-01-10 01:20:46 · answer #11 · answered by Ella 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋