We had a huge problem with rats, big ones, in both barns and the 7’ black snake living in the shed didn’t even make a dent in the population. The cat was/is too lazy for rats, he prefers mice and gophers.
We started using the Poison Bait Box from Tractor Supply and it worked like a champ. In just two weeks, rats all gone and the occasional new one doesn’t last long. Never had a problem with dead raptors.
As I understand it, the bait makes the rats thirsty, when they drink water, it activates the bait and kills them. Only found 2 deaders out of at least 90 live ones, and those two were stuck in a tall bucket.
[/QUOTE] wonder how long before someone would start calling names.
Guess that is the only way some feel superior to others, they of course are more pure than anyone else.[/QUOTE]
You have a serious problem
[QUOTE=Crockpot;8417925]
[/QUOTE] wonder how long before someone would start calling names.
Guess that is the only way some feel superior to others, they of course are more pure than anyone else.[/QUOTE]
You have a serious problem[/QUOTE]
That quoted above kind of makes my point.
Back on topic, the barn we have a problem this year was built in 1957, used for storing grain the first two years, never again.
Since then it has been the local practice pen for ball games and hay and machine storage.
All those years, there were some mice there, but until this year of thousands of mice and rats all over the region, getting into everything, no one needed any rodent control measures.
This year, it is becoming a real necessity, rodents are so thick every place, they almost seem out of a horror movie.
I think that the floods have brought them out looking for higher ground, plus the extra growth of grass and seeds are helping their numbers explode.
If you use the bucket method, you don’t need to put hardly any water in there, just enough to keep them from being able to jump out of there, impeded by having to stand in the water.
Yikes. Glad we dont have a rodent problem. Ill stick to raccoons thank you…trap and release does seem to work for us although it is not easy to move a large trap with a pissed off raccoon in it. . I know the trap is working t because some of our raccoons have reappeared with our green spray painted stripe on them, out where we let them go from their traps (in a hiking but largely uninhabited area. )So they are not coming back here…yet
Well I today while I was in the barn I thought about this thread… When we bought the house with the barn, the barn had been empty for quite a while and I think thats when the rats moved in. There were many… In the first year it was horrible. They even ate my favorite saddle pad 
At that time I did not have a cat. … So I finally hired a pest control company to put out rodent boxes. I think it improved but they did not disappear completely. The turning point came, when my little feral cat moved in. For a while she killed like 7 or 8 rats a day… It was impressive. Since then I have not seen any rats. And my kiddy looks fat and healthy even though there are still the rodent boxes… So right now I have both… a barn cat and poison… And seriously I do not feel bad about it at all…I am just happy that there are no more rats…
[QUOTE=Manni01;8418911]
Well I today while I was in the barn I thought about this thread… When we bought the house with the barn, the barn had been empty for quite a while and I think thats when the rats moved in. There were many… In the first year it was horrible. They even ate my favorite saddle pad At that time I did not have a cat. … So I finally hired a pest control company to put out rodent boxes. I think it improved but they did not disappear completely. The turning point came, when my little feral cat moved in. For a while she killed like 7 or 8 rats a day… It was impressive. Since then I have not seen any rats. And my kiddy looks fat and healthy even though there are still the rodent boxes… So right now I have both… a barn cat and poison… And seriously I do not feel bad about it at all…I am just happy that there are no more rats…[/QUOTE]
So, she was leaving 7-8/day for you – intact and not eating them? You could hire her out!
[QUOTE=Linda;8418902]
Yikes. Glad we dont have a rodent problem. Ill stick to raccoons thank you…trap and release does seem to work for us although it is not easy to move a large trap with a pissed off raccoon in it. I know the trap is working t because some of our raccoons have reappeared with our green spray painted stripe on them, out where we let them go from their traps (in a hiking but largely uninhabited area. )So they are not coming back here…yet[/QUOTE]
Wow, you could get into a lot of trouble if caught with a wild animal caged in your vehicle… and transporting them out of your (the coons) neighborhood is a BIG no-no. Here in NC, the Ranger/Wildlife Officer will give you a stiff ticket and take away your trap. So, cover that baby up and don’t get caught. We just shoot coons when they come looking for trouble and leave them up on the ridge to feed the buzzards. My dogs aren’t big enough to handle a coon and coons often carry rabies. Nasty.
[QUOTE=tucktaway;8418946]
So, she was leaving 7-8/day for you – intact and not eating them? You could hire her out![/QUOTE]
I know 
I love her to pieces and can still not believe that she chose my barn to move in I think in the beginning she killed them because she was truely hungry. She was only skin and bones when she first arrived But when I started to feed her she decided that she loves cat food. Its pretty amazing, sie nearly doubled in weight since she arrived, and instead of the thin, dull looking coat she had in the beginning she has now a shiny, fluffy thick coat.
She loves to be cuddled and its fun to cuddle with her with her soft fluffy coat. For me she is a miracle
I will second the barn owl boxes. One year we had a horrible rat problem. The next year a family of barn owls moved in to the abandoned house next door. Voila, no more rats plus barn owls are incredibly cute and the owlets are just Squee!!!. I’ve had at least two families, one in the old house and one in a storage shed plus another family of owls and one of red tailed hawks at my parents’ old house 3/4 mile away. I’ve counted as many as four owls hunting around my house at night.
Also keep all food sources in rodent proof containers and keep the grass and bushes trimmed near buildings.
Have had 2 farms with huge rat infestation…first place we hired professionals to put bait boxes out and also blow tracking powder into their holes…and removed every bit of grain from floor into metal lined bins. Plus diligently removed manure piles, pulled up floor boards and blew in tracking powder and same into false ceiling spaces. We killed hundreds and then got z2 killing cats and 2 Aussies who also were killing machines.
New farm we baited all the empty stalls kept door shut and spent 2 weeks removing every manure pile and stripping pout turn out sheds…weed whacking and mowing around all building and removing debrie piles …once we removed poison bait traps I got 6 cats and a
Have kept my cats living and feed shelf in feed room…bye bye rats…weed whacking and mowing tight has helped…if I see a place where a rat is tunneling trying to move in we lock cats in those stalls…usually see a carcass next day.
Never ever saw a dread,bird not once while we baited…Keep manure piles removed rats love to love in manure piles.
LLee - we live in a huge gated community that has a lot of open space for hiking , trail riding etc. So when we trap a raccoon, we take them up in the mountains in our gated community to a place where there are not other homes. And we release them there. So we are not taking them out of town. we are taking them up one of the mountains in our community. So far so good - no returning critters
Rottweilers are great ratters. When my parents bought their farm there were hundreds of rats in the old barn. The Rottweiler was merciless - she would tail the rats as they ran along the beams and catch them when they tried to come down. One snap of the neck and they were done for.
She was also good at killing groundhogs. They had dug hundreds of holes in the pasture and so we weren’t too sad to see them go before we started turning the horses out.
She had a fantastic disposition and was just a wonderful dog. Miss her still!
We had a horrible Holland rat problem a few years ago. Tried everything except poison.
Two things worked to eliminate them.
Owl boxes. They loved the buffet.
Changing manure management. Used to have a manure pile towed away 4 times a year. Turns out they lived in it.
Now we use a dumpster and have it towed when it’s full.
Haven’t had any issues since.
I have a rat (or more?) for the first time in the 12 years I have lived here. We have owls (I have a mature deciduous forest on the back half of my 5 acres). I assure you I do everything to encourage natural predators (except the coyotes.) I do not have a cat because we have coyotes in this area and my last cat, a wise old barn cat who only went out during the day, did not come home one afternoon. I am sure the coyotes got him. I will not chance that kind of end for another beloved cat. I have a dog, but she is no ratter! I have seen a snake, (rat snake), but apparently he is not interested in a full grown rat.
I will be buying a trap this week. I refuse to use poison for all the reasons listed above.
To claim that natural predators will do the job is naive. To claim if they are not then you have done something wrong to kill off the natural preds is the worst sort of assumption.
I say, lock up the existing cats, poison the rats, and then adopt a few more cats. When i compared two large boarding barns in same general area, I never saw rats at the one with several cats, yet the other barn without cats was INFESTED. As in, I couldn’t go into my horse’s stall without seeing one. I have a horrible fear of them. Good luck.
Update. I did end up moving my barn cat to the house and resorting to bait boxes in the barn. I don’t think they are completely gone but other than some tracks there have been no other signs in the barn. Best news is no more rats in the house. We think they were coming to the house from the barn at night as part of their territory. Old house with many possibilities for them to get in though we have tried to block them out.
Barn cat got one the first night he came into the house and there have been none since.Also he loves being in the house so is now a contented house cat.
Exterminator said it has been a very bad year for rats
I also think the reason we had them suddenly this year is because neighbour across the road gave up keeping cattle so they lost a food source. I doubt he was a meticulous about keeping grain in metal bins as we are. Also the manure pile was a factor I think. Got that hauled away again in December.
“Barn cat got one the first night he came into the house and there have been none since. Also he loves being in the house so is now a contented house cat.”
My barn cat decided he likes being inside during the day and out at night, unless its cold/windy/rainy/whatever. So he lounges in his little custom made bed most of the day and goes out for a break whenever he likes. We put him out at night. It’s not unusual for him to deliver a nice mouse or vole within an hour of being let out.:winkgrin:
My barn cats moved into the house too - and one of them announced she is never going outside again! The other still goes out, and still does some killing (including bunnies), but I am tempted to get more barn cats. Rats aren’t my issue - it is freaking MICE! They even get in my car and eat my wires and my filters.
My only concern with adding barn cats - is battles between the existing indoor/outdoor boy and the new cats. The one time we had a feral cat move in for a few days, it was pretty bad…
[QUOTE=MysticOakRanch;8613716]
My barn cats moved into the house too - and one of them announced she is never going outside again! The other still goes out, and still does some killing (including bunnies), but I am tempted to get more barn cats. Rats aren’t my issue - it is freaking MICE! They even get in my car and eat my wires and my filters.
My only concern with adding barn cats - is battles between the existing indoor/outdoor boy and the new cats. The one time we had a feral cat move in for a few days, it was pretty bad…[/QUOTE]
Indoor and outdoor cats some times ends up with outdoor cats marking doors, windows and walls to show off those inside, the ones inside doing the same, inside!, to ward invaders off.
Not a good situation.
Every time we have had more than one cat (out or in) one of them disappeared within a month. Cats are not into sharing, apparently. Our current cat is about 4 years old, quite a large kitty, and is very happy to catch mice and voles. He won’t mess with the rats, so we use “Tomcat” bait stations and our mouse/rat issue is gone from both barns and also the chicken house. We also have a resident blacksnake in the upper woodshop so no need for a bait station there. :lol: That snake is almost 6 feet long, last I saw her…she laid about 15 eggs in the compost pile last year.
We made a nice owl nest box (followed instructions for owls) and hung it on the barn, quite far up, and the only thing that nests there are cow birds. We’ve cleaned out their nest every spring and they come back within a week and build another nest. The only things the falcons and hawks eat are squirrels and bunnies. We tried everything, but the only solution that was reliable is the bait boxes.
