Mareks Disease

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Mareks Disease paralysis

Mareks Disease

Mareks disease is a Herpes virus infection of chickens and turkeys that live with chickens. The eighties and nineties brought some highly virulent strains to the U.S. and Europe.

Symptoms are neurological problems such as floppy necks, transient paralysis, long standing paralysis of the legs or wings, eye lesions, tumors in the hear, ovaryies, testies, muscles, lungs, and feather follicles. It is highly contagious, between ten and fifty percent of a flock will come down with the virus and mortality reaches one hundred percent. Once it roars through a flock the mortality will continue for nearly three quarters of a year and the weakened bird are susceptible to other bacterial, viral, and parasitical diseases.

Usually spread through respiratory means and also dander from infected feather follicles. The surviving birds remain carriers for life. The virus is quite hardy, surviving outside of a host for over a year and resistant to ammonia and phenol based disinfectants. It easily survives freeing and thawing.
Signs of Mareks disease are paralysis of the legs, wings, and neck, loss of weight, grey or irregular pupils, partial blindness, skin around feather follicles is rough and raised. .Prevention depends upon biosecurity, sanitation and hygiene, all in and all out production where possible, purchasing resistant strains, and vaccination. Once again a good bird proof treadle feeder is a must.

Mareks paralysis

Even when extreme biosecurity is practiced Mareks disease can find its way into your flock. Due to the tenacity of the disease it is a good idea to disinfect after visiting a feed store, not allowing other flock owners to visit your coops, not visiting other coops, and purchasing hatching eggs instead of hatched chicks. Commercial or backyard flocks will spread the disease through wild birds and the disease is so hard to eradicate that farmers once recommended burning the entire chicken house to the ground along with the chickens in it. However keeping a closed flock, vaccinating, and possibly even breeding for resistance to the disease is worth trying.

Vaccinations do not actually stop the transmission of the disease but it does lessen the severity which in turn allows the bird to live to spread the disease. Breeding for resistance would require being hard hearted, not treating birds that contract the disease but culling the birds and burning the carcasses.

. That also means not relying upon disinfectants other than lime to expose the birds to all sorts of bacteria and viruses. Good nutrition, clean and un-crowded coops are a necessity if you attempt this route. Deliberate exposure to disease rather than attempting biosecurity and allow the fittest to survive.

Purebred animals are always less vigorous and less hardy and that extends to disease as well. Deliberately exposing the birds instead of biosecurity, antibiotics, and coddling the flock is the only possible way to breed resistance into the flock. Any surviving birds will be the most resistant to the disease and should be used as the brood stock for future generations.

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Infectious Coryza

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Infectious Coryza

Infectious Coryza is a really, really, bad cold that chickens, pheasants, and guineas can catch. It is an upper respiratory infection with lots snot and mucus. Caused by the bacteria Haemophilus paragallinarum, it occurs mostly in flocks that tend to be self perpetuating rather than commercial flocks where the entire flock periodically are replaced. Once a bird has survived the disease it is not likely to become re-infected but it is a carrier of the disease for the rest of its life. It is highly contagious but the mortality will be less than 20 % if secondary infections do not set in. The bacteria is spread mostly through nasal discharge with an incubation period of one to three days followed by the sudden disease lasting around ten days. The bacteria is hardy and can survive for several days outside a host but is easy to kill using heat, drying and disinfectants.

Symptoms include facial swelling, eye and nasal discharges, swollen wattles, sneezing, listlessness, egg production dropping, and lack of appetite. The birds don’t like to drink water as much and the head and mouth will have a putrid smell. As it is a bacterium, streptomycin, Dihydrostrepomycin, sulphonamides, tylosin, erythromycin, and flouroquinolones are useful and effective. Water based antibiotics are less effective. Bytril (enrofloxicin) is effective but expensive and available only through vets. Tylan is an inexpensive antibiotic available over the counter. Dosage is ¾ of a CC injected into the breast muscle, followed by a second shot in four days if the bird hasn’t fully recovered.

As the disease is more common in multi generational flocks, a policy of all in and all out where possible like meat birds or layers helps. Two doses of bacterin might reduce the severity of the disease when it hits. Vaccines are available and the vaccines do provide some cross protection from other strains.

Once the disease has entered a flock it is never eradicated as all surviving birds will be carriers. New birds brought in will catch the disease and any birds sold or given away will spread the disease to other flocks. Wild birds visiting your flock’s feeders or waterers will either carry the disease or spread it to other flocks nearby so at the risk of sounding like a broken record a good wild bird proof chicken feeder is an essential, not a luxury. The most surefire way of eradicating the disease is to kill the entire flock once they have recovered and heavily disinfect the entire coop and surrounding areas. Scrub and disinfect everything including the ground. A good coating of whitewash and digging some lime into the ground is a good idea. Let the building and equipment sit vacant for two months before bringing in new birds from a trusted hatchery.

Replacing the entire flock isn’t overkill when you consider the inability, or inadvisability, to sell live birds once you know your flock is infected and carriers. Entire generations of birds to come will have to be treated and they in turn will spread the disease to the next batch.

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Infectious Bronchitis

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Infectious Bronchitis

Probably the most common of all the respiratory diseases, bronchitis virulence will depend upon the ate of the bird, prior vaccinations or maternal immunity in young birds, the strain of the bronchitis, and any byproduct infections such as mycoplasma, E. coli, or Newcastle disease.

Between half and one hundred percent of the flock will catch the disease and the mortality rate will run between zero and twenty five percent. It is caused by a virus that has a high mutation rate. Infection occurs through contact, sneezing, and coughing, with an incubation rate of eighteen to thirty six hours. Birds can be carriers for up to one year and the virus can survive for up to four weeks without a host. Poor ventilation and crowded conditions increase the risk of infections. The virus can be killed using solvents, heat, alkalis, and disinfectants.

The symptoms are huddling, listlessness, loss of appetite, coughing, gasping, wet liter, diarrhea,
Treatments include Sodium salicylate 1gm/litre (acute phase) and antibiotics to control secondary infections. Soluble Tylan for mycoplasma infections is a good idea. There are live vaccines, maternal immunity will protect chicks for two to three weeks and immunity will begin ten to fourteen weeks after vaccination.

Past the above treatments simply keeping the birds clean, warm, and dry is about all you can do other than giving the coop a good disinfecting. As wild birds will spread the disease we come back again to the value of a good bird proof/rat proof treadle feeder to prevent diseases.

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Fowl Cholera

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Cholera

Fowl Cholera

Cholera can come on suddenly. It is bacterial, Pasteurella multocida, highly contagious, and will affect chickens, turkeys, and water fowl. The incubation rate is around five to eight days. Mortality rate can be as high as 100%. The disease is spread through nasal contact, feces, contaminated soil, equipment, or people.
The bacteria can be destroyed using disinfectants but is very difficult to eradicate from the soil. Rodents, cats, wild birds, even pigs can carry fowl cholera. Once again we see the importance of keeping rats and mice at bay by using a rat proof treadle feeder. Crowded conditions and other respiratory diseases will predispose birds to catching cholera.

Treatment

Sulphonamides, tetracyclines, erythromycin, streptomycin, and penicillin will treat the infection but long term medication is required along with a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the coop and surrounding area. Keeping biosecurity tight, good rodent control, and hygiene helps prevent the disease. There are vaccines available for six week old birds and bacterins should be given at eight and twelve weeks. While Fowl Cholera isn’t the horror it is in human epidemics it is something to work at keeping at bay through biosecurity including the elimination of rats, mice, squirrels and wild birds.

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Botulism

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Botulism paralysis

Botulism

Botulism is a bacterial toxin produced by Clostridium Botulinum, types A and C. Rotting animals produce the bacteria as well as rotting plant matter, even mud can have the bacteria and the toxins. Most domestic fowl can be harmed by botulism, it does not spread like a viral disease as the birds have to consume the bacteria or the toxin. Mortality is high and the spores and toxin are stable and can survive a long time outside of a rotting carcass or rotting plant matter. Dead poultry carcasses buried in the litter or meal worms that have consumed a rotting carcass could be the causation.

Signs of botulism.

Nervous system problems, weakness, progressive paralysis of the legs, wings, then the neck, followed by death. Chickens tend to lay in the litter with eyes closed, the beaks are sometimes dirty from resting on the litter more than usual. The body will be extremely limber and a bird will not be able to hold up its head. Eventually the paralysis spreads to the heart and lungs and causes death.

As with most diseases, prevention is better than a cure. Try to keep rotting food away from the birds and clean up any stagnant water. Remove all dead birds as soon as possible. Feeding road kill by hanging and allowing the maggots to drop into the pen is not a good idea due to botulism risks.

Treatment, there is an antitoxin available from vets. Bactracin and streptomycin sometimes have been said to work. It is possible to flush the bird at the onset of symptoms, flushing out the rotting food starting with Epson salts or molasses flushes but that itself can kill the bird and is considered a last ditch effort. You can also use the selenium treatment, one part potassium permanganate to 3000 pars of water.
Past the anti-toxins and flushing all you can do is nurse the bird and try to get it to eat so the old rotting food gets flushed out. Some people claim that if caught early, burned black toast or medicinal charcoal, apple cider vinegar, mixed with water in a blender will help flush the toxins out of the bird’s guts.

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Avian Pox/Fowl Pox

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Fowl Pox eye discharge

Fowl Pox, Pox, Avian Pox

Pox is a viral disease recognized by skin lesions on the inside of the throat and nasal cavities of chickens, turkeys, pigeons and canaries. It is highly contagious and the mortality rate will be zero to fifty percent. It is relatively slow moving as it is spread by skin abrasions, bites, respiratory methods, or bits from mosquitoes, mites, and wild birds. The virus is persistent, lasting for months without a host. Male birds get it quicker due to fighting that causes abrasions. The disease will run for about 14 days per bird.

The signs are a warty looking eruptions or scabs on combs and wattles, deposits or sores in the mouth, throat, and trachea, lethargic birds, low appetite, slow growth, and poor egg production. In severe cases gasping for breath, green, yellow, or clear discharge from eyes and mouth, eyes swollen shut, large wet or dry scabs on beaks and mouth, losing weight, bad odor from head and mouths, constantly sleeping, even being unable to walk.

Flocks or individual birds that have not contacted the virus can be vaccinated. You can’t really “treat” pox as it is a virus but you can manage the symptoms. Some birds will get secondary infection inside their eyes and nostrils. Be sure and vaccinate the unaffected birds as soon as the first case appears. Use the vaccine within one to two hours of opening the vial, you can’t save the remainder, throw it away. Any birds showing symptoms no matter how mild should not be vaccinated and once birds are vaccinated quarantine them for at least a month

To vaccinate you inject the vaccine using a small forked applicator into the win web after the age of four weeks. Pullets should be vaccinated one to two months prior to egg production then given a booster each year thereafter.. Chicks have a special pox vaccination and a booster at eight weeks is a good idea.

Fowl pox

Turkeys are vaccinated at two to three months of age but the thigh is chosen as the vaccination point. Give a booster shot one to two months before egg laying begins and every year after that.

Wet pox gets its name from having more lesions inside the throat and nasal cavities, enough that it can suffocate the bird. Dry pox refers to the strain or severity of the pox leaving mostly scabs and lesions on the face, wattles, and combs of the birds. It is best to vaccinate annually in the spring before mosquitoes and midges come out.

Quail get a special quail pox vaccine. However the various pox vaccines don’t offer cross protection against the various strains of wild pox. Laying hens stricken with pox will stop laying and recover in two to three weeks.

The fowl pox strains are not capable of crossing over to humans through contact or eating the meat and eggs. Human chickenpox is a different virus unrelated to fowl pox viruses.

Since you can’t “treat” the disease directly all you can do is treat the symptoms if you want to try to save a bird that has a severe case of wet pox. Plan on spending six weeks and a lot of time per day nursing the birds and cleaning them constantly. Useful supplies include penicillin and Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder (DTHSP ) to treat any secondary infections (useless against the virus itself) , anti bacterial soap for general cleaning, saline solution for cleaning infected eyes and nostrils, crumbles for making hot mash meals, Gatorade to replenish lost electrolytes, yogurt for feeding, latex gloves, bleach for general sanitation, and a syringe without the needle for irrigating infected eyes and nostrils. In the worst cases the birds will be blinded at the onset so have wide, shallow pans to feed them in and use the moistened crumbles, scrambled eggs, and yogurt to encourage them to eat. Once they regain their appetite they will eat regular pellets and crumbles if they can find them.

Vaccines and inoculation fork

Water dishes also need to be large and shallow so the blind birds can drink. You will of course quarantine the birds in a small pen so they are able to find the food and water pans.

Always wear fresh latex gloves, mask, and eye protection. Clean the bird’s facial area using anti bacterial soap a few times a day. If the scabs don’t start flaking off in a few weeks you might try pulling the scabs and using the saline solution to rinse off the wounds. If their eyes are swollen shut try to gently squeeze some of the puss out of the eyes and rinse with the sterile saline solution

Mix the DTHSP into the water according to the directions every day, replacing any old water.

Use the syringe to squirt a bit of water down their throats as they won’t be drinking as much water as they should. You can also give fresh water and the Gatorade a few times a day, around 3 cc’s at a time. Oral Penicillin three times a day for the birds with secondary infections, every day till the end of the treatment cycle recommended on the packaging.Bathe the birds at the beginning and once a week during treatment, drying them off well and providing a heat lamp that they can move away from if the quarantine area is cool. Remove the heat lamp once the birds are all dried off. Scrub the entire area with bleach water every few days to keep the secondary infections to a minimum as the birds are in a weakened state and susceptible.

Water dishes also need to be large and shallow so the blind birds can drink. You will of course quarantine the birds in a small pen so they are able to find the food and water pans.

Mix the DTHSP into the water according to the directions every day, replacing any old water. Use the syringe to squirt a bit of water down their throats as they won’t be drinking as much water as they should. You can also give fresh water and the Gatorade a few times a day, around 3 cc’s at a time. Oral Penicillin three times a day for the birds with secondary infections, every day till the end of the treatment cycle recommended on the packaging.

Since you can’t “treat” the disease directly all you can do is treat the symptoms if you want to try to save a bird that has a severe case of wet pox. Plan on spending six weeks and a lot of time per day nursing the birds and cleaning them constantly. Useful supplies include penicillin and Duramycin Tetracycline Hydrochloride Soluble Powder (DTHSP ) to treat any secondary infections (useless against the virus itself) , anti bacterial soap for general cleaning, saline solution for cleaning infected eyes and nostrils, crumbles for making hot mash meals, Gatorade to replenish lost electrolytes, yogurt for feeding, latex gloves, bleach for general sanitation, and a syringe without the needle for irrigating infected eyes and nostrils.
In addition, certain elements will be centered on mobile devices and tablets and aligned to the left or right on a desktop display. You can adjust the layout for each GridBlock at three different device widths – desktop, tablet, and mobile. As Fowl Pox can be spread by wild birds the necessity of a

good treadle feeder is once again underscored

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Are Prefab Coops an Option?

Posted on January 27, 2017January 27, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Chinese Prefab coops

Cute as can be
Cheap to ship
Easy to assemble
Large enough for maybe one or two adult hens
Poor ventilation
Super soft balsa wood type materials used
Difficult or impossible for an adult to enter to tend to the birds
Not moveable at all, will break apart if moved often
Cheap to buy, cheaply made

“A sixty to seventy pound prefab coop isn’t going to take a gust of wind without tumbling over or withstand being moved a couple of times a day to fresh ground..”

Are the Chinese Prefab Coops an Option?

Once you get started in thinking about raising chickens you will run across the Chinese made prefab chicken coops marketed by the big box stores and every other Tom, Dick, and Harry online. Most resellers will rebrand the product on their website or Amazon page, some will even have new box labels printed up, but few will let on that the products come from China and are very cheaply made.

But they are as cute as a bug, usually two tone paint or nice stained wood, looking like a little doll house and claiming that they will hold four to five chickens. Sizes range from 5 to 7 feet long, usually three feet wide, and maybe 40” tall inside, and might weigh 60 pounds including the packaging that it ships in. The actual hen house is usually around 24” x 24”, enough room for two hens if it is cool otherwise they would turn it into a sweat box on a warm summer night. There is usually an exterior accessed nest box that adds another three square feet. A slide out floor makes it easier to clean and expect three to four man hours to un-box and assemble the product.

Seems like a good way to house birds for a beginner and it might be if you need a coop quickly and are okay with replacing it quickly. Despite the claims of holding four to five birds they are usually capable of holding one or two regular sized birds. The industry seized upon an old 4H handbook requirement of 4 square feet per bird and then counted the run, nest box, and inner coop as square footage. Four square feet is fine for a hen house where the chickens have an outdoor run or are free ranged, otherwise four square feet is only 24” x 24”, basically like asking a chicken to live on a two foot long section of your kitchen countertop.

Most city ordinances require ten square feet per bird for the coop itself and less than ten square feet of run is going to cause problems from overcrowding. Before purchasing one of these prefab coops you should see it in person because they are much smaller than how they appear in the pictures. One would think that a product that held chickens would show chickens in the marketing pictures but to do that would emphasis just how tiny the coops are. I’ve yet to see a marketing picture with a human being in the picture either; in fact the pictures are usually bare of anything that could be used to scale the photo.

Still…between $150.00 and $300.00, and as cute as can be. People fall for them and convince themselves that they will get some use out of them.

Chinese Prefab coops

As you read the online customer reviews from the customers with buyers’ remorse (ignore the positive one that are shills or company employees) you find that the wood is soft and flimsy, splits easily when assembling, but they usually go together in a few hours.

The comments will cover how difficult they are to clean as an adult can’t go inside and few of us would want our kids crawling in chicken poop, they leak, some use chicken wire instead of hardware cloth and when hardware cloth is used it is lighter than the 19 gauge wire we use here in the U.S.. Chicken wire can be ripped to shreds in seconds by an adult dog as the joints are simply wrapped or twisted together.

Besides being marketed with grossly overestimated capacity, the material has to be thin and light to keep the product shipping weight down to where UPS and FedEx will accept the package. Container loads of these coops can be bought from $50.00 to $60.00 each so the competition on price is immense with each Chinese manufacturer competing for the lowest price and lowest cost of materials to still make a small profit. The Chinese government subsidizes exports, paying a percentage of the export to the manufacturer. I have had manufacturers tell me that they sell for their costs of making the product, labor, materials, overhead, and the Chinese government rebate is their profit on the sale.

Generally the coops are like particle board furniture and entertainment centers, you don’t move them once assembled without breaking them into pieces. The wood is so soft that the screws strip out if you try to move one much less drag it around the yard. The ventilation will be poor, any pull out poop tray will be shallow enough that you have to clean frequently to get the tray out without it jamming. If they have roost poles they are too narrow or set too close to the walls, after all 24” wide box minus the floor hatch where the angled ladder comes in doesn’t leave much space for anything else. The roost poles, if they have them, will be 1” x 1” or 1.5” x 1.5” if you are lucky.

The Chinese would happily make a heavier duty coop but it wouldn’t sell in the U.S. because it would cost twice as much to ship. Remember that manufacturers these days are forced to sell for one half to one third of the retail price or stores simply won’t buy their products. Even at that the retailers aren’t willing to subsidize the shipping, they think they need 2/3rds to ½ of the sales price as gross profit to stay in business. You won’t find any manufacturer, even at Chinese wages, able to make a lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive coop at one third to one half the retail price. In all a person is better off taking the $200.00 and buying material to build their own. A sixty to seventy pound prefab coop isn’t going to take a gust of wind without tumbling over or withstand being moved a couple of times a day to fresh ground.

Chinese Prefab coops

These pretty but useless prefab coops rarely have decent handles that can be used to pick up the coop without breaking some part of the coop, they are light enough to move but nowhere to grab hold of the coop.

Given that the coops are only five to six feet long and the upper house takes up a chunk of that length, the ladder either has to be very steep and it almost always ends up six inches away from the wire wall. Coming down or going up, the birds aren’t going to like bumping into the wire and if there is a dog or predator outside they won’t get close to the wall to escape into the house to hide. There are extensions made for most of these coops but they generally will cost $100.00 to $160.00, nearly as much as the coop itself.

Chickens won’t know to go upstairs to roost and would prefer not to be packed into an enclosed box that is 24” x 24” with three or four other chickens so they will try to sleep the first few nights on the ground. Getting inside the coop to get to the bird to move them is going to take someone the size of a small child and is willing to crawl through chicken poop. Same thing if you have a sick or dead chicken, how are you going to reach it short of having help to pick up the coop and move it so you can retrieve the carcass. Most of the ventilation is from a single window, unusually around 6” x 7” that is placed at floor level instead of being up high where the hottest air will be. Most aren’t screened, some are clear plastic, the upper part will turn into a hot box once late spring and summer arrive.

A few years back one of the importers showed up on backyardchickens.com, saying they were entering the market and wanted ideas to build a better coop. As the months rolled by you can see consumers giving the guy tips on what needs changed and a very appreciative company acting like they were going to act on the suggestions. The thread ended with a recent customer writing a post with a liteney of complaints, it was too small and sold to hold four chickens when two would crowd the coop, arrived with parts chipped and cracked, door hinges broken, paint rubbed off. The parts weren’t fitting well, ¼” gaps, the grooves not lining up with the other parts. The customer lived in Colorado and once he realized how small the upper part was he realized that putting a light bulb inside for winter heat would probably bake the birds to death. The only positive things they said were that the instructions were good.

A coop made out of proper lumber like 2 x 4s and ½” plywood is going to weigh six to eight hundred pounds. Anything short of inflated tires isn’t going to move the coop on grassy ground, in dry weather at that. Add another $200.00 to the shipping cost and use a trucking company instead of UPS and you might ship it a few states away. The average licensing requirement is four square feet of coop, ten square feet of run, and one square foot of nest box per bird. But the prefab coop industry is using the four square foot of space for hens living in egg battery cages, hardly the conditions a backyard chicken flock owner is wanting.

Chinese Prefab coops

There are now much larger prefab coops on the market but they are selling for nearly one thousand dollars each and made out of the same lightweight and soft wood all in an effort to keep the costs low enough that the retailer can make his 50 to 66% markup and still ship it at reasonable rates. Manufacturers are in the business of providing such a product, not worried about the chickens or the customers that buy the coops.

So in the end the best practice is to bypass the inexpensive doll house style prefab coops and build your own or get ready to pay over a thousand dollars for a locally built coop. It isn’t going to be easy to move, it is going to be quite heavy so you aren’t going to be trundling it around the yard. Purchase a lightweight chicken tractor for that. The prefabs are going to hold a dozen feathered out chicks up till they are a month old and it will be difficult to take care of and clean. Save your money and buy a good locally made coop.

Chinese Prefab Coops

Food and water at night

Posted on January 26, 2017January 26, 2017 by Cindy Johnson

Birds fill up before dark
.Crops store food for digestion at night
Birds generally don’t see well in the dark and will stay on the roost
Chicks do grow faster if feed and water is available at night
Use a rat proof chicken feeder if feed is left out at night

“It is critical that the birds have plenty of feed available before going to roost in the winter as the digestion keeps their body temperature high and the nights are much longer than the summer nights.”

Do Chickens Need Feed and Water at Night?

Chickens have a crop that they fill with food before going to roost at night and digest what is in their crop during the dark hours. Adult chickens do need constant feed and water, they will graze all day if they have food available, unlike predators that eat once every few days. As long as the birds can access feed once daylight comes they will be fine without nighttime food. Most won’t come down off the roost anyway during the night unless there is a source of light such as a heat lamp or other light that allows them to see well enough to fly up and down from the roost.

During summer time having water available is a good idea as the birds can drop down to drink before it gets totally dark. Even with good ventilation the heat buildup in the roof takes a few hours to dissipate so a water source at night in summer is good husbandry.

It is critical that the birds have plenty of feed available before going to roost in the winter as the digestion keeps their body temperature high and the nights are much longer than the summer nights.

A good reason not to provide feed at night is rodents are more active at night and there will be non-stop feed theft unless you have a treadle feeder that is actually rat proof like this one.

Chicks on the other hand will grow faster if they have food and water available at all times. As there is almost always a heat lamp they can see and will be active at night. Rats and mice are almost never a threat as most people are going to have the chicks inside the house or in a secure rat proof brooder.

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Everything you Need to Know About Getting Rid of Rats!

Posted on January 21, 2017October 21, 2021 by Cindy Johnson

Methods of getting rid of rats

Buy a rat proof feeder
Ultrasonic repeller
Live traps
Rat Zappers
Snap traps
Homemade traps
Glue traps
Guns
Poisons
Cats
Terriers

Rats can be Deadly

They put your flock at risk so get rid of them as soon as possible

We are going to look at the eleven best ways of getting rid of rats and my experience with some of the methods then you can decide which method is best for your flock.

Having chickens doesn’t mean you have to have rats.
Good housekeeping is essential for preventing rats from colonizing your backyard or barn.
Use these tips to decide which way you want to go about removing rats from your property
If you have any other methods please comment at the bottom of the article so that others can learn other methods of dealing with rats

Please Learn From My Mistakes!

Rats? Not Me, ever….

No way I would ever have rats, or so I thought. By the time I allowed myself to accept there was a problem I had a huge rat colony under my coop. When you see evidence of mice or rats start working on driving them away or killing them immediately to avoid a lot of headaches.

I don’t recommend any of these methods nor do I say not to use them, I am just listing ways of dealing with rats. Your situation or sensibilities are going to be different so pick and choose which methods you think are best for your flock

Rat Proof Chicken Feeder from The Carpenter Shop

Why treadle feeders work

the door keeps the mice and rats away from the feed
Chickens are heavy enough to depress the treadle
But rats are too light
The enclosed eating area also helps with feed scattering
If they have a protruding lip on the inside of the feeder that will prevent most birds from billing feed out of the feeder
Prices start at around $60.00 plus shipping costs

Buy a Rat Proof Chicken Feeder

Fastest and cheapest way to get rid of rats

To the left is our favorite rat proof chicken feeder, made by the Carpenter Shop in Oklahoma City. What makes it stand out from the crowded field of treadle feeders is that narrow and distant treadle instead of the wide treadles on most feeders. Why is that best? Because a chicken has a grasping claw and can easily hold the treadle down AND the rats can’t gang up on the step and reach the feed if they managed to push the treadle down.

A good treadle feeder uses both weight and reach to keep the rats, wild birds, and squirrels out of the feed
Choose a feeder that has a spring loaded door and a counterweight system to prevent the vermin from just pushing the door open. Many of the popular brands will allow mice and rats to push their way inside..
The guillotine style doors will take weeks to train the birds, the swinging door feeders are much easier for training
Other methods of rat control usually not needed once a treadle feeder is in place

Other Considerations

Weather proof?

Check the customer reviews carefully as some feeders do leak and are difficult to clean. Some models are indoor only and some companies have indoor and outdoor versions

Is there a soft close door option?

Chickens are going to be reluctant to use the new contraption in their world and a bit leery of it. The soft close door is a big help in the initial training although it is a luxury as the birds will accept the swing in type feeder doors fairly quickly if motivated by hunger.

With the feed safely out of the way of the rats and mice the vermin will quickly begin to starve and either leave to search for other food or become susceptible to poisons and traps

Click here for more information

Methods of getting rid of rats

relatively cheap
Easy to use
Non violent
People say they work on roaches and bugs

Ultrasonic repeller

Small devices that plug into the wall sockets and emit highly pitched noise that rats can hear but humans cannot hear. Rats and mice are supposed to dislike the noise and might leave the area

Do they work?

Probably useless if you already have rats as noise isn’t going to drive rats from a ready food supply and a safe burrow
They might act as a deterrent if you don’t already have rats but there isn’t a lot of proof out there that they actually work on rats..

Consumer Warning!

The FCC is warning that these products probably won’t work and have warned several of the companies not to make unsubstantiated claims.

What I think…..

My experience in my own home showed me that mice ignored any noise that they might have put out so I personally don’t recommend buying an ultrasonic repeller. However if you already had one it might be worth a try.

Methods of getting rid of rats

Humane but the rats will be back
Doesn’t harm the rat if you are against killing creatures
Won’t harm other creatures
What do you do with a live rat once you have caught it? Release it upon someone else far away?
Doesn’t work but a few times unless the rats have no other food available

Live Traps

Purchase starting at $24.00

Metal traps are the best but avoid any plastic traps as even a mouse can chew through plastic quickly.

Set the trap in the location where the rats are traveling, against a wall if possible. Block the door open and bait the trap for a few days so the rats get used to stealing the bait.
Once you do set the trigger and activate the trap it might catch several or just one rat. After a couple of times the rats aren’t likely to fall victim again unless they are starving.

More info on live traps

Humane but Does it Shift the Burden to others?

Costs of disposing of the rat

Experts say that turning the rat loose at least five miles away will most likely prevent the rat from returning to your property. The fuel and mileage on the car are a consideration if you have a lot of rats to catch.

Dumping your Problem on Others?

It might be five miles away but someone lives there and will have chickens or other livestock. Or the rats might find a home or business. If nothing else they will hunt the wildlife in the area or damage crops or find a farm to live on.

Methods of getting rid of rats

Battery operated
Some have remotes indicating a killed rat
Effective, 8000 volts for two minutes
Only kills one rat at a time
Battery life, 10 to 12 kills
Start at $49.00

Rat Zapper (fatal)

Quick, humane kill

Battery powered the rats enter the device to steal the bait set over a metal plate, triggering an electric shock that stops the rat’s hear. Since rats can actually restart their heart the voltage continues for about two minutes.

A clean kill, no blood, little suffering on the rat’s part.
Excellent method of controlling rats that wander onto your property without endangering other small animals, pets, wild predators that help keep the rat population down naturally.

How to use

Bait it but don’t set it yet

Rats are cautious critters, let them steal the bait for a few days. Best set along a wall or corner so the rats don’t have to venture out into the open to get to the device.

Tips

Don’t believe the marketing hype on battery life. Keep fresh batteries in it and watch for the flashing red light that indicates low power levels.

Quick and effective, but messy.

Deadly and cheap
Simple to use
Instant results
Cheap
Kids and rat traps don’t mix
$1.99 per trap

Snap Traps

Dependable and Cheap

Advantages.
Kills instantly so the rat doesn’t suffer, cheap enough to deploy several for severe infestations.
Disadvantages.
Having to dump the dead rat out of the trap isn’t fun, not for the squeamish or faint at heart.
Snap traps aren’t that effective as the rats are smart enough to figure out that they are bad news. Keep changing the location and type of traps if you want to keep them being effective.

Rats love peanut butter, just a small amount will do

Snap Traps

How to use them

Rats don’t like to venture out into the open so place the snap traps along a wall, in a corner, or inside a box or pipe used to conceal the trap. Keep pets, chickens and small kids away. As a child I remember stepping on rat traps in one of my Grandfather’s barns. No fun indeed!

Bait the traps but don’t set the trap for a few days to lull the critters into false security.

Homemade traps are

No cost if you have the makings
Clever idea to deal with rats
Good if you need a lot of traps for a bad infestation
Usually needs tweaking
Time consuming at best
You’ll waste a lot of time scheming and might get hooked into building a better mouse trap

Homemade Traps

Clever, but not always reliable

One of the most popular homemade traps uses a water filled bucket, some thing for an axle, and a plastic bottle that you can smear bait on. When the rat reaches for the bait if will fall into the bucket and drown

Advantages.
Certainly cheap enough if you have a bucket on hand
Disadvantages.
Takes a bit of experimentation and tinkering till you have one performing.
Not for the squeamish as it takes some time for the rat to drown
Mixed reviews from users, if you are handy you can likely make them work

Homemade traps

Interesting to read about online but not always the most effective method

Many different types

A bit of time spent online searching will turn up dozens of homemade traps. They usually revolve around enticing the rat to reach for the bait or walk onto a precarious board that will tip it into a bucket or barrel.

One of the most intriguing is a fabric covered barrel with an X marked in the center. Using a sharp knife slice the fabric along two legs of the X and scatter bait or grain close to the cut part.
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Simple as can be

$ 1.48
Unwrap and place the trap
Toss the entire thing a way after catching a rodent
Keep away from pets, chickens, and kids, especially kids!

Glue Traps

Even if you hate rats this is a tough way to see any creature go

Profession exterminators love these things because they are cheap and allows them to deploy a lot of traps.
Nothing more than glue on a backer, rat walks into the glue, rat stays in the glue. You can even buy the glue to make your own traps
Usually the rats starve to death or struggles till it has a heart attack or dies from exhaustion. If you are humane you still need to kill the rat before tossing the trap. Drowning in a bucket is best.

Glue trap sources

How they work.

Advantages.
Cheaper than snap traps but single use
Disadvantages.
Anything that walks or crawls across it is going to be caught like it or not.

You need to really hate rats if you are going to use these things because it is not a humane method of killing rats. I personally would find another way unless it was a huge infestation and there was no other choice

Simple as can be

Lay in wait in the dark
Night vision scope makes it easier
Expect to spend upwards of $100.00 for a decent rifle plus the night scope

Guns

If you have plenty of time and are a good shot this might be a way to go

Modern air rifles are powerful and accurate and can kill a rat instantly.
.22 caliber are best but even the smaller .177 will kill a foot long rat with ease.
One sure way of getting the rats that are too smart for poisons and traps
If you have an old beat up .22 caliber rifle you can buy rat shot, like a small shotgun shell, that makes it easier to hit a moving target.

Air Rifles

Is it legal?

Of course, as long as you are on your own land or have permission to shoot on the land. Rats are considered pest, not wild animals, so there are no game laws or daily bag limits.

If you are in Europe you might need a license for a gun but most places in the U.S. do not license or permit air guns. Some of the pump or Co2 air rifles are quite powerful and accurate at short ranges.

Not a long term solution.

Might work on the first few rats that eat the bait
A rat’s keen sense of smell means they can detect some poisons
Best used where the rats are hungry and less able to pick and choose what they eat

Poison

Poison works if the rats are hungry

Usually when people discover a rat problem they will try poisons first to try to knock down the numbers. You really do need to kill the vermin as they expose your flock and your family to disease. No one likes killing living creatures but these aren’t wild animals making a living off the land, they are vermin that will destroy wild animals, nests, and anything they can catch.
The use of poisons carries its own risks though if a dead rat or mouse dies out where a chicken or pet can get hold of it. Natural predators are also killed from a slow build up of poison from eating poisoned rodents.

Rat Poison

Problems with poisoning rats

Finding the carcass and disposing of it

Poisoned rats will crawl up into a sheltered spot to die. That might be a wall in your house or attic.

More rats will move in to eat the dead rats

Killing off a few rats with poison just leaves the area open for more rats to move in. If you have space and food, more rats will come to replace the poisoned rats.

Not all rats will eat the poison and not all rats that doe eat the poison will die, some build up immunity to the point that the poison doesn’t affect them. Entire generations of rats are bred to be poison resistant as the immune rats pass on the genes.

The right kind of cat is needed

Some breeds are better mousers than others
The right cat will constantly hunt rodents around your property
Cats will kill song birds, snakes, insects, anything they can catch

Get a Barn Cat

House Kitties need not apply

If you combine a cat with rat traps you can make a dent in the rat population but there will always be plenty of new rats to replace what the cat catches. If you don’t remove what is attracting the rats your problem won’t end. If you live in a rural area you already have wood rats and field mice around but they will live where there is a food supply and have to scratch for a living instead having a hopper full of chicken feed to eat.
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Rat Poison

Problems with poisoning rats

You need a larger barnyard bred cat that is used to living outdoors and had a mother that taught it to catch rats. The average house cat wouldn’t be bold enough to take on a rat a quarter of its size.

Cats will kill chickens too, from chicks right on up to a full grown hen. Cats will come with the costs of feeding along with vet bills including keeping the cat’s rabies vaccinations up to date.

Humane societies and pounds don’t like to re home cats for rat control or on farms.
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The right kind of terrier is needed

Some breeds are better than others
The American Hunting Terrier is the best
Jack Russell Terriers will work too

Rat Terriers

Find a local terrier owner

Terriers were bred over the centuries to chase down and kill rats. The dogs are very quick and once they catch a rat they shake it to death. Some farms still keep a rat terrier around specifically for rat hunting. The dogs do enjoy the hunt as it is what they were bred for but they only catch the rats that are running away as the babies and any other rats in the tunnels will be beyond their reach unless you have a pro smoke the rats out for the dogs to catch.
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Rat Poison

Terriers are great rat control

However terrier hunts are for getting the numbers down as they will not eliminate the rats underground.

Probably the most humane method killing rats is the terrier and the cat but you will never eliminate the rats until you have removed either the food source or the space the rats are using.

Methods of getting rid of rats

Rat proof feeders are best
Ultrasonic repeller, usually ineffective
Traps of all sorts will work initially
Guns absolutely work at controlling the numbers
Poisons are too dangerous
Cats and terriers work well at reducing the number of rats but will never eliminate them.

The Take Away

Can you eliminate all rats?

No, but you can drive them away through eliminating their hiding and nesting places and eliminating their ready food supply with a proper rat proof chicken feeder.

Trapping and poisoning will take a few of the rats down but unless the rats are starving they will be too cautious to eat rat bait or risk messing with a rat trap once they have seen it kill
Once the food is stored in rat proof containers and in a rat proof feeder the rats will be motivated enough to risk the bait and traps.
Driving the rats away leaves them more susceptible to natural predators and any other nearby rat colonies will drive them away from their location.

More info on rat proof feeders

You are going to have to spend $80.00 to $100.00 to buy a rat proof feeder if you are going to win the battle with rats

Once you have the feeder purchased and the bulk feed stored in steel containers the expense is done, no more poison to buy, no cat food, no time spent trying to shoot rats. The best feeders will have sides and an inner lip that prevents most birds from flicking feed out when searching for choice bits of feed. The feeder will quickly pay for itself in feed savings from the feed waste alone plus any savings from preventing rats and wild birds from stealing your feed.

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