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How to Kill Rats in a Chicken Coop Fast (7 Ways to Do It)

One of the nightmares of chicken farmers is the presence of rats in their chicken coop; rats can cause great havoc when they find their way into your poultry. Thus, you just have to do all you can to prevent them from making it into your coop; and if they do, then you must adopt measures of killing them.

There are several ways you can kill rats in your chicken coop without harming your chickens. Sometimes, you might just have to apply drastic measures once you realize that the infestation of rats in your chicken coop is going out of control.

But over and above, it will not be a wise decision to harm or kill some of your chickens in the bid of trying to kill the predator (rats). The truth is that if you don’t act fast once you notice rats in your chicken coop, they are likely going to create enough entry and exit route for themselves and it will become more difficult to eliminate them.

Rats are pretty intelligent and they know how to create alternative routes once they are allowed to play around a place unrestricted. No doubt the presence of rats in your chicken coop is not healthy for your chickens and that is why you must kill them as fast as you can once you notice them. Here are some methods you can adopt if you want to kill rats in your chicken coop fast;

7 Clean But Cheap Ways to Kill Rats in a Chicken Coop

1. Make Use of Glue Rat Traps

One of the methods of killing rats once you notice them in your chicken coop is by making use of glue rat traps. Glue rat traps are cheap and are very effective. All you need to do is to place the glue rat traps in strategic places where the rats pass and once they step on the pad (glue trap) it traps them. The more they try to run away from it the more they are trapped and their movement is restricted. You can either allow them to die of starvation or you can kill them yourself.

2. Make Use of Electric Rat Traps

Another method you should adopt if you want to kill rats fast in your chicken coop is to make use of electric rat traps. Electric rat trap is designed in such a way that once a rat enters it and steps on the metal pad inside it, it triggers electric shock which is powerful enough to kill the rat within seconds. Electric rat traps are powered by batteries and you would need a food with appealing smell to entice rats. This is perhaps one of the fastest and neatest ways of killing rats without spilling blood.

3. Make Use of the Conventional Snap Traps

The conventional method of killing rats is the use of snap traps. All you need to do is to set the traps in strategic positions, preferably at the mouth of a rat hole or their entry point. Just ensure that you attach fish, crayfish or any food that is appealing to rats in the trap.

Once the rat tries to get the food, the trap snaps hard on them and gets them seriously injured. The injury normally leads to their death. It is important to ensure that you position traps in places where your chickens cannot access.

4. Make Use of Humane Metal Traps

This method of eradicating rats from a chicken coop is indeed humane to rats because they can stay alive, for as long as you want them to. Human metal trap is a metal box with an opening that automatically shut itself once a rat enters through it into the box.

You have the options of killing the rat yourself or setting the rat free. If you choose the option of setting the rat free, then you must either throw them in a very deep empty pit or take them to a faraway distance before setting them free.

5. Employ the Use of Trained Cats

Cats are perpetual enemies of rats, once you notice rats in your chicken coop; you can employ the use of trained cats to help you eliminate them as fast as they can. I used the word ‘trained’ cats because some cats can cause harm to chickens.

6. Make Use of Guns

If you live in the United States of America or in any country where the law governing the use of firearm is relaxed, then you can make use of guns to kill rats. It is important to warn that if you are not a sharp shooter, then you should not adopt this method of killing rats in your chicken coop. Extra care must be taken if you choose to make use of guns to kill rats or else you will end up killing your own chickens.

7. Make Use of Rat Poison

This method should be used as a last resort if every other method fails to completely eliminate rats in your chicken coop. As a matter of fact, you should be extra careful when placing the rat poisons. You just need to place them far from your chicken so that they won’t become victims as well.

A strong rat poison can kill rats fast, but the burden of removing the rats when they start smelling might not be easy on you and perhaps your family members. The foul odor from the dead rats might become unbearable if you are not fast in locating dead rats and taking them away.

Lastly, it is one thing to kill rats in your chicken coop; it is entirely another thing to keep rats away from your chicken coop. So, once you are able to totally eliminate rats from your chicken coop, you are expected to plug all the loop holes so as to prevent other rats from coming in thereafter.