Roamwild PestOff Rat Proof Chicken Feeder Kit - Rat Proof & Large Bird Proof Poultry Feeder - Weather Proof - 4lts / 8lbs Capacity

Product Information

Scottish Islands: HS1-9, IV40-51, IV55-56, KA27-28, KW15-17, PA20, PA41-49, PA60-78, PH42-44, ZE1-3. Rats love to dig and can dig several meters deep. They are adept at creating a tunnel system underground to travel safely between their food sources and nests. This means they can easily dig under your fencing. If you place your coop directly on the ground, rats will have an easy time of digging under the wall to get into the coop. Most trough and treadle feeders are made from steel, and it should ideally be galvanized. Galvanized steel has a protective zinc coating that protects it from rusting and makes it highly resistant to weather, so you can use it outdoors without worry. Steel feeders are durable and long-lasting but somewhat heavy to move around. Again, this may result in rats dying in hard to reach places. But it does eliminate the possibility of your animals or wildlife getting poisoned if they find and eat the rat. Call a Professional

The biggest problem for most, and the reason for this article: rats and mice. These rodents will typically get into anything and everything that even remotely smells like food, and that includes your feed bags, feeders, and more if you aren’t careful and don’t take the right precautions. Your first task is to make your property a terrible place for a rodent to live. This will not eliminate every last rat, but it will help to get them out in the open and discourage them from nesting and making thousands of rat babies in and around your coop. Clean up clutter

Step 3: Starve The Rats Out

Even if you have hanging feeders and water founts, the rats can access them because they can jump and climb very easily. Three ways to protect food and water from rats:

Try different baits: while there are some things rats find irresistible (list further below) sometimes it’s better to use the SAME food that they have been used to feeding on. It's good to be generous, but it doesn't do to be too generous with your bird food – especially if you want to protect your bird feeder from rats and squirrels.Make sure you only put the bait inside the little cup, not on the plate and not anywhere around the outside of the trap. If a rat accidentally sets it off by eating food spilled next to the trap and doesn’t get caught in it, it will remember not to go near it again. A good mouser is your best defense against a looming rat population. Not only do cats hunt and kill rats, but the scent of cats on your property will help to convince rodents not to make a home there.

Rats will chew through plastic trash bins and fatten themselves up on your garbage every night. Either store your outdoor trash in a steel garbage can with a tight lid, in a garage or shed, or wait until garbage day to take it outside. They are known to be carriers of a number of horrific things such as fleas, mites, plague, salmonella, hantavirus and hemorrhagic fever. Metal, particularly stainless or galvanized steel, are the best options so long as they’re guaranteed not to rust or corrode. Another downside to poison is that over the years rats have developed immunity to many poisons, and others they’ve just learned not to eat it. This means you’ll have to frequently change the type of poison as one won’t work for long.

My honest opinion.

Even if you do manage to get the rats to eat the poison and they do die from it, they will likely die in a very hard to reach place, such as underneath the coop or within its walls, and you’ll be reminded daily of this horrible mistake by the stench. First off, you’ll need to take several steps to make your property as unappealing as possible to a couple of rats looking to eat, sleep, and mate. Step 2: Take Away Their Home

They will never, and I mean never leave if you continue to provide food for them. You can trap and poison them by the thousands, but more will come if there’s still food. If you feed them, they will come.

If rats have chewed holes into your coop or underneath it, fill the holes with steel wool and cover them with hardware cloth or wire mesh. Fill any holes in the soil around your coop as well, as rats love to tunnel. Be adamant about filling holes, if they make new ones the next day, fill those too. It's always lovely to see birds hopping about on the grass, sure, but it's a surefire recipe for trouble. As such, one of the best ways to protect your bird feeder from rats and squirrels is to avoid the temptation to scatter food underneath it. Using a nutritionally balanced pelleted or crumbed feed. This will stop birds from feeding selectively on only the seeds or grains that they like, reducing waste and raking.