My eco solution to rat problems

[EZoverunder]

Hello feathered-friend keepers,

Just popping in with some good news from my corner of the coop! I recently battled a rat invasion and came out victorious, all thanks to this anti-rat peppermint oil spray from Amazon. It's a substitute for the harsh poisons and traps that we all worry about using around our birds.

The trouble started with the crisp fall air in early October, as I noticed a rat or two darting through the chicken run. Then, a half-eaten egg here, some gnawed feed bags there – it was clear I had a problem. These weren't the kind of guests I wanted in my henhouse, especially with the hens getting anxious and the risk of diseases spreading.

Not wanting to put my flock at risk with conventional rat poisons, I opted for this natural peppermint spray. Skeptical at first, I sprayed it around the coop's perimeter, the nesting boxes, and near the feed storage bins. To my relief, it worked wonders. Rats hate the smell of peppermint, it turns out, and my coop was soon a rat-free zone without any harm to my hens. Plus, the coop smells minty fresh – an unexpected bonus!

Have you found any other chicken-friendly pest control methods?

[Hippie Chick]

I have used pure peppermint essential oil before, we had a rat trying to set up residence near our house under some concrete.  I've also read that urine (I believe male urine... it always seems to have to be male urine to send things packing!) is also effective, so I put some earth down the rat holes and access points, kept adding drops of peppermint oil in layers of earth and topped the whole thing off with a jug full or male urine provided by my other half!  

I ended up having to chase the rats around the garden over a few weeks as they tried to move to various other parts, repeating the process for a while before they gave up.  It works though!

Far, far better than the horrors of putting poison down.  Even for those without any feeling of compassion for the nightmarish death of that poisoned animal, it's still only 'safe' to put poison down if you are able to recover the dead body otherwise there's a whole series of creatures being affected in the food chain.  We found this out earlier this year when our dog found a poisoned rat in our garden.  The dog was fine, she let me know there was something there but other animals aren't always so lucky. 

May you stay rat free... albeit peppermint scented!

[EZoverunder]

On 11/21/2023 at 12:46 AM, Hippie Chick said:

I have used pure peppermint essential oil before, we had a rat trying to set up residence near our house under some concrete.  I've also read that urine (I believe male urine... it always seems to have to be male urine to send things packing!) is also effective, so I put some earth down the rat holes and access points, kept adding drops of peppermint oil in layers of earth and topped the whole thing off with a jug full or male urine provided by my other half!  

I ended up having to chase the rats around the garden over a few weeks as they tried to move to various other parts, repeating the process for a while before they gave up.  It works though!

Far, far better than the horrors of putting poison down.  Even for those without any feeling of compassion for the nightmarish death of that poisoned animal, it's still only 'safe' to put poison down if you are able to recover the dead body otherwise there's a whole series of creatures being affected in the food chain.  We found this out earlier this year when our dog found a poisoned rat in our garden.  The dog was fine, she let me know there was something there but other animals aren't always so lucky. 

May you stay rat free... albeit peppermint scented!

Never heard of male urine, but I've installed some of the ultrasonic devices from this seller I mentioned previously, and they seem to be also very effective. I just plugged them in, and the work is done.