Your thoughts on the safety of Drop In The Bucket rat trap, around chickens?

[arizona_chicken_noob]

Roof rats have made it to my neighborhood in recent years, and I've tried the heavy duty "Snap Traps" in the past with good success. However now that I have chickens, I've removed all those traps from where the birds live.

But I have declared war, and to that end I found this interesting trap at my local Ace Hardware which I am going to try. It is a spinning roller, which you coat with peanut butter, that you hang on a 5 gallon bucket. The rats are enticed by the food and fall into the bucket, and when you come back to the trap you'll have either live or dead rodents to deal with (depending on if you put water in the bucket).

I am pretty sure this will work since I already found 4 drowned rats in rubbermaid garbage can with 2" of water in it.

Attached is a pic of what it looks like. My question is: this is safe to use around chickens, right?

I'm thinking to omit the wooden ladder and just put it under the same tree that the trash can was near (they're smart, they'll figure how to get to the PB). I'd put it far away from the birds at the beginning. Anyone see any safety flaws with this plan? My birds are 3mos, 10mos, and 1year.

 

[aart]

Those work great for mice,
but I believe that rats will need a bigger vessel than 5 gals.
I would not put it where the chickens have access.

 

[Yardmom]

I have made them and had them in my coop for mice. My adult chickens have not had a problem (I only bait at night). I found out the hard way that a young chick can get trapped in them. I did catch a squirrel once , but not sure how it would work on rats

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you put enough water in it so the rats can't touch the bottom, they will not be able to jump out. If you don't have enough water in them I'd expect the rats to be able to jump out.

I made one of those for mice and put it outside the coop where the chickens could not get to it. It caught mice but a couple of times a raccoon or possum damaged it. When I put my live trap out I caught both possum and raccoon so I'm not sure what damaged the trap.
I did not put it where the chickens were so I can't answer your question from experience. My gut feel is that mature chickens would be safe but I'd expect them to mess the trap up. If nothing else by trying to perch on the lip of the bucket and turning it over. When it comes to making a mess they have lots of talents.

 

[Isadora]

I wouldn't trust it in an area where chickens have access for the simple reason of chickens can harm or kill themselves in strange ways.

 

[MGG]

I agree with the above posts. We also had a rat problem a few years ago, we bought a "Ratinator" trap and it worked so well. We caught all of the rats that had been getting in for months in a couple nights. It's also safe around to use birds unless you have tiny chicks that could get in.
This is what we bought.

And here ours is after being set for the first night.

You just take the food source they've been using away, and put bait in the locked wire compartment in the middle. They go up the ramp which flips closed once they go in, and they can't get to the bait.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

Thanks all, I guess I will have to remove the trap each morning before I let them out, if I'm going to let them roam the yard (and then reset it after they go in).

And good call on the gallons of the bucket.... I'm seeing that I have a tall bin that the unit fits on, and I could try that.

@MGG what did you do with the crate of rats in the morning? I've become adept at chucking the dead bodies under a far bush when I find them (or in the trash), and I don't like the idea of coming back to live rats, but if it gets more serious I will do whatever has to be done.

Yes, I've seen some rat droppings in the chicken run, and I don't think they would hurt the birds but I'm very motivated to get their numbers waaaay down. Where these guys go during the day is a complete mystery to me. I probably don't want to know Never seen a live one, only the droppings.

 

[MGG]

Thanks all, I guess I will have to remove the trap each morning before I let them out, if I'm going to let them roam the yard (and then reset it after they go in).

And good call on the gallons of the bucket.... I'm seeing that I have a tall bin that the unit fits on, and I could try that.

@MGG what did you do with the crate of rats in the morning? I've become adept at chucking the dead bodies under a far bush when I find them (or in the trash), and I don't like the idea of coming back to live rats, but if it gets more serious I will do whatever has to be done.

Yes, I've seen some rat droppings in the chicken run, and I don't think they would hurt the birds but I'm very motivated to get their numbers waaaay down. Where these guys go during the day is a complete mystery to me. I probably don't want to know Never seen a live one, only the droppings.

The trap comes with a tub the same size as the trap, you just fill it with water and drop the trap in for a few minutes. You could shoot them all in the heads I guess if you don't want to do that but if you get very many it'll take forever, and could mess up the trap.

 

[Wot The Flock]

I've become adept at chucking the dead bodies under a far bush when I find them (or in the trash)

Throwing them under the bush I would not do if you have foxes in the area (possibly other predators as well). We used to use the caught/drowned mice to lure foxes into the 'shooting zone'.

As was recommended, remove the trap from the chicken area during the day when the chickens are out and about, you should catch most rats and mice at night anyway. You have fairly young birds (teenagers effectively), so don't trust them not to get themselves into trouble. Better safe than sorry.

I made a water trap for the mice, after I had a mouse drown in a jug of water left out overnight (no bait). I built my mouse trap after watching a few youtube videos (search bucket trap for rats) - I have seen on the videos the 5 gallon (20L) bucket work for rats, but have not tried rat trapping myself. For mice, I made a swinging lid for a 10L bucket out of corflute/corex, and it works brilliantly. The one half rests on the rim for the stable surface, the other half smaller so it will tip into the bucket. It was hinged with a coat hanger through the channel of the corflute. Having slightly more corflute on the one size means it re-sets (although I did also bend the coat hanger in such a way that the larger side won't swing over, probably unnecessary).

For rat lure, try a corn cob, I found out they love them. Peanut butter was mixed results with mice, and the mice really liked pesto or chocolate. Hang the cob above the trap in such a way that the rats cannot climb down the string or wire (probably a guard on the top around the wire?), they are fiendishly clever, as are the mice.

 

[Wot The Flock]

This got me re-watching a few videos.

This chap tested four different styles, with the rolling trap (slightly different, same principle) performing the worst of the four.

Another video showed that larger mice (therefore rats) could jump back out without a lid. So I would recommend a tip/plank style, with a lid, and probably a larger bucket for rats.