How to deal with rats in a chicken coop: how to catch and get rid of them forever?

Why do they appear?

The chicken coop, especially in winter, is a desirable haven for rats.

This is explained very simply:

chicken room In addition, gray robbers are very keen on chicken eggs and even young chickens;
the comfortable microclimate created by humans in a chicken coop is also ideal for the rat community. The better the poultry farmer takes care of the chicken coop, the more grateful the rats are to him for this;
are attracted to the poultry house by the specific smell that they associate with delicious eggs and chickens;
greatly facilitates the penetration of rodents into the chicken coop by the presence of special holes in it for chickens.

Signs of pests

You can minimize the consequences and damage caused by the gray “guest” if you monitor the condition of the farm, animals, and birds. The first signs of the appearance of the pest will be restlessness of the hens and a decrease in egg laying. Next, you can observe the carcasses of strangled chicks and a specific smell in the chicken coop. Having noticed this, inspection of the premises and their disinfection should be carried out regularly. The farmer’s main task becomes to protect and rid the farm’s inhabitants from the gray “plague.”

Litter

A rat, even one individual, always leaves litter. The feces are oblong and dark brown in color. Can be confused with mice. But they are larger. The droppings are left mainly in corners or near food.

Interesting fact! A mouse and a rat cannot live under the same roof. If you notice that suddenly all the mice in the area have disappeared, this is the first sign of a rat infestation. It is worth notifying your neighbors about a possible threat, and jointly choosing a way to calculate its location and destroy it.

New holes

The rat makes new moves for escape and escape. It is important for the animal to have several such “doors” so that it can escape when meeting a person. The sounds that the rodent makes are quite loud and can be heard even in the chicken coop. Almost every day the rat adds a new hole in the floor, walls and doors of the poultry house.

Strangled Juvenile

During the first few weeks, the rat settles in and prepares an escape route. Then he starts stealing eggs, i.e. something that is less noticeable. But the longer she runs the chicken coop, the more she allows herself. If a strangled chicken is found on the floor, it’s time to sound the alarm, set traps and bait to catch the pest.

Damaged wires

Not necessarily, but in 80% of cases, problems with electricity may arise in household plots and agricultural buildings. Any damage to the wire means the presence of a rat.

Specific smell

Sudden change in odor in the room. It is more sugary, with a bright ammonia hue. Enhances amber in corners and less ventilated areas.

How to deal with rats in a chicken coop?

There are ways to get rid of rats in a chicken coop forever, both with folk remedies and with the help of chemicals.

The quickest solution to the problem is to seek the help of a professional disinfection service. The method is expensive, but works flawlessly.

The arsenal of such enterprises includes a lot of effective means that will not harm poultry or other animals.

Due to the high cost of the service, residents of the private sector carry out pest control on their own, using all available options at once.

Chemicals

There are a lot of drugs that can poison rodents. But not all of them have the ability to remove rats forever without harming the chickens.

Any poison is a risk for a large poultry farm. The substance will become available literally immediately, spreading on its paws throughout the entire room.

Hence the need to move the chickens to another place while working with chemicals.

For etching, you can use a quick-acting agent. Krysin is popular, but there are other poisonous baits, substances, and solutions.

Poison bait

Rats are a real threat to households and modern life.

The animal reproduces intensively, develops new territories, and has a high level of intelligence, which makes “war” with it difficult.

The chemical industry offers the use of numerous poisons for disinfection. At the same time, the drugs perfectly mask odors that attract pests.

When etching a room, you should be careful and use protective clothing and gloves. Upon contact with human skin, substances penetrate the body through the skin.

They help remove rats from the chicken coop, but if used incorrectly, there is a risk of exterminating all the birds and animals on the farm.

The following types of poisons are offered:

granules;
pills;
grains;
powder;
gel-like substances.

Most poisonous products require dissolution in water and mixing with food products (porridge, minced meat, flour, cereals, etc.). But there are also those that are ready to use without any extra effort (they put it in a hole).

Important! A prerequisite for purchase: check the expiration dates and the presence of instructions for use.

The most popular baits are those that mummify rodents. Reason: the poison does not always act instantly, which means the rat will die later. The result will be an unpleasant odor due to the decomposition of the corpse.

Goliath

It goes on sale in different packaging: from 1 to 10 kg. Intended for industrial use, but recommended for the private sector.

A kilogram package is enough to treat several private properties.

Ratid-1

The bait is ready to use. Its appearance: grain mixture. The main component of the drug is diphenacin (2nd generation anticoagulant).

The death of the pest occurs 5-10 days after eating. It is convenient because within the specified period of validity it is eaten by a whole brood of rats, since it is considered a safe product.

Krysid

Using this method to kill rats is simple and quick. The substance is toxic only to animals. It does not pose a particular threat to humans, but one should not deviate from safety measures.

The death of a rat occurs after a maximum of 3 days, at least after 12 hours.

Includes use:

spraying inside the hole;
mixing with food (it is recommended to put the stash directly into the hole);
stirring in water or milk.

Storm

The drug is quite cheap and effective in the fight against rats. Sold in briquettes individually and in sets of 4 pieces. There are also packages with pellets (granular substance) and in containers up to 16 kg.

Mortorat

With the help of this substance you will not have to search for and remove rodent corpses. The drug mummifies them. It differs from other baits in its high efficiency and safety of use.

Appearance: a briquette with a gel-like substance, carefully packed so that there is no contact with the skin (it is better to use gloves when working).

A hole is laid in the hole and then sealed with plaster or cement. There will be no one left to damage the walls.

Rat death

Purpose: large-scale persecution of all types of rodents. The Italian manufacturer guarantees quick freedom from pests.

Sold in two versions. Difference in composition:

first option: the main component is brodifacoum;
second type: the basis is bromadiolone.

Ratindane

The bait is effective. Used only in combination with additional ingredients (food). Methods of use: pollination, dilution in liquid or with food.

Repellers

A humane way to deal with the threat of rat attacks is to use ultrasonic, mechanical or biological repellers.

In addition to preventing pests from approaching the chicken coop, the devices do not interfere with the quiet life of the farm’s inhabitants.

Ultrasound

Ultrasonic rodent repellers generate sounds at frequencies that are not perceived by the human ear and do not affect chickens, but in rats they cause a feeling of anxiety bordering on panic, forcing them to leave the suspicious area.

There are many similar devices that have proven their effectiveness, as evidenced by the market.

The most popular repeller models among consumers today are called:

"Grad A-500";
"Typhoon";
"Tornado-800".

The difference between them lies in the power of the emitted ultrasound, the degree of its regulation, and the presence of a timer that turns on the device unexpectedly for pests.

Repellers constantly change the frequency of ultrasound so that rodents do not get used to it. The devices are usually located at a height of one and a half meters from the floor and are oriented towards the center of the chicken coop or discovered rat holes.

Important! Although ultrasound is absolutely safe for birds and is not perceived by the human ear, humans still should not stay in its area of effect for a long time.

Mechanical

The oldest method of human control against rodents was mechanical traps, the designs of which have been developed in a great variety.

When applied to chicken coops, this method looks twofold. On the one hand, he assumes that all caught rats remain in place and do not die in the depths of the chicken coop, where, by decomposing, they spoil the atmosphere and sanitary conditions of the poultry house.

However, on the other hand, the mechanical method of exterminating rodents carries the risk that birds may also suffer from it. Therefore, the use of this option in poultry houses is limited.

Nevertheless, there are popular mechanical methods of catching rodents that do not pose a danger to chickens:

Method 1

For example, a glass container with walls greased with vegetable oil and with bait placed on the bottom. Having climbed into the jar, the animal is unable to get back out due to the fact that its paws slide along the walls of the vessel.

Method 2

You can catch a rat using a flower pot with bait attached to the bottom from the inside. The pot is turned upside down, one edge is raised and a coin or something similar is inserted under it.

A rodent crawling under the pot upsets its fragile balance, the coin falls and the pot covers the rat.

A prerequisite for this method is a metal or glass surface on which the pot is placed.

Otherwise, the rat may gnaw its way into a wooden surface, for example, and run away.

Method 3

If you cut off the neck of a plastic two- or five-liter container, put bait inside it and place it in a position of unstable balance on the edge of the table, you can get an excellent trap.

To prevent the container from falling prematurely, the inlet hole located on the table must be secured with a light weight or a thin strip of tape.

And so that when the container falls, it does not turn over on the floor, you should make holes along the edges of the inlet hole and thread the ends of the rope into them, which must be secured.

Having climbed into the container, the rat upsets its balance, the container falls, being held in a vertical position by a rope, and the rat cannot get out.

Method 4

You need to make a hole about 10 cm in the lid of the old milk can. Then, dig a hole in the corner of the chicken coop, place a container in it and cover it with earth so that only the hole is visible.

Bait is thrown into the hole. Having climbed into the can, the rodent is no longer able to get out.

Biological

The biological method means fighting the rat tribe with the help of animals.

Moreover, these are not only the “classical” enemies of mice and rats - cats, but also dogs in the form of:

dachshund;
fox terriers;
bull terriers.

At the genetic level, these dog breeds strive to catch, strangle and present a rat to their owner. To do this, they put the spoils in a pile to, so to speak, show off the goods.

The fears of many chicken coop owners that these dogs will start strangling chickens instead of rats are, in the vast majority of cases, completely unfounded.

And the famous rodent exterminators, cats, do not always cope with their duties. Some of them are more afraid of rats than chickens.

But among cats, of course, there are truly effective fighters against rat infestations. Cats of the Sphynx and Siberian breeds are especially good at this.

Hedgehogs are very effective in clearing a chicken coop from a rat infestation. Leading the same nocturnal lifestyle as these rodents, hedgehogs quickly deal with them.

Some poultry farmers add geese and turkeys to the chicken coop. These extremely sensitive birds raise the alarm at the slightest suspicious rustle.

In addition, geese and turkeys may well protect delicate laying hens and chickens from rat attack.

In general, the biological method of rodent control is close to nature, environmentally friendly and practically safe for chickens.

However, it should not be used together with chemical control agents to avoid poisoning of animals. In addition, this method is associated with additional difficulties associated with caring for animals.

Traditional methods

Chilibukha
In the process of centuries-old fight against rodents, people not only realized that rats have a very developed sense of smell, but also found plant crops that have an irritating and repulsive effect on this delicate sense of smell.

Some of them are harmful to poultry, so they are used with caution in poultry houses.

These herbal remedies are:

A guest from the tropics is the chilibuha , whose seeds contain poisonous alkaloids. A bait is made from these seeds mixed with raisins and sugar, to which stearine shavings are added and this product is laid out in the corners of the poultry house, scattering boiled beans nearby. After a few days, only unpleasant memories remain from the pests.
An extremely poisonous plant is the autumn crocus. To make 0.2 kilograms of bait, only ten grams of colchicum are needed. Add a finely chopped plant to the cereal or seeds and spread the mixture in the corners of the house.
The rat's delicate sense of smell does not tolerate the smell of mint , as well as the aroma of bird cherry and broom. The infusion of them must be soaked in a cloth or napkin and placed in a rat hole.
The smell of black elderberry is extremely repellent to rodents due to the hydrocyanic acid it contains.
The burdock thorns cling very tightly to the fur of the animals, causing them great inconvenience, since the rats have great difficulty getting rid of them. Therefore, rodents bypass any burdock on the tenth road.

Increased sensitivity of rodents to:

a rag soaked in kerosene or turpentine;
mothballs mixed with sawdust;
acytelene odor, which comes from calcium carbide mixed with water.

But the most radical folk remedy, guaranteed to scare away rodents in a large area, is the smell of burnt wool.

To do this, some of the most cold-blooded poultry farmers set fire to a rat corpse doused in gasoline on a shovel for a few seconds, and then fumigate the chicken coop inside and out with this “aroma.”

This smell terrifies the rodents and they leave the terrible place in panic.

What harm can they cause?

The more often the gray pest comes to visit, the more traces it leaves. The problem must be resolved immediately. And the sooner the better. Rats reproduce quickly and expand their habitat. As the family grows, the harm increases. This includes damage to walls, floors, and food supplies. As well as storing hay, compost, and other raw materials for work in the field and everyday life for the winter. The most terrible thing is infection with intractable diseases.

Eating and spoiling eggs

It is generally accepted that rodents love raw foods, but the best treat for a rat is an egg. They contain a large number of useful elements that all animals need. Also, eating eggs is not so noticeable. Plus, they are better stored in a den for a rainy day.

Chicken attacks

The Rat is an excellent mother who takes care of her children. Chickens are a delicacy for young animals; it is easier to strangle them in order to pull them into the hole. Rodents can smell tender poultry meat far away. They are capable of killing not only hatched chicks, but also older ones (3-4 weeks old). Within a few days there is a risk of losing the entire brood.

Infection with dangerous diseases

Rats in the chicken coop should be dealt with as soon as signs of a visit are discovered. The rodent is not only harmful in terms of stealing eggs and chicks. Rats carry many diseases on their paws and fur. 50% of them are incurable and lead to death in animals and humans.

Proven fact: rats are capable of transmitting sexually transmitted diseases through household means (biting, staying in the bathroom, gnawing on soap). But this happens rarely, and only in conditions of a widespread “rat epidemic.” A rat bite – how dangerous it is and what to do after a bite, read more in the article here.

The most frequently reported diseases after visiting rats were:

typhus, plague;
rabies and toxoplasmosis
lice, scabies, fleas;
tularemia and soda, and many other infections that are worth knowing more about.

Rabies

The rat is a dangerous opponent. The older the animal, the more difficult it is to destroy it. It can attack a cat and damage a dog's face. Moreover, there is not a single individual that is not infected with rabies. Naturally, one rodent bite is enough to infect pets. Lethal outcome in 100% of cases.

Plague

Not only researchers, but also ordinary people know about the causes of the outbreak of the plague epidemic in the Middle Ages - these are rats that infested cities and villages. The fight against rats in the chicken coop should be carried out quickly, and the premises should be disinfected without delay and with enviable regularity. The infection is contained in the feces, fur, and saliva of the rodent. A person carries it into the house on shoes, and the chickens eat the grain along with it.

Typhoid

Typhoid infection is practically asymptomatic. The disease is cyclical, location - intestines. The chicken may not show signs of the disease, but salmonellosis (Salmonella bacteria - the causative agent of typhus) will be diagnosed in meat and eggs. Signs: diarrhea, headache, arrhythmia, weakness.

Toxoplasmosis

A parasitic infection slowly kills humans, animals, and birds over a long period of time. There are no symptoms. But the consequences of infection will be myocarditis, lymphadenitis and other diseases that are difficult to treat.

Leptospirosis

Don't set out to catch a rat in a chicken coop. It must be destroyed, but not picked up. If there are wounds, abrasions, or scratches, infection with leptospirosis will occur. The disease is infectious. Transmitted quickly. Affects the liver, kidneys, capillaries. Rapid intoxication of the body occurs. Leads to disruption of the nervous system.

Toxocariasis

The disease is mistakenly equated with ordinary helminth infection. But that's not true. The parasite is not located within the gastrointestinal tract. Its task is to penetrate the blood and spread the infection to organs and tissues. In humans, the signs are vague. It is impossible to determine by the presence of symptoms. Only blood tests will show the true cause of the illness.

Human infection occurs not only from dogs and cats, but from poultry meat and eggs. The reason is the presence of rats in the poultry house.

Parasites

Parasitic infection occurs in 2/3 of the world's population. Most often among those who consume poultry meat. In total there are more than two hundred names of parasites. And they are all spread by rodents (mostly rats). The most dangerous ones are:

echinococcosis, taeniasis;
giardiasis, diphyllobothriasis;
amebiasis, enterobiasis;
teniarhynchosis and ascariasis.

Only the simplest species do not rise above the intestines. But broad tapeworms, flukes, and Chinese flukes are aimed at “capturing” the entire organism for further consumption. Rats are only carriers of parasites, but they themselves are immune to 95% of infections, microorganisms, and pathogens.

Ticks

There are more than two dozen species of ticks. They wake up at a temperature of -2 and calmly experience the heat and high humidity. Arachnids are invisible, but dangerous, as some of the representatives kill a large dog in 3-5 days. The chicken dies in 1-2 days.

Lice and fleas

If there is a rat in the chicken coop, then after a few days you can notice how the birds and animals are itching intensely. This means it’s time to treat for insects. Fleas are the same carriers of infections and parasites as rodents. It is useless to fight them if you do not remove the main carrier - the rat.

Helminths

You can get rid of rats in a chicken coop without harming the chickens, but you must worm all pets, poultry, and family members. If a rodent appears in the chicken coop, then the food, grain, water and bedding have remnants of the pest's feces. This increases the risk of helminth infection.

Need to know! A person becomes infected not so much from poultry meat and eggs, but from the marks of rat teeth left on food. The animal is fast, able to crawl into hard-to-reach places. The rat doesn’t necessarily want to eat bread, cereal, or flour. All she needs to do is walk through the products and smell them. Infection will occur upon first contact with food.

Prevention measures

In order not to think about how to remove rats from the chicken coop, you should prevent their appearance.

For this:

regularly clean and clean the poultry house;
monitor the condition of the walls and floors of the room;
carry out prevention using traditional methods or chemicals in a manner that is safe for the bird.

Rat poison

Any of the poisons is suitable as a preventive measure. To do this, if any holes or cracks are found in the floor and walls of the chicken coop, the selected product is sealed into them.

Repellent plants are popular: elderberry, mint, wild rosemary and others.

Glass and crushed stone

Spring work on landscaping agricultural buildings and houses will help prevent the appearance of rats. Prepare a mixture of crushed stone and broken glass.

Sprinkle around the perimeter behind the barn, and additionally seal into new cracks in the building.

Glass shards injure the animal, which creates discomfort for existence. Rats will no longer go to such places.

Chicken coop walls

For the safety and comfortable keeping of chickens, it is advisable to reconstruct the barn. You won't need to spend a lot of money.

It is necessary to purchase glass wool and embed it in the walls and floors. This is excellent thermal insulation and protection against rodents of all types.

Important! You can tear off the floors in the chicken coop and when laying new ones, make the bottom layer from a mixture of ash, crushed stone and glass.

Animals

A representative of the cat family is suitable as a prophylactic agent.

For these purposes, a mongrel animal is suitable, but with an elongated nose. Or buy Sphynx or Siberian cats. The reason for these recommendations: most cats are afraid of rats. That's why they don't even approach them.

The main reasons for the appearance

The appearance of rats is not without reason. The rodent differs from other pests in its intelligence and cunning. Often the “war” with them drags on for a long time, but this happens due to the wrong approach to exterminating them in a chicken coop, barn or home. You need to start looking for reasons with:

the condition of the premises where the chickens are kept;
street conditions (yard);
the presence of other outbuildings (your own, neighbors’).

If the neighbors do not have order in their yard or sheds, then the rat house may be located there. Individuals come to feast on eggs and other products. It is difficult to immediately determine the location of the rat house. Often the passages reach 500 meters or more.

5 effective ways to permanently get rid of rats in your barn

The second reason: insufficient cleanliness, odors, droppings. Irregular cleaning leads to the spread of odors that predators can hear from a kilometer away. After the first visit to the barn, the rat determines the risks, the number of threats, and the amount of food.

Interesting fact! Disinfection specialists note: a rat can give birth to more than 40 individuals in one year. At the same time, it creates comfortable conditions for the offspring. Therefore, he builds not one, but 2-3 houses, where there are food supplies. This helps protect rat pups from starvation and makes it possible to further expand the family (The most effective ways to get rid of an earthen rat).

Precautionary measures

When dealing with rats using chemicals, do not forget to take the following precautions:

Wear protective gloves when preparing and handling the product.
Do not use near other foods, children, or pets.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap after completing procedures.
Remove poisoned corpses in a timely manner.

Use chemicals with a mummification effect to avoid breathing in the smell of decomposition, as the rat may die in a hard-to-reach place.

Danger to chickens

The rat is a fairly powerful predator. Capable of winning a fight with a cat and seriously injuring a dog. In the chicken coop she feels free, calm, and safe. He behaves boorishly and systematically attacks full-fledged residents.

Rats steal eggs from the chicken coop with enviable systematicity. With a small number of laying hens, a person may be left without eggs altogether. A rat is capable of attacking a chicken if it wants to taste fresh meat. The predator copes with young and adult birds with equal ease. Even a rooster will not interfere with the hunting process; the predator is capable of biting strongly. Stealing will be carried out systematically.

A rat can eat a whole chicken if it is very hungry. In other cases, he engages in looting. Kills birds, bites them, leaves the carcass. The damage caused by the rodent is colossal. The chickens will be suffocated in a matter of days. Will attack every night.

It is necessary to protect the chicken coop from dangerous rodents in order to prevent the spread of infection. Rats carry dangerous diseases and transmit harmful parasites:

typhus;
toxoplasmosis;
plague;
toxocariasis;
tularemia;
rabies;
sodoka;
rickettsial diseases;
leptospirosis;
hemorrhagic fever;
listeriosis;
streptobacillosis.

Carries fleas, bedbugs, ticks. Infectious agents are found in saliva, feces, blood, on fur, and in the air exhaled by rodents. Removing rats from the chicken coop is necessary for the safety of the chickens and to preserve your own health.

How to protect a bird from eating poison?

You cannot explain to the legal inhabitants of the chicken coop that baits and poisons are the destiny of only rodents.

To protect birds from poisoning, the following precautions must be observed when working with chemicals:

Temporarily transfer the birds to another location.
Place baits with chemicals in special traps that chickens and chickens will not get into, for example, boxes with several entrance holes on the sides.
Constantly remove rodent carcasses.
Place poisons (2-3 grams of mixture per hole) deep into rat holes, sprinkle with earth.
Use a granular product to avoid spraying it throughout the coop.
Do not spill chicken feed near scattered baits.
If possible, place a house for chickens to spend the night outdoors (on legs).

Poultry house reconstruction

Protecting the chicken coop is the main task of the poultry farmer. It is necessary to take care of the safety and comfortable stay of chickens in the poultry house at the stage of building the building. To drive out rats or prevent their appearance, you need to create unfavorable conditions for pests. Since it will not be possible to deprive food, you need to worry about the tightness of the chicken coop.

There should be no gaps in the walls. Rats are so nimble that they can get into the smallest gaps. Aluminum sheets can be nailed at a distance of 1 m in height. Chickens nest at heights and only come down to the floor to peck food. They won’t be placed in airtight walls, but they will be protected from dangerous rats.
Install metal doors. The windows should have glass or a strong mesh with small cells. It is better to concrete the floor. The rat will chew boards, polystyrene foam, foam rubber, and various insulation materials.
Try to keep the poultry house clean. Regularly remove chicken droppings, clean food containers, and remove eggs in a timely manner.

If it is not possible to carry out a thorough reconstruction of the chicken coop, they begin to search for effective methods. You can destroy rodents yourself. If efforts do not give the desired result, they turn to specialized rat extermination services that will carry out deratization.

Folk methods of struggle

Without using poison, you can quickly kill rats using effective folk remedies.

Main methods of extermination:

Wood ash drives out rodents, does not harm birds, and does not threaten human health. It is a traditional folk method against rodents. Scatter it on the floor around the perimeter of the chicken coop, paying special attention to places with cracks where rodents may appear. Rats appear in the chicken coop at night and do not notice the spilled powder. Ash causes irritation on the skin. Ash gets into the stomach when trying to get rid of fur contamination and causes upset. Abdominal pain disrupts the predator's plans. Repeated repetition of the painful condition forces the rodent to look for a new habitat.
If rats are carrying eggs, you can put geese in the chicken coop. This bird, unlike chickens, can stand up for itself and will protect others. The goose sleeps lightly and hears the slightest rustle. Loud cackling sounds will scare the predator. A turkey can alarm the entire chicken coop when an enemy appears.
The natural enemy of rodents is the domestic cat. It is not advisable to let it into the chicken coop. Since she herself is not averse to eating eggs, she will slowly steal them. Instead, you can place a hedgehog with the chickens. He lives at night and will become a real guardian of order. Will catch pests when rats start attacking.
If the rats have dug holes in the chicken coop, have not just gotten the hang of dragging eggs into the holes, and are starting to bite chickens, you need to act thoroughly. Carbite is used. They fill them with water, stuff them into holes, and cover the exit with earth. The substance emits a gas that is dangerous to rats and can kill all rats. Does not harm birds.
A plant such as autumn colchicum contains a strong poison that can destroy an animal. 10 g of plant are mixed with 100 g of seeds and thrown into holes. The product can poison pests within a day. Chilibukha seeds are used for the same purpose. Poisonous strychnine is obtained from this plant. Mix the seeds with raisins, sugar, and stearin.
You can secure the poultry house with burdock. They are collected into balls and laid out in the chicken coop. The spines do not stick to the feathers of birds; they stick to the fur of the animal with particular strength. Unpleasant sensations do not give pests peace. After some time they stop appearing in the house. The burdock prevents eggs from being stolen and from harming the birds. Effective safe method.
You can make poison for rats from eggs. Boil, grind, add sugar, flour, gypsum. Place in places inaccessible to chickens. Pests will readily eat the poison. The treat will gradually exterminate the pests.
The smell of burnt wool can get rid of pests. Natural threads are set on fire and thrown into a hole.