Rats and mice play a big role in escalating the costs of running a poultry farm as well as that of replacing items in a home. This is a result of the amount of food they ruin with urine and feces, eat and the damage to the equipment and the coop among other things. They can also transmit diseases to the chicken which is a very expensive thing to deal with on the farm. The cost of having rats on poultry farms is as indicated below:
- Loss of chicken feed – Rats can eat colossal amounts of chicken feed while ruining what it cannot eat in the process. A single rat can consume up to 30 grams of feed per day and ruin the rest by urinating and defecating in it. They also spill the food a lot.
- Damaging buildings and the equipment – They can eat through the foundations, water pipes, electricity cables thus leading to serious short circuits that can cause fires.
- Damage to the chicken – This is especially to the young chicks, they get killed by rats and the eggs are broken. The chicken also are exposed to whatever pathogens the rats may be carrying like pasteurella multocida, salmonella typhimurium, s. Enteritidis and a host of viruses. They also carry parasites like fleas, lice and mites. The constant distraction to the chicken often leads to their poor performance.
Recommendations from the pest control services on how to control the rodent problem include:
- Through limiting the entry points into the coop structure and any cracks or openings should be sealed such that the rats cannot gnaw through this can be done by using metal sheets or cement.
- No access to the water or the food and the shelter in general.
- Get rid of any nesting places or materials that can lure them to come in and take residence. Keep the food at least 60 centimeters off the ground and a similar distance from the wall. The grass outside should always be cut low and do not keep undisturbed timber or any other material close by. Their outdoor burrows should be filled and sealed.
- Maintain good sanitation conditions by ensuring that the shed is always tidy and clean. Remove any dead chicken/ birds, any broken eggs and spilt food. Have a day set aside to clean the shed thoroughly once per month.
- Have baits all over the coop and a system of traps. This should be put in place as soon as the construction of the building is complete.