I believe in treating all creatures with respect. My mission is to ensure everyone understands how to protect their home from rodents without using cruel methods.
Every barn owner suffers from rats terrorizing their barn’s peace and health status. While relatively harmless, rats bring many problems, from diseases to structural damage.
That’s why if you want to keep your barn safe from these rodents, you need to know how to effectively eliminate rats in a barn. While you can’t completely eradicate all the mice and rats in the area, with proper guidance, you can keep rats out of a barn and make sure you don’t suffer from their mischief any longer.
And that is precisely what we will be discussing in this article. We will deep dive into how you can notice the signs, what you must do to eliminate them, and why you should do it first.
While you should always take precautions against rats and other rodents, some signs indicate that you are facing an infestation; if you encounter them and keep ignoring them, you will be in big trouble, so take steps to prevent the rodents from roaming around as soon as possible.
You should also remember that other animals and rodents may enter your barn. For instance, mice, squirrels, and even raccoons!
That being said, these are the signs that indicate that rats are nesting in your barn:
1. Holes & Gnaw Marks
This is the most obvious sign; we all know that rats love making holes and leaving gnaw marks everywhere. This is because their incisor has simultaneous growth, and to keep these teeth sharp, rats gnaw on different surfaces.
Sometimes they do this not to control their teeth but to create shelter for themselves. If that is the case, you will see them making small holes where the soil and the wall connect. This is quite rare, but you should also be aware of this when looking for infestation signs.
In most cases, you will find holes and marks on the doors, window frames, electrical wiring lines, animal feed bags, pads, cardboard boxes, plastic containers, and other parts of the barn.
Some holes in the soil also lead to burrows. Not many species of rats do this, but a burrow means that probably a big group of rats is attacking your barn.
You won’t see any holes on steel or metal surfaces; their teeth aren’t strong.
2. Rat Droppings
These nocturnal rodents aren’t visible most of the time in daylight, but you will find their urine and droppings all over the place. They are pretty messy, so the places they traverse will be filled with them. You will also find smudge marks from their oily skins.
The dropping also lets you understand what type of rat you are dealing with. By investigating the dropping, you will know the size of the rat, what species it is from, and how many of them are out there.
This crucial information will be convenient when figuring out a countermeasure for them.
3. Stench & Sounds
Rats give off a horrible stench of ammonia, and as they go through all types of surfaces in the barn, it will be pretty easy for you to notice the smell.
Even though they are not as active as they are during nighttime, you will hear scraping and running sounds if there are rats in your barn.
Getting Rid of the Rats
Once you have confirmed the existence of the rats in your barn, here are the actions that you should take to get rid of these rodents:
Take Away the Shelters & Seal Them Off
The first thing you should do is get rid of the shelters for the rats. Where are the rats coming from? Figure that out. It should be easy to do so; follow the signs, and you will find it.
Start with the walls and pipes, especially in dark places. They like a cool and dark environment. Seal any crack on the walls, roof joint, metal sheet, and anywhere in the foundation.
Almost half of the time, they can be found in the attic; most barn owners don’t clean their attic much, so that’s an excellent place to hide.
They can also be located outside the barn to eliminate any overgrown plants and vines. There have been cases where rats climbed vines up to reach the barn.
Keep the Barn Neat & Tidy
An unclean barn is an ideal space for rats to infest. If you have grains and foods lying around, it is an open invitation for the rats to feast on.
Also, if you start cleaning the barn, there will be no hiding spots for the rats to gather upon. So tidy up the place, and you will trigger the evaluation process because if they are not getting food quickly, they will leave this place in no time.
Keep the Food Sealed Correctly
As mentioned earlier, they will leave if the rats don’t find food in your barn. This is also important for your barn because rats can carry many diseases, and if they touch the grains, your horses, lambs, and chickens can get infected.
They can’t cut through metal, so keeping the food sealed in metallic containers is the best choice.
Use Rat Traps & Bait Stations
Once you have a clean barn and have blocked the food sources, you must move up the game and introduce traps and bait stations for the rats. As they are hungry, they will come out and meet their end by getting caught in the traps.
Remember that for rat traps and bait stations, you will need to know what type of rats you are dealing with, their sizes, and how strong they are.
If you plan to poison them, you must have this information. That’s why we recommend you opt for bait stations instead of traditional traps, especially when getting rid of many rats from your barn.
Rodent Control Company
Some folks like me enjoy taking on a rodent infestation. I like a challenge!
Others are not so keen, and it’s okay. If you are not confident in taking on the rats in your barn, you should call in some professional rodent control experts to help eliminate them.
Choose a good local rodent control company that will eliminate the rats and give you tips on keeping them out.
Conclusion
And that’s it; these are all the things that you need to keep in mind to get rid of rats from swarming your barn.
The most important thing you can do is understand what you are dealing with. As I mentioned above, it could be several other animals or rodents. It could also be one rat or multiple rats.
Once you know what you are fighting, you can take steps to eradicate them.
And if you are struggling and need professional help, please get in touch with a rodent control company.
I’m an expert in do-it-yourself rodent control. For more than 20 years, I’ve dedicated my life to helping people live harmoniously alongside these critters by sharing rodent control solutions that are effective and kind.
I believe in treating all creatures with respect. My mission is to ensure everyone understands how to protect their home from rodents without using cruel methods.
