Whack a Rat

I am feeling disillusioned about our current "rats in the chicken coop" problem.  I was so excited yesterday to finally catch what I though was Jenny Rat.

This rat was HUGE.

And as you can see it was still sporting her face and brain so I sure she must be the last one.  I had successfully dealt with our rat problem.  Bye bye Jenny Rat.  Yay me!

Oh, how very wrong I was.  I knew something had gone awry when I set the trap last evening "one last time" just as insurance.  I really was not expecting to catch anything.  Imagine my dishumour when I discovered this morning that the trap had been triggered and the peanut butter bait consumed. 

If this turn of events was not already bad enough, when I went to put the chickens to bed tonight I thought that I saw a flash of grey run from the pine tree and disappear under the coop.  I thought, no...they would not be that bold.  But a second later, I saw another rat shaped grey flash.  And then another.

So, I tromped through the snow to the far side of the chicken coop and don't I find a gigantic hole under the coop.  As I stood there, not two feet from the hole, dumbstruck at its size, out pops a rat head.  And another.  AND another.  AND ANOTHER.  And then comes another grey streak from the pine tree.

It was surreal - like a real life Whack a Mole.  If I had had a hammer in hand, I was close enough to wallop them.

Well.  All I can say is that Gael Glen Farm's Rat Problem is now at a whole other level.  One rat makes for an amusing tale, I can even handle five rats but many, many rats.  Nope.  No thank you.  It is time to call in the big guns.  These rats have to go.  Pronto.