Rats travel along walls and follow the same routes as they make their rounds foraging for food each night.
Whether you raise poultry for market or maintain a backyard flock, chicken coops are a magnet for rats and mice.
Rats often appear in the fall, when their external food sources are depleted by harvest. They emerge from the fields, where they live in burrows, to forage and feed around buildings. In contrast, mice will establish colonies within buildings and might never venture outside.