Help! Rats ate all of my corn

I need advice on how to protect corn from rats.
I  went to take a closer look at my corn to see if they were ready for harvest. I knew that we might get some rat damage, but didn’t expect that they had eaten all of my corn. On top of that there were lots of aphids, and ants, so it’s also a nightmare clearing the beds. I was so covered in ants, that I had to take a shower and change my clothes.
I am very disappointed, since they ate 100+ ears of corn, and those were meant to feed our chickens.
I grow my corn in raised beds, so I am wondering if there are some kind of walls or coverings I can put up, so they can’t get to the beds. My fear is, that they will just keep eating whatever I plant in those beds.
We already have two cats, but they can’t keep, the population down

Traditional method was to make the young folks sit out and watch the corn. Not economical these days. Maybe a dog that’s a good ratter could be encouraged to hunt around the corn?

Or maybe if it a small bed, some substance unpleasant to rats could be smeared on the stalks to discourage rodents from climbing?

Get lots of rat traps and pull the corn before it drys or at the first sign of rats.

Maybe immature corn will still be okay for chickens ...

Plant smelly plants like French marigolds.

Rats are *very* intelligent. From my experience, traps will catch one or two in the beginning, and the rest will avoid them.

I have read of one person who would bait around 20 traps repeatedly over a week, until the rats were reliably taking the bait. Then one night he'd set all 20 traps and get a decent kill rate.

However, rats are also good at jumping back when they hear the trap spring, so exactly how you set up the trap makes a huge difference.

I have a friend who came and sat by my friend's Banty run and managed to kill 3 rats with his pellet gun. This scared the rest away for about 2 weeks.

I have also read that chickens attract rats. Making sure your chicken feed area is 100% rat-free will help.

If your chickens are secure from aerial predators, you could research local bird populations and put up perches or better yet, nest boxes for the likeliest predator. I have seen our owls feeding their young rat meat. It's adorable how excited the owlet was!

I have also read that the average cat isn't up to killing a full grown rat.

Rats can also chew through a lot of things. It would take hardware cloth to keep them out, and likely the entire bed would need to be surrounded in it, which is probably more expensive than buying organic corn at least in the short term. They climb so well, it would take a very creative wall to keep them out.

The ability of rats to reproduce quickly is a huge obstacle. The fewer rats that are in the neighborhood, the faster they will reproduce. So it would also be important to target your population reduction for the time just before you expect the damage to start.

I have also read that chickens will eat dead rats. I think you have to cut it open at first, and start with a small quantity until they get the idea. The problem is the solution - you lost your corn, but maybe you can replace it with a good source of protein?

Just wondering, as a consolation prize, can you chop up the corn stalks to feed the chickens (quick internet search says maybe)?  I understand larger livestock like them.  Rats ate my corn one year too, though luckily I noticed in time to save some of it.  

I have no idea, but maybe you can feed the rats to the chickens.

Same problem here.
I have 3 good hunting cats and this year the rats ate all of my corn anyway.
I caught about 9 of them in a live trap. But I assume there are plenty more.

I think rats are like wild pigs. For every one you see there are ten you don't see.

Thank you all for your advice. We are removing the corn, and giving it (stalks and all) to the chickens. If they can’t eat it, they can have some fun with it. We also decided not to grow corn again. Instead I will grow pumpkins and winter squash to feed them. Those I have figured out how to prevent the rats from eating them. I use soft gopher nets around all of the “fruits”. The soft nets stretch as the pumpkins grow, and the rats can’t bite through the metal netting. For now, we are removing the corn, and are planting beans instead. Then in November I will be planting cabbages, which I can also cover with metal gopher bags.
We are also going to use the cold season to clear out overgrown bushes and other places where they nest. Hopefully this will help with the problem. I am still bummed though. It’s my first time growing corn, and I managed to ge them all pollinated. They looked to good, especially since I was growing the colorful types.
I am also going to mix hot pepper powder into our wild  bird feed, so that food source hopefully is gone.

You can make them at least work for it. This method works very well for birds, and in the past when I gardened where there were rats, it seemed to work well there too.

Ok heres how to get rid of the rats. This trap works well and i've got rid of a few infestations this way. Cut a metal or plastic 55 gallon drum length way so that you get sort of a trough. Drums are cheap, but you could use anything you have on hand. An old watering trough or bathtub would work just as good. Lay it on it's side, open side up and drill a hole in each end of the drum centered about an inch down from the top. Get a 1/2" piece of pvc pipe (it's cheapest, copper would also work, but not iron as its too heavy). Cut the pvc  so that it is 16 inches less than the length of the drum. Now you will need a good stiff wire. I like to use some household bare solid copper grounding wire, but you could also get by with some rope or bailing twine in a pinch, even a piece of rebar would work. Tie the wire to one of the holes you drilled and then run it through the pvc pipe, and attach it tightly to the hole on the other end of the pipe. So now you have a pvc pipe suspended above the empty barrel. Screw or hot glue a piece of wood or cardboard to the pvc pipe. The piece needs to be about 6 or so inches long, and about 3 or so inches wide. a 6" piece of 1x4 works great. Screw it so that it is perpendicular to the pvc and centered. Place some peanut butter on both the top and bottom of the board. Lastly place the trap where you want to catch the rats at, put about 6 inches of water in the bottom of the barrel, and lay a board like a ramp from the ground up to the center of the barrel on one side (not the ends). The rats will smell the peanut butter and go up the ramp. At the top they will smell and see the peanut butter on the board, but they wont be able to reach it, so they will attempt to hop to it. When they land on it, the pvc pipe will spin on the wire, dumping them into the water below. Because of the water the rats can't jump out of the barrel and will be trapped. Empty daily, and refresh the peanut butter. This is the basic idea, you can adapt it to whatever materials you have on hand. You could use a 3/4" piece of pipe and then use a piece of rebar instead of the wire etc.