[Nutty]

Since I made my chicken coupe/run ratproof in the spring the rats cannot get to any food so have given up tunnelling near the coupe/run and now seem to leave the chickens completely alone.

Unfortunately though there are still plenty about, mainly around my sheds because over the last 3-4 weeks (obviously harvests now finished) they have eaten at least 40   30 gram tomcat (bromadiolone) poisen blocks which I have secured with wire or screws inside or under my sheds. This is over 1kg of poison! It's still being taken as fast as ever, 4 more blocks last night.

I live in a normal house (not a farm). Other than plants and normal garden things I cannot see that there is any significant foodsource for them either in my garden or in any of my immediate neighbours (apart from the poison I am feeding them).

As I see it there are 2 possibilities, either there are dozens and dozens of them and although I have poisoned plenty there are still plenty more rats left, or they are simply immune to bromadiolone

Can anyone shed any light or offer advise please? All help greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

[8doubles]

Bird tables and feeders are the main rat attractors in gardens but watercourses , open road drains or sewers can also act as rat highways . Rats do cache their food for hard weather so some of the bait that has disappeared may be uneaten down a hole somewhere.
If the rat colony is not on your property a call to the council may help as there is a legal obligation to control them.
If the colony is on your property (under a shed) the council may also provide (at a cost) a licensed pest controller with stronger poisons .

[grinling]

I went to mylocal feedmerchants hoping for rat poison safe for chickens, but as they didn't have any I got one which was in a bag, which I put down the hole, securing the area away from chooks. Bag went. I havn't seen any signs since then. I have a rat trap set up a well as mice traps, baited with peanut butter.
Try a different poison, or if you get a live trap you will need to kill the rats yourself.
Had one in the compost bin, now dead.
Having a mole helps the rats to get around. His next.

[themagicaltoad1]

I didn't have a rat problem until I started a compost bin. They nest in them because the rotting vegetation gives off a lot of warmth. They've learnt to avoid the traps now and I'm persevering with different ranges of poison but it's unlikely you'll ever completely get rid of them.

[pekinpete]

hope i'm allowed to mention brand names on here so here goes there is a product called eradibait that is human and animal safe (apart from rats) have tried it as well as other poisons and found it good, apparently it's not warafin based that a lot of others are to which rats are becoming immuned to .

[Nutty]

Thank-you all for your replies.

I have considered getting a pest controller in but if they elected to use a stronger poison like Flocoumafen or Brodifacoum I would be very concerned about the safety of neighbours dog as the rats seem to be accessing my shed through a cavity which may at some point connect with neighbours garden. At least with Bromadiolone the dog will need to eat quite a lot before coming to serious harm through primary or secondary poisoning. There is no point in trying to prevent them from entering my shed as its a very old shed on earth floor so this would be impractical.

There was less poison taken last night so maybe it's starting to work (or perhaps they got lazy and are eating the stocks they have already hoarded!)

I think I will persevere with this poison for another week then if its still being taken in any serious quantity I will either try Difenacoum (I have about 1kg left from last year) or give Eradibait a try. I will update this post with the outcome!

[ManicMum]

It might be worth having a word with the council: they may know of an on-going problem and be willing to work with you.

The council pest controllers have a range of methods and if you tell them about any animals or other issues, they will take that into account.

Yes, I've heard of eradi-whatever but not used it yet - the info seems to say it won't affect other animals because rats have a particular digestive system.

[Tony H]

when we got our rabbits we found that mice were the proble now we have chucks the mice havent realy increased as we have a cannal at the bottom of our garden we do see rats, I got advice about poisoning them but was made aware of owels eating the mice that ate the poison and as it is an offence to kill doormice i didnt know what to do i now use live traps, but have to kill the things 

[Nutty]

Update - At last the rat activity and poison consumption has dropped off to next to nothing now so I guess it's just mice or the occasional rat nibbling the poison blocks in my shed. Result!!!!

I guess I just needed to persevere!

Now my mole problem has escalated so I'm having a go with Duffus traps but so far no moles trapped......perseverence required again I suppose.

 

[Helenaj]

I too have a major problem with rats - my compound is next to a river so I've no chance of getting rid of them for good. All I'm doing is keeping the numbers down and I find the "crocadile" type traps far more effective than live trapping. They are in my feed sheds well away from the hens as I've had the rats burrow in through the concrete floor. My brother-in-law who is a builder, told me that when there are houses built near a wharf area the building regs allow the mixing of powdered glass into the concrete/cement to prevent the rats gnawing through it. I'm contemplating putting a layer of than on my floor area in the shed to stop them getting in.

Funnily enough, I've got a few moles as well and I've seen the holes appear and all of my girls running towards it and digging it up. They've not caught a mole yet, but it's not through want of trying.