New member with question...

Hi everyone, I'm John and my wife and I have four hens - one who is totally free-range (and lives in a hedge) and three who live in a hen-house.

I've joined today as we have some unwanted 'guests' - not sure how many, but there are definitely rats at the bottom of our garden.  I am going to try a couple of humane traps but I'm also wondering whether there's a way that we could put food out for the girls in such a way that rats can't get to it, as I'm sure that's what they're after...

We also have three rabbits, but their food is generally left alone.

Edit (two hours later, after popping to B&Q to buy a couple of traps): we've done a kind of 'recce' of the rat runs and put down a humane trap at the back of the hen-house (which should be safe for the hens) and a not-so-humane trap in the greenhouse (which is kept shut, but which has a well-used rat run as we've discovered).

Now, time and peanut butter, do your thing :-)

john

Hi John

Welcome to the Hen House

Hope you get success with the traps
I get a little obsessed about rats 
If you have the humane traps that have a hook on then I have found that the fat balls that you give to wild birds work well as bait. I let the wild birds have them till there's slightly more than a marble sized ball left then loop the netted bag over the hook. The rat has to tug at it and presto one rat is caught
The fat balls also work well pushed to the back of the traps where the rat has to step on the platform thingy But with these traps I pull some of the netting from the ball through the outside of the trap so that the rat has to pull from the inside & hopefully sets off the trap

The snap traps I put either chocolate or cheese on the bit you bait and securley fasten it in place with an elastic band again they have to give a tug - only once has the little critter got the bait by biting the elastic band off 

I think our dogs could do with a few lessons from your Penny Grannie, as they are hopeless 

Sarah