Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 12:29

Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 12:29
so far this winter i have trapped 23 jill rats and 11 hobs .how many i have posoined i have no idea .my baiters are empty again after just 3 days near a 1lb of warfarin coated seed .i havent had this many in years in my chicken yards .also i have more coming in from the fields at home .my allotment has seen as many as 15 of the beggers ,baiters again are being emptied quickly. i went to check a hen who decided to sit on some spare chinas in an old box and a browney jumped out from behind the box as i opened the lid .didnt get far with brook tho , so is ratty as bad near you ?, oh and the other pain in the neck is the flaming number of moles about
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: Celtic Eagle on January 09, 2007, 12:43
Seen some digging which may be down to rats always get the odd one cos of the feed the pigeon guys have but not seen any rats .  they may stay away cos a German Shepard lives on one of the plots
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 12:47
i have 4 dogs mate and tey roam all over with the birds .that dont stop them . if you have digings you have rats  look for currant sized dodo .
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: Celtic Eagle on January 09, 2007, 13:00
Cheers Karl I'll keep an eye out for em What's the best way of getting rid can't shoot on the lotties.
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: spud on January 09, 2007, 13:01
I spotted a few pads round my pens...but I've been slack this year on the poison, I normally use 'storm' best stuff ever, its like little bars of soap, illegal in the uk! but I can get it down the road in Europe

 :)
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: becky on January 09, 2007, 13:06
Rat problem isn't too bad this winter, but I think that is because of all the under fed cats in the village! My mums neighbour has 10, a woman from round the corner from me has another 9, not to mention all the other folks with 2 or 3! All which S*** in my garden! Our problem on the plot is ruddy moles. They are coming up all over the place. I counted 9 mole hills in a row one day, luckily just in a patch of grass, not running through any veg.
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 13:13
9 mole hillls is just one mole becky .if you count them in 25s its 2 .old mole catcher in swalllow vilage used to catch em in cow meadows for pelts when i wasa kid he had a real mole skin bowler hat lol
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: Puff on January 09, 2007, 13:19
It's been suggested that a recent rise in the number of rats is in part due to some local councils abandoning weekly refuse collections in favour of fortnightly ones.  Our council still has weekly ones, but I guess it's only a matter of time...

Meanwhile, my cats sleep on, and on, and on..   :)
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: becky on January 09, 2007, 16:59
Wow, that is one busy mole then! The hills were all over the place, his/her tunnel system must be quite complex. As for the slight rat disturbance under the chook coop, they have been taking the bait I put down, so I hope they will be dead soon. I did have traps down, but all I caught was a robin, :oops:  hence going back to bait!
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 20:31
ok sounds like we need a lesson in setting rats traps here ... ok take 3 pieces of 5 x 1 inch planking 2 ft 6 inches long .take one put it on  its edge in a wormate or vice  and nail the second down onto the edge of the 1st then turn round and nail the 3rd onto the edge of the 1st this will make a tunnel . having a place set  up against a building or wall  with the trap baited with bread or any other substance .sausage meat or chocolate sweet corn ,u choose place it down and put the tunnel over the top of the trap in the middle . check daily this will prevent any birds getting caught put a line onto the trap by drilling a small hole in one corner and use a tent peg to hold it in place ....
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: mercury on January 09, 2007, 20:38
yeh, i've had a few rats muntjac, and its all a fallacy that rats wont go near ferrets, they're burrowing under the ferrets hutches, i've stuffed the holes with ferret muck, and they've scratted it all out the next morning, not to bad during the summer months, but this time of year they start moving in, cant stand the *, they put the creeps up me.
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: shaun on January 09, 2007, 20:43
is it true moles only show there faces in the late afternoon  :?:
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: shaun on January 09, 2007, 20:47
Quote from: "Celtic Eagle"
Cheers Karl I'll keep an eye out for em What's the best way of getting rid can't shoot on the lotties.


a couple of terriers and a ferret mate :wink:
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on January 09, 2007, 21:18
bait traps are more effective that terriers maybe not so much fun :wink:
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: mercury on January 10, 2007, 17:49
Quote from: "shaun"
Quote from: "Celtic Eagle"
Cheers Karl I'll keep an eye out for em What's the best way of getting rid can't shoot on the lotties.


a couple of terriers and a ferret mate :wink:

Only trouble with that shaun, theres usualy one or two rats get away, and i've seen a ferret bitten to death by rats, i never use my ferrets for ratting :)
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: shaun on January 10, 2007, 18:20
you want a hob
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: agapanthus on March 06, 2007, 10:56
Went to the lottie yesterday to dump all my chicken pooh in the compost bins. On my main path was a rat...dead. It was quite wierd tho'....both of the feet were intact, up to about the knee, complete with fur and pads etc. also was the tail....although this had been pulled through a gap in the fur/flesh of one of the legs making it look as though it had 3 legs :?  Also, the head was missing and the rest of the body was just bone...no flesh at all! What could have done this/ Any idea?
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: WG. on March 06, 2007, 11:03
Quote from: "agapanthus"
Went to the lottie yesterday to dump all my chicken pooh in the compost bins. On my main path was a rat...dead. It was quite wierd tho'....both of the feet were intact, up to about the knee, complete with fur and pads etc. also was the tail....although this had been pulled through a gap in the fur/flesh of one of the legs making it look as though it had 3 legs :?  Also, the head was missing and the rest of the body was just bone...no flesh at all! What could have done this/ Any idea?


Any decent veterinary will have your rat back on its feet in no time!   :lol:  :lol:

Seriously though, I can just about tolerate rats when they are in that condition.  I have no idea what would have stripped a skeleton like that.
Title: rats .rats and more blooming rats
Post by: muntjac on March 06, 2007, 11:40
sounds like its been dragged out of the compost bins and the flesh has rotted away it does that if they lay in water for long enough