[Oliveview]

We went to show son and his new girlfriend the hens last night and there was a RAT eating the hens food :shock:  :shock:  :shock:   Talk about a bad first impression for the new girlfriend
Anyway, I am going to take up the food as it gets dark and the hens go to roost.  There is a hole in the ground under the wall on the outside of the hen house, I thought it was a hole the hens had made but I guess now it is a rat hole.  I will shove some poison down the hole as far as it will go and put chicken wire in the hole too, to stop hennys putting their heads down it.  
There is a big log pile, the rat ran to that-  is it safe to put a rat trap inside the log pile?  Not that I know what a rat trap looks like, will have to go on a rat trap hunt today.  
I never thought I would have rats.... UGH UGH UGH.  
I´d put the dogs down to the hen garden but all the stupid dogs do is eat the hen poo.  
Pamela

[Porffor]

I've had rats in the last few weeks. you may want to move the logs as there is likely a nest hole under there if it went that way.
I put poison blocks down holes and filled with soil so i knew if they'd come out again.. and put a log on top or something in front to stop the hens getting to the poison. Also have a think like a rat.. how would it go for a walk out of the hen run? I have screening at the back a gap then a fence.. so the gap is their hiding place or run into the garden.. i have poison blocks every foot or so along there, with things again in front of the screening to stop the hens getting the poison.

I've managed to decrease the population for sure as we saw 4 one day and 5 a few days later.. families coming for the food.
Certainly lifting food has helped and feeding less - so nothing left over after chooks have eaten. I only scatter corn in the morning too never in tha afternoon so the hens have all day to eat.

I didn't go down the trap route as didn't want to have to handle dead rats.  :?
Good luck

[Lost in France]

Olive View,  probably best to get a rat-box and keep it baited all the time. Hide it under some stones along where you think the rats run. We saw some young rats the other year in our aviary here and have kept vigil with the rat box since and no more problems.


When we were selling our UK house, we saw a couple of young rats at the dove food hopper in the paddock... about a half hour before we had people coming to view the house :shock: !! We didn't think they'd believe us if we gave them names and said they were just pets   so we moved the food and when we went to the paddock, we made lots of noise!! We did get rid of them but dreaded that they'd appear when people were looking round the house and garden!! Anyway they never re-appeared and we sold the house..!

Good luck with getting rid of them!

Judi

[Kate and her Ducks]

I had a couple of rats a couple of months ago and they were completely brazen, coming out to eat the food in the middle of the day so I wouldn't count on moving it at night to sort it out. The cat killed a couple but like LIF I also put down bait boxes. Due to the cats and ducks I chose eradibait as it is "non-toxic" so no risk to the cats if they eat dead rats and shouldn't harm the girls if they eat it and was really impressed with it.

[Belinda]

Hope you get rid of your rats soon they are horrible

 I am going to put a couple of bait boxes down before we get our chickens. Does anyone know wher the best place to put them would be as I haven't seen any in the garden and there are no rat runs or holes. The chicken run is being built in the veg garden in one of the raised beds so I thought prehaps round the base of a couple of beds.

[MaryMoo]

There are a group of us on the allotments who are really keen to go down the chicken route.....but naturally, there are also those who are worried about that.  I'm trying to calm fears, ease worries etc by finding out information to take back to the worriers.   The main concern seems to be around rats at the moment....does anyone have any overwhelming experience, either way?  
I am expecting that rats are likely to be an issue, but having a plan of how we would deal with them would calm fears I suspect....any advice?

Thank you :?:

[Oliveview]

One of the big problems here is the council do not send refuge collectors here, we are too rural- in a way that is better cos if rubbish is left beside bins the wild cats would soon be in there ripping the bags open.  Our rubbish goes to the town bins when we go into the town, normally every couple of days,  our neighbour burns their rubbish every few days so they have rubbish sitting waiting.
The shop that sells the traps was shut today so we will go in on Monday and try to buy a rat trap/bait box thingy.  
I have one lump of rat poison, I was wondering if I could put it in a jar with a thin neck, lay it on it´s side and put some interest food for a rat inside with the poison and put it in the log pile.... but knowing how chickens like to investigate things I´m not sure it would be safe :?:
Pamela

[Oliveview]

One of the big problems here is the council do not send refuge collectors here, we are too rural- in a way that is better cos if rubbish is left beside bins the wild cats would soon be in there ripping the bags open.  Our rubbish goes to the town bins when we go into the town, normally every couple of days,  our neighbour burns their rubbish every few days so they have rubbish sitting waiting.
The shop that sells the traps was shut today so we will go in on Monday and try to buy a rat trap/bait box thingy.  
I have one lump of rat poison, I was wondering if I could put it in a jar with a thin neck, lay it on it´s side and put some interest food for a rat inside with the poison and put it in the log pile.... but knowing how chickens like to investigate things I´m not sure it would be safe :?:
Pamela

[Kate and her Ducks]

I think most of us accept that at some point you are going to get rats if you keep chooks (thats if you don't already have them about anyway). They get shelter and food and if they're lucky, chicks too so whats not to like from their point of view. You have to accept that and plan to minimise it. Basics is to avoid making it too hospitable ie making them nesting places under coops by having them raised (wish I'd know that before I'd started - thats where I got mine), avoid leaving food about especially at night and if you are leaving food at the lotty keep it locked up in a rat proof container ie metal. They will knaw throught pretty much anything else. I keep rat bait boxes out all the time now but haven't seen hide nor hair of them in a while.