[Raven81]

I have up until now prided myself on keeping my animals clean, however, although I have poo picked the run and roughly cleaned up the hen coop I have not given them a thorough clean in a couple of weeks.  This is in part due to the rain we have had, plus myself not being too well and my dog taking up a lot of time to care for as although he is much better he is still a lot of work.

Yesterday Mr Raven saw a rat in the hen run.  We keep the food in the coop which there is no way a rat can access at night- when we built it we entirely sealed it so there is not even a millimetre gap anywhere.

Mr Raven also pointed out there are channels the rats have dug to get into the run - I naively thought this was just where I had been digging the ground over.   

Unfortunately due to the layout of our garden we are unable to get humane traps so will try eradibait.  However, I am a bit worried about my neighbour noticing, she is not the most tolerant person and will not be at all happy, tho in my defence we live in a semi rural area with a small stream opposite and the cats have always bought rats in several times a week.

Sorry just fancied a moan as I feel so awful about it.

[joyfull]

there is no point in using humane traps for rats as you cannot release them back into the wild and have to kill them anyway. As you have water nearby you will always have had rats and they can also smell food for over 1/2 mile away which is why you have had a visit.
I place rat bait inside a length of pipe - this is long enough to stop any chicken from reaching in and also your neighbour may just think it is another item of your girls toys to stop them getting bored  . Eradibait only works on rats and mice so your girls will be safe with this  .
If you can track the rats back to their burrows pop a block or two down the holes.

[Springlands]

Do not worry too much Raven - it can happen very easily. OH once disturbed a rat under our treadle feeder - and we have a couple of areas that we have had to block off where the rats have tried to dig their way in to the run. It is just a case of checking your run as often as you can and keeping up with the cleaning routine although I appreciate that is difficult at present. Hope all goes well. The eradibait should help - we are just about to put some down - not near the hens area
but quite near our house - I have just found what looks like the entrance to a rat run in the grassy bank just outside our back door!!!!!  Cheeky beggars.

[Raven81]

Thanks for your replies, I feel a lot better now.

Mr Raven and I have throughly scrubbed everything now so at least we feel like we've done something!