4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[hornet]

I've been desperately trying to sort out a problem I've been having with rats. I've got poison boxes along the fence and traps in the run. Last night I looked out before I went to bed and saw 4 rats running around the run. I spotted one squeezing through the bars so I know that putting the cube on slabs wouldn't solve the probem. My 2 traps had been set off but nothing was caught. After a sleepless night I went out this morning to the run in a complete mess with Hempcore tunnels all over the place. To cap it all there was even a rat standing on top of the rabbit hutch.

 

I feel totally miserable about the whole thing. I have loved keeping the 3 hens over the last few months and the whole familly has become really attached to them but I can't enjoy them with this problem. Our neighbours have been supportive but I can really understand that they want them gone asap.

 

I feel that the only answer might be to take the hens to the local farm so everyone can live in peace.

[C&T]

I can sympathise, as I am sure many others can...

 

The only thing I can suggest, is trying different poisons, and go for the more expensive ones - some have wheat (I think, or something similar??) and the rodents seem to like that more than some of the cheaper ones, so eat it more readily. I also found trays of poison worked better than the bait boxes and traps (for me anyway) but of course have to be careful where you put them...

 

My Rodents ( ) are eating a tray of poison every couple of days at the moment. There can't be that many more in the area, and I have noticed a marked improvement in the last week or so.

 

Good luck, and hope it doesn't come to losing the chickens...

[toastedblue]

Roban Rat/mouse poison Pasta Bait is your friend... (google it for suppliers)

 

 

when we had rats they made 3 run holes around the run so I blocked 2 and dug a small hollow next to the 3rd, 6" square by 4" deep

 

I put the bait in the hollow and covered the whole thing with a small 1/2 log, leaving enough room for the rat to get in and out so as not to spook it too much

 

4 days later the 1st Roban t-bag disappeared, so I put another one in, when that went I did it again and again... 5 Roban t-bags and a few days later and we haven't seen a rat for months

 

good luck

[atsw]

I currently have 5 rat-traps set around the garden (two by the rabbit hutch, two by the compost heap and one by the garden shed). Tally since the weekend is two rats (one of which was huge) and four mice. Based on personal experience, and reading posts by others, you need to leave the traps in place for a few days as rats get spooked by anything 'new'. So set them and leave them well alone for a few days. It took two days before we got our first rat.

 

Bait wise, I use either Nutella Chocolate Spread or cheap Sainsburys crunchy peanut butter.

 

Andrew

[bronze]

A guns helped amazingly here. They're clever animals and have realised everytime they come out of hiding theyre getting a blast from dh that its not worth it

[sandyhas3chucks]

I haven't seen any since had girls but 4 years ago they got really brave & would sit on our weelie bin watching us indoors. Our local Authority sends out vermin comtrol for free! have you tried, I know tey are all different with their policies!

[The Dogmother]

Give the council a ring - generally they are brilliant.

[Egluntyne]

I have a rat so clever that he can remove the bait from a Tom Cat trap without setting it off...yet if a drop of rain lands on it....wham!

 

I have tried a Nooskie... to no avail

 

Have bought a fen trap now. I just need to build a false tunnel somehow.

 

Will give the pasta bait bags a go too.

[alison]

You have my sympathy, I have had 4 visits from the ratcatcher since the beginning of December, she is coming again tomorrow. The warren of tunnels under the shed is amazing, they must go under the pen as well, but I have slabbed it inside and out.

 

Ideally the run should have been standing on slabs, but it has had to be an after though rescue solution. I didn't know rates would be such a problem, the cats do bring them in quite often and leave them unmarked on the laundry room floor!

 

The ratcatcher is free of charge, the council outsource it to the professionals. She was very impressed with my chickens, she said they were the cleanest she had seen!

[Cinnamon]

I have a problem too, but they can't get into my run,just into my chicken shed.

The floor is littered with rat poo - its disgusting.

Hubby has left a pile of bait in the corner, & there is poo in that too so they must have been in it.

Urrgghh - they make me crawl!

[Dora]

Yes we also had a problem with rats. First we found out the route they were taking and blocked it off as they are creatures of habit. Then we put poison boxes and traps down along their pathways. They were also going into next doors garden as well (they have chooks too ) . Between us we watched their routine and eventually as the poison and traps weren't working quick enough and they were getting more cheeky Lyn our neighbour shot them !!! We haven't seen any more since !

[Chook n Boo Mum]

We are in a position to shoot them too, although we haven't had the chance yet this season ! We've got the telltale tunnels in the compost heap, but can't see that from the house to shoot the little blighters! Once I've moved the compost heap with the tunnel, I will set the bait boxes I bought last year & hope that works I think there may be a tunnel under the eglu too, although that and the run are set on sheets of marine ply so it would have a fair amount of chewing/digging to get through that!

 

Hope you manage to sort the problem without resorting to rehoming.

 

Sha x

[Jules.]

In my 21 months of chicken-owning I only noticed that we have a little "friend" last month when the bag of corn had holes in it & it had all been eaten.

With owning three cats you would think that I wouldn't get any problem

I haven't yet seen a rat/mouse, but had droppings in my little chicken essentials shed. I've started to take the grub in at night, as the food in there seems to be being eaten quicker than usual, & then if I see a little blighter then I'll phone the council. My next door neighbour has a really big wild patch of garden alongside my chickrn shed, so the rat/mice could be hangining out there too.

[Leicester_H]

Give the council a ring - generally they are brilliant.

I second that.

H

[BERTIE MCSQUIRTY]

where are you hornet?

 

if you live near me - i could led you a deathly trap, or ask a man with a clever terrier to pop around!

 

failing that, ask the council, or you could ask at the farm, i bet they know a bloke with a terrier who would jump at the chance of ratting!

[ruby]

we had a problem very quickly after getting our chickens - only to find out it was not actually our problem but the neighbours.

 

If you have a run down house next door, it might be worth tipping off the council - this is what we did and the neighbour had a rats nets......

 

The other thing we 'sorted' (got rid off ) was the compost bin.

 

after a month we are rat free (crossd fingers and toes) and am about to set up a new composter. This time putting a layer of chicken wire at the bottom so the rats cant burrow in.

[Christian]

We had 18 months of rat free chicken keeping until horses moved into the field next door.

 

They were tunneling under the skirt and trying to tunnel under the slabs. They made so many tunnels that a slab fell down and they could get into the run

 

The rat man came out and used bait boxes with have metal rods inside. The bait os pushed into the rods so the rats have to eat in situ. No poison came get out of the box.

 

4 weeks later, no rats. Haven't seen any for months

[kayandrob]

We had those rat boxes with the blocks of poison, all the poison has been eaten and we had no tunnels but now they are re-appearing under our decking, no signs of tunnels round the eglu or run just the deck which I think is really weird!

 

I second the compost bin, its rat heaven! we had no rat problems until we got a compost bin, actually moved the bin, hubby lifted it and ratty ran out and hot tailed it next door, moved compost down to bottom of garden and stopped filling it with veg waste etc but still put the eglu dirt in and chicken poop and ratty is back down there now! tunnel galore! think we will just get rid of the compost bin and see if that does the trick.

 

Do you think because ratty isn't getting into eglu and eating the food from there (I bring it in at night but girls are messy) he is getting food from neighbours etc?

[Egluntyne]

They are everywhere. They will feed in other peoples compost bins too.

 

I put a hosepipe into the tunnels and under the shed and have blasted them out many a time.

 

If you put your compost bin on paving slabs it will help.

 

I have had a Green Johanna type compost bin for a while and it is very good. It had a rodent prood base plate and so far I have'nt seen any tell tale tunnels.

 

**Green Johanna**

[earthmam1]

Hi

 

I keep the eglu on slabs and take in the grub and glug every night, wrap the grub in the black plastic bag and put in in a plastic shed with the glug on top which has a garlic clove in it (does that make sense). An older farm manager told me that rats dont like the smell of garlic (not sure if that is true)

 

I also have a wormory in which I compost uncooked food only, I stand the legs in bottoms of milk cartons with water in to stop the ants . I never put any meat in it. My compost heap in the garden is only used for garden waste. I am afraid that cooked food and meat products go in the wheely bin. Our local council did advocate the use of the green johanna and the green cone but they seem to be backtracking a little saying that they should go to the bottom of the garden as they cannot guarantee that rats wont get into them.

 

I am also typing this with my fingers crossed which is very hard to do

 

sue

[Egluntyne]

An older farm manager told me that rats dont like the smell of garlic (not sure if that is true)

 

Interesting. Must get some more garlic powder.

[hornet]

Thank you to everyone for their words of advice and encouragement.

 

We have made the decision to re home the hens. They are going to live with some friends who already have 3 so at least they'll have some new buddies. There has been a lot of tears from the family today.

 

The last week has been a nightmare. I've lost count of the number of times I've looked out of the back window and spotted anything up to 4 rats running around the run. They are getting through the bars - I've seen them do it. Omlet need to change the design as if the holes were smaller at least this route would be blocked. To cap it all our neighbours called round last night and said they are very concerned especially as they have small children who want to play in the garden. I totally understand their concerns.

 

I'm going to keep the cube in the garage and plan to keep chickens again in the future - just not at this house.

 

You live and learn.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Guest

[Olly]

Really sorry to hear that. To be honest I don't think the design of the run would make much difference, as the rats would still try to tunnel in underneath.

 

I do hope this solves your problem, and that the rats disappear.

[Egluntyne]

Very sorry to hear it.

 

All the best.

[helenmb]

Sad end to your plight, sorry you have to re-home your girls. Hopefully it won't be too long before you can try again.