Chicken Licken Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 In the cold weather last week I had a visit from a brown rat - saw it crawling under the door of my rickety barn (shed). Since then I have not put any grain or other food down for the girls in the garden and limited it to the run. This morning my unwanted visitor was digging up the flower bed whilst the girls were baccawing in the run. On both occasions I have let the dog in the garden with the invitation 'rats' but she was quite disinterested. My house backs onto allotments - lots of vermin lurking there and my neighbour and I both feed the birds. I am thinking of using poison - I hate rats, but there is no way I can make the barn or garden rat proof. I am thinking of putting poison down in the barn (no access to chooks or dog)....Any advice please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I've been using one of these and I can recommend it: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rat-Bait-Tube-easy-view-poultry-chickens-hatching-eggs_W0QQitemZ290082359112QQihZ019QQcategoryZ46292QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I can't remember if I got it from this particular dealer...pic just for illustration...although I did get it off Ebay. Its very good and you can see if the rat has eaten the poison. I also use gloves when I'm baiting it to lessen the chance of my gorgeous scent being detected. Shhh...but I haven't actually seen the rat for a while now and the last lot of bait seems still to be there. I've tried Eradirat but he loved that. I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that poison is the only way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 Thanks for that. I have put down 2 sachets of bait in the barn for now and we'll see how we do with that. It looks like a good design though and I suspect I will graduate up onto it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I find that rat traps are much quicker than poison, but you have to be careful where you leave them. And the rats soon learn that they are dangerous and avoid them (however tempting the bait), so you will only catch about two or three before the penny drops. I had the rat man around to our house yesterday, and he laid bait inside our compost heap, but said that if I keep compost and chickens in the garden, I will always have rats. I think he is probably right, as I have been fighting rats for years now, since long before I had the chickens. The rats do constantly try to get under the Eglu, and they are much smarter than foxes: they start tunnelling a couple of feet away when they find there is a physical barrier. I bring the food in every night, but they still think it is worth a try. They have managed to get in just once, when I didn't see the start of the tunnel in the morning and the next night they broke through under the centre of the Eglu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Hi I use a Rat-Bait-Tube as the rats normally live in what starts as a small group (well thats what I got told!) and no matter how hard you try the likelyhood of completly irradicating them is ni on impossible! but I do keep it undercontroll with this. its best to make sure that the girls cant get too it or near it as it only takes one grain! Ive tied it too something that cant be knocked over and put a net across the airea 1. so that if my kids go into the hen run they dont get hold of any 2. so the girls cant scratch anywhere near it so far so good all the best Emma xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
