Sooo much pooping

[Foxy Loxy]

Am considering getting an Eglu but my one query is do they attract rats and mice. The food is in that funny cup isn't it but does this encourage mice and rats?

[Egluntyne]

Realistically, whenever you have poultry, you are likely to attract rodents.....or at least be more aware of them. Remember though that you are never more than 30 ft away from a rat anyway.

 

You can adopt all sort of measures to address the problem. Good standards of cleanliness being the number one. Don't let it put you off keeping hens.

[Gallina]

Don't be put off keeping chickens because of rats.

 

The rats come out looking for food at night. If you always bring the hen food in at night and tip away the water, they will go looking for their midnight feasts elsewhere.

 

There are so many rats about that they are probably passing through your garden already. Just make sure that there is nothing that takes their fancy there, and they will move on. They aren't interested in the hens: it's their food they want.

 

If you are really worried, it would be a good idea to stand the Eglu on slabs -- unless you are thinking of getting the Cube. That has the hen house off the ground and there is nowhere for the rats to burrow without being spotted immediately.

[Foxy Loxy]

Am. I right in thinking that if I moved my eglu or eglu cube every few days, that this would deter the rats from burrowing below the eglu into the run? (Hopefully I'll never see a rat anyway}

[Guest]

I think it's also true that if you have mice, you won't get rats as they don't live in close proximity. I had mice last year - they thought the food was good and were really brazen - and was quite relieved to think I couldn't have rats. The mice soon went though when I tidied all the hiding places away.

[Jools]

I think it's the other way round Ginette . We usually have quite a few mice around (even one in the kitchen, but that's a long story!!), but when they disappear, we've always discoverd that there are rats about. Fortunately, a combination of two terriers, lots of nearby farm cats and some very carefully positioned traps means we've always been able to get rid of the rats so the mice can come home

[Aunty e]

We've never seen signs of either. But then we have the communal bins for our block on the other side of the house, which is probably more tempting than chicken food.