Single hen

[Egluntyne]

Not inevitable...but not unlikely either.

 

However I imagine that most people do have rats visiting their garden without them realising.

 

You can do no more than take sensible precautions as already mentioned on this thread and elsewhere on the forum.

[Richard]

so rats are inevitible if you keep chickens are they?

 

 

unfortunatly rats are inevitable full stop. if you have a compost heap you are more likely, and if you have chickens you are more likely - but you're pretty sure to have them anyway. If you have a shop or anywhere that has rubbish nearby in open containers you are bound to have them.

 

as you say,. take the food in at night and keep the place as clean as you can and you will minimise the problem - but be ready for them when they arrive because I'm afraid they will.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

So, general advice is that prevention is better than cure. I suppose taking the grub in every night isn't too much hassle.

How easy is it for rats to get under the run skirt anyway? Surely it must take them some time & you'd spot the digging soon enough.

[Egluntyne]

You would spot the digging. I'd put the Eglu on slabs to prevent their tunnel coming up in the run.

[Guest]

we live on a housing estate, no shops nearby, the run and coop will be on on the patio (concrete slabs) and we're taking precautions with the compost heap and making sure the food is put away at night- what else might attract the rats do you think?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

What are the precautions that you need to take for a compost heap? (Does that include a bin?)

 

I'm also on a housing estate with no shops close by - hopefully we'll be low risk!

[Guest]

yes, in a bin with 16g mesh underneath and has a lid

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry, I'm probably being really dense but what is 16g mesh (guage?) and how do you get it under your bin? (And where do you get it from?) Do you have to move the contents to put the mesh at the bottom of the bin or does it have to be under ground level?

[Guest]

Sorry, I'm probably being really dense but what is 16g mesh (guage?) and how do you get it under your bin? (And where do you get it from?) Do you have to move the contents to put the mesh at the bottom of the bin or does it have to be under ground level?

 

aye, 16 guage, I read it on a thread here I think. We only recently got our compost bin so it's not that full yet. It is a big black plastic thing that sits on bare soil. Not sure where to buy it yet. I would imagine it needs to be at ground level, directly under the bin.

[Richard]

While I agree with all the precautions that can be taken, I think you can go over the top. I take the girls' food in when I shut them up at night. I don't have any mesh or anything under my compost bins - and I have a veg garden with raised beds that I'm sure they bury in etc.

 

I honestly think that you should do the easy preventative stuff, but accept that rats are a fact of life - like foxes. We live with them and you will never prevent them completely, or eliminate them completely.

 

I would, as I said, do the easy preventative stuff, and have a couple of rat boxes that you put down if you see any evidence of them.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That seems sensible, Richard, I'll stop panicking now! After all, I've had my compost bin for a few years and haven't seen any signs of rats yet.

 

(The grub is indoors as we speak - first time it's been cleaned in weeks!)

[Richard]

I lived in Edinburgh several million years ago (when I was at University). We bought a flat in Stewart Terrace (between Fountainbridge and Gorgi Road) for two thousand pounds in 1975. I bet they cost a bit more than that now!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Blimey, you wouldn't get a garden shed for that now! We have a 25 yr old detached 3 bed house (small garden, nothing fancy, on an estate) and one like ours went for over quarter of a million last year (sounds more than £265,000!) Just as well we bought ours 18 years ago when prices weren't so daft. Can't afford to move now - just as well we don't want to .

[Poached Egg Paul]

I was lucky with mine when I got it 5 years ago. My friend from work is looking for her first home with her boyfriend and even between them they can hardly get anything.

I feel really sorry for her but every day feel grateful that I have got a house myself. (Even if it is too small with complainers nearby.) I just couldn't afford to go anywhere else. Even small one bedroom flats in my village are more than my house now.

I bet prices will still be going up.

 

They offererd my friend a mortgage over 35 years!

[bronze]

And as for rats.......

 

 

 

well I phones the council and I have someone coming either tomorrow or friday. Will let you know how it goes. The final straw was spotting a rat ambling away from the compost bins towards my veg patch and also finding digging into the eglu run this morning. Hope I get a nice man who blames the compost not the chickens

[lozkate]

Meet the solution.

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18002

 

Marvelous company.

 

L

Edited October 4, 2007 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

Very sweet. What an earnest little face.

[jak]

Meet the solution.

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18002

 

Marvelous company.

 

L

 

We have a lurcher and 2 cats - think they need to start earning their keep as I looked out of the window at teatime and saw a rat sat on its back legs - the girls were in the run and didn't seem very bothered!

 

Think it has taken advantage of all the mole activity around and in the run to get in.

 

Mole and Ratty! And the chickens are next to the stream in our garden - but no willows I'm afraid!