Installing Indoor Cat Tree

[whosjack]

I need some help please. I thought the girls were going through an awful lot of food...today while cleaning them out I saw 5 rats running away when i went down the garden. YUCK.

 

How do I get rid of them? Forget nice humane methods, I want them gone. I did a search on here and saw that some people used poison in a box? Can anyone tell me what make they used and where they got it from please. Can the chickens die from rat poison?

 

My chickens often free range, so with poison down would I have to keep them in for a bit and if so for how long?

 

Can we still eat the eggs?

 

Sorry for all the questions but I need to sort this and am a little freaked.

 

Thanks

[chickenlickin]

Hi, Yes we had rats last weekend. We bought some poison from local DIY store or garden centre. We also used a rat trap, a giant version of a mousetrap, with poison placed on it. It did work and the 'pair' of the mitres were dead within three days. Place the trap/poison near a shed or dark place but along a fence or wall where they will scurry. The chickens will have to stay in and be careful if you have children because rats carry nasty diseases especially Weil's disease. (The rat urinates then when they walk away they drag their tail through the urine, spreading the disease with them). Sorry it is a very nasty subject but it is true. Also look it up on your local authority website. All the best with catching them. I have since placed some poison under a bush where the chickens cant get to, so that the chickens can come into the garden. I have a feeling that where there are chickens there are always rats!

[whosjack]

Thank you.

 

A basic question I know but...well actually two questions...

 

1) So i should put down poison in a box? Will the rats die in the box? I hate the idea of having to 'remove' the box and contents.

 

2) Can I remove the boxes after a couple of weeks and let the chickens out again?

 

Thanks again.

[Egluntyne]

There are rats everywhere, they are just more noticeable when you have chickens as you are more likely to observe signs of them being around.

 

I have several of<>and I just replenish them with sachets of rat poison from the garden centre.

 

Touch wood...I have not seen a rat for months, or evidence of there being one around.[/url]

[jomaxsmith]

We have rats every winter - and that's before we had chickens! I have a feeling both neighbours leave way too much food out for the wild birds and there are plenty of sheds etc for them to nest under. My problem has always been them getting into the compost bins (even without putting anything but veg and garden waste in there) but since I've been putting chicken wire round the base they haven't been able to get in.

 

The first year we had a pest control man in from the council for free and he put down pre-baited boxes where the poison is inside and inaccessible to pets and children. They then eat the poison and go away to die. He told me it is rare to find the dead ones as they go back to their nest.

 

Last year the council were charging about £40 so we bought a very similar poison thing from Screwfix.

 

I don't know how safe they would be for chickens as I don't know how far inside the poison is and if a chook could reach it.

 

I still see rats running across the garden every so often but I figure in a rural area it can't really be helped. I'm trying to make sure I take in the grub at night and don't feed them s"Ooops, word censored!"s on the floor to try to minimise the attraction.

 

I do feel sorry for you though, the first time we had rats I felt really dirty and uncomfortable!

 

Jo

[whosjack]

Thank you all for your replies, they were very helpful.

[Snowy]

You will probably need to bring their food in at night - I believe that the chicken feed contains an antidote to the rat poison. Good luck in getting rid!

[Cheshire Chooks]

The antidote to warfarin which is the usual poison in rat bait is Vitamin K but the amounts in layers pellets would surely not reverse the anticoagulation?