Rats

[SimonA]

One of my neighbours has been moaning a little about seeing a rat in their garden. They say it's because I have chickens (I have 3 hens). They also commented they hadn't seen any rats before I moved in.

The hens have free range of the garden during the day and have layers pellets in a feeder. I shut the feeder away at night.

Is there anything I can do to stop rats being attracted because of the hens?

[Shadylane]

I know nothing about keeping chickens but we did have some rats briefly. One was huge - more like a large cat or squirrel. Anyway they were after the bird feed on the bird table and one of those hanging feeders that the neighbours had put out. Once we cleared all scraps of bird feed and stopped putting out problem was solved, so it might not be you or your chickens that's encouraging them, especially if you keep the feed out of the way at night.

[RichmondHens]

We have a rat problem (inherited with the property unfortunately) so I sympathise. Unfortunately if a rat is seen in daylight it usually means there are several more you can't see! The rats may well have been there before you started keeping chickens but will almost certainly be attracted by the feeder. Always remove the feeders at night (which you say you do anyway) and only put enough in the feeders each day so that the hens "clear up" anything spilt by the end of the day. If you feed any scraps or corn as treats, only give just enough that they eat it all immediately. Don't leave anything lying around uneaten. Is your feeder freestanding on the ground, or do you suspend it? If you can suspend it it may deter them slightly, but rats are extremely intelligent and will soon find ways of getting at it. If you have places where you can set traps and/or poison bait where your chickens, cats, dogs or children cannot get at them, start doing that too.

[Suechooks]

I'd check and see if any of your neighbours have bird feeders. Wild birds are really messy eaters and that could be attracting rats as much (or more) than your chooks, especially if they are not clearing under them each day.
I have one of those ultrasonic things to try and deter any stray creatures from near my chooks and rat poison in the spare run. Eradibait is safe around other creatures so might be worth trying that too.
People always blame chickens for attracting rats - one of my neighbours used to breed canaries and they actually died after rats/mice got into the seed and contaminated it. So its not only chooks.

[RichmondHens]

We've tried Eradibait but with not much success. We are very reluctant to use conventional poison because we have barn owls too.

I agree - wild bird food/bird tables will attract them too.

[SimonA]

Nearly all of my neighbours have bird feeders.

I haven't seen any signs of rats in my garden and my cat used to catch mice and rats all the time at our old house which backed onto fields. I'm sure if she had seen a rat she would have killed it and left it as a present by the back door.

As a precaution I'm going to empty out my compost bin, hope I don't find a rat nesting inside.

[bluemoon]

Try lining your compost-bin with small gauge chicken wire, Simon. It keeps the rats and mice out, but still allows the beneficial creatures in, such as worms. I have to admit that I'm obsessively organic and haven't used a chemical of any description for years, but I'm afraid when it comes to rats I have used poison. I only started keeping chickens this year and they're on an allotment site where chicken-keeping is the norm, but I still feel it's my responsibility to ensure that I don't encourage an increase in the rat population. I used a conventional poison bought by weight from the allotment shop, I haven't a clue what it was and it certainly worked, but I've now started using Eradibait as it's a targeted rodenticide. I haven't come across any dead specimens (I did when using the bog-standard poison), but nor have I heard any in the hedges either, as I was doing before.
It's more an accident of history really as chickens were kept between the wars and just afterwards in a system which caused massive increases in rodent populations and to a certain extent people still think chickens = rats, without considering how their own practices might be making the situation worse.

[Hilary B]

The thing most likely to encourage rats is if they have a good hiding place and available food fairly close together (like when my idiotic neighbours placed the chicken house, with food permanently available, on top of the place they had buried the defunct car!)
In an urban/suburban setting, cover is probably the bigger factor.

[Two_Sheds]

Hanging bird feeders are usually OK, but leaving food on the ground (esp. bread, which isn't good for birds anyway) is a no no.

Our lotty neighbours used to complain about rats on the allotment ... but it was them feeding them, by leaving bread on the ground every day. Muppets.

[rana]

The brown rat is part of our native wildlife with a tarnished image due to its opportunist nature when taking advantage of human habits. If we didn't leave so much food and rubish lying around the rat population would be at a more natural level.

I'm sure if you are fastidious about the chicken feed and general cleanliness, the rat in your neighbours garden has been attracted by some other food source - undoubtedly linked to human activity and wastefulness.

[Hilary B]

The brown rat is part of our native wildlife with a tarnished image due to its opportunist nature when taking advantage of human habits. If we didn't leave so much food and rubish lying around the rat population would be at a more natural level.

I'm sure if you are fastidious about the chicken feed and general cleanliness, the rat in your neighbours garden has been attracted by some other food source - undoubtedly linked to human activity and wastefulness.

The brown rat isn't an 'original' native. He stowed away on ships importing grain.
Unlike his black (and truly native) cousin, I don't think he carries plague....

[rana]

Agreed HilaryB - The brown rat has replaced the black rat which is now rare. Some believe the black rat came with the Romans.

[Shadylane]

What about the grey ish large cat sized rat? I'm telling you it was massive!

[Hilary B]

What about the grey ish large cat sized rat? I'm telling you it was massive!

There seems to be a strain of 'brown' rat that grows very large, is semi-immune to the older types of rat poison, and usually lives around factories. These have been nicknamed 'super-rats', and they tend to look even bigger than they really are. 9 inches (plus tail) is a good size for a 'normal' rat. A super-rat might make 12 inches (and seem to be nearer 18!). If it is actually any bigger than that it may be something else entirely, depending on location.

[madmum23]

Hi SimonA. I used to have chickens, 4 to be precise. They all died of natural causes. I also had a rat problem in that my next door neighbour's garden had been allowed to go wild and after about a year of having the chickens I noticed a rat in the garden and then noticed areas where they had dug underneath our adjoining fence to get into my garden.

I called an exterminator and he laid down boxes of poison around the garden. It worked for a while but then they returned after a couple months. After calling in a chap about a wasps nest in the loft, I told the guy about my problem and he recommended diluting bleach in a watering can and pouring it around the perimeter of the chicken area. I have to say it did work. I also blocked the places by the fence where he or she could enter. I used some old bricks and it seemed to do the trick.

Good luck and I hope you get things sorted.