Further to my post about rats

[SimonA]

I mentioned a while back that a neighbour had complained to me they saw a rat in their garden and think it's because I have three chickens.

I have now found out from another neighbour that a few people around us are getting together to complain, possibly to environmental health. I'm told one of my neighbours found a rat under their shed.

To date I haven't seen a rat in my garden or any evidence of them. My garden is fenced from the ground upwards (6ft) with no gaps I can see. A few times I have been out at night and looked all around the garden for evidence of rats and seen nothing.

Our chicken food is kept in a plastic box with a tight fitting lid, which is in the shed. At night the feeder is put away as well. No food or scraps are left out. The run is sprayed with disinfectant on a weekly basis. Our cat lives outside and is semi wild, she'd certainly kill a rat if she saw one.

One of my other neighbours tells me there have been rats in the area for many years and they don't think it's anything to do with us.

Several of my neighbours have bird feeders and many also have rubbish stored outside. Next door have 5 sheds which I'm sure make a good hiding place for rats.

It appears we are getting the blame for something that is possibly nothing to do with us.

Has anyone else dealt with anything similar?

I get the feeling our next door neighbour doesn't like the idea of us keeping hens as they also made a comment about the noise they occasionally make.

[HayleyB]

Gawd, neighbours, thank god I haven't got any within yelling distance. Have you tried egg bribery? Problem is once some people get a bee in their bonnet it's a bit difficult reasoning with them. Certainly sounds to me that you are not responsible for the rats.

[Nicos]

Most towns have rats within a few feet of houses

If you keep the feed indoors and clean out the chooks daily...and collect their eggs daily- and have fine chicken wire...then there would be no reason to suppose your chooks are the cause above neighbours bins/drains etc


Peeps are paranoid..just make sure you are squeaky clean

[zazen999]

When we first moved here [we live next to a canal remember], we had a rat in the courtyard. We mentioned it to the neighbours thinking they would have loads of ways of getting rid, and they looked at us in horror - but it was a rat that had been left and not sorted by the people before us. As we live in the country - we thought it was a common problem.

We now have the odd mouse comes in the house, and an array of traps [big, medium and small]....and keep them loaded in case we get a little trespasser.

I'd get a humane trap and put it outdoors, and see what happens. If you get one, then you know you have a problem, if not then you've got proof that you haven't. If the bait disappears, then you need a smaller trap - as they are getting out of the bars.

[di]

Sorry,I missed your first post,so maybe asking something you already told us before,do you own your home or rent it?
If you own,then my guess is that once Environmental Health have visited & seen that your chooks are well cared for & kept clean,then there will hopefully be no more problems.
If you rent,it may be an idea to get in touch with landlord/housing & explain to them you have chooks & ask for permission in writing.If the first they know of you having them is hearing it through complaints from your neighbours,or a letter from EH,they're more likely to ask you to get rid of them...if they know already,may be easier to keep them on your side.
Good Luck with it & hope it's resolved soon.
P.S...not sure if there's truth in it,but apparently the smell of chook poo can encourage rats,not just the left out food...not saying you don't but may also be an idea to have a little poop collection when you put them to bed.

[Polly Fouracre]

Neighbours! Who would have have them?!! The best bait for rats is bird tables. All sorts of rubbish ,bread, left-over dinner etc. is put on bird tables. If you have bird tables next door then that is probably the source of your rat problem!!
Your neighbours won't believe you but this is a fact!!

[vicky]

Rats are everywhere - it's not us chicken keepers faults!
My neighbours blame a pond...when they constantly have whole loaves of bread left out for the birds....(they don't like the people whose lamd the pond is on)
We keep a humane rat trap in the run 'just in case' (I did catch one in there a few months ago)
Good luck with the neighbours - they sound more of a problem than the rats!

[BFG]

yep, it's most likely the bird tables/feeders. I've stopped feeding the birds because of the rodents it inevitably attracts.

[SimonA]

Sorry,I missed your first post,so maybe asking something you already told us before,do you own your home or rent it?

It's owned. We checked before buying that there was nothing to stop us keeping chickens as we had them at our old house.

Folk around here are funny about things, it's a well to do area with detached houses. People seem to complain about anything and everything, even the ice cream van got his marching orders as it disturbed some people. Gosh, they are even complaining because kids play on an open grass area. What do they expect?

[di]

It's owned. We checked before buying that there was nothing to stop us keeping chickens as we had them at our old house.

Folk around here are funny about things, it's a well to do area with detached houses. People seem to complain about anything and everything, even the ice cream van got his marching orders as it disturbed some people. Gosh, they are even complaining because kids play on an open grass area. What do they expect?

I never knew Stepford was in Northamptonshire!!!

[Glutton4...]

yep, it's most likely the bird tables/feeders. I've stopped feeding the birds because of the rodents it inevitably attracts.

My Parents have hung several bird feeders in a large cherry tree, so they can watch the birds from the kitchen. The other morning my Mum watched a large rat jump out of the hedge and onto a feeder! She later saw it on the ground eating what the birds had dropped.

Dad shot it!

[frias]

OMG. I'm so glad I have nice neighbours. Bird tables and compost bins will keep rats well fed. Yes, they will be attracted to any chicken food if it's left out but also to rabbit and guinea pig hutches as well. They can easily get though quite fine mesh as their bones are soft. I would get a metal rodent bait station and fix the blue poison blocks inside. They can't be carried away by rodents and so poison is eaten in situ. How soon the blocks get eaten will tell you how bigger problem you have! It will also probably keep the enviromental officer happy. That's if he even bothers to visit.
I can't imagine that 3 hens make that much noise either!

[lizzylemon]

Just to set your silly neighbours straight:

Yow Dirdy Raaaat!
The brown rat, common rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the best known and most common rats....making it the most successful mammal on the planet after humans.[2] Indeed, with rare exceptions (see below) the Norway rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas......

How Many!!!!
In the United Kingdom some figures show that the rat population has been rising, with estimations that 81 million rats reside in the UK.[42] Those figures would mean that there are 1.3 rats per person in the country......

Oh!
......brown rats prefer damp environments such as river banks.[37] However, the great majority are now linked to man-made environments, such as sewage systems. In addition to sewers, rats are very comfortable living in alleyways and residential buildings, as there is usually a large and continuous food source in those areas.

A new neighbourhood for your neighbours....
The only brown rat-free zones in the world are the Arctic, the Antarctic, some especially isolated islands, the province of Alberta in Canada,[43] and certain conservation areas in New Zealand[44][45]

Not your chickens then chuck!!

A good rat.....

....is a dead rat where I come from. We all hate them and the germs they carry are vile (no pun intended of course)

[Alice]

I'm a bit puzzled by the humane traps idea. Rats are vermin and it's illegal to release them onto someone elses property. The only merit in it is trap them and shoot them if you're worried about their manner of dying. But die they must - disease carrying vermin.

[di]

Dirty,vile & nasty...but also very clever!!!...whilst I was sweeping the chooks run out at the weekend,one blatantly popped out from under the coop to taunt me...more than once!!!As soon as Andi sat perched on the top of the coop,armed with a fork...for more than half an hour I must add...didn't make a single appearance...waited for him to go away & me to start sweeping again!...and yes,we did try ndi waiting with the fork whilst I swept!
Let's see if it's clever enough to resist the poison under the shed!!!