Help please!!!! QUICK!

[MaureenHall]

I've just seen a great big (well to me anyway) rat helping itself to the food in the broody run!!! I want to get rid of it (them, 'cos where there's 1 there's more) as quickly as possible. The chicks are due next Monday and I don't want them being attacked by the horrible vermin. What can I use safely in or near the run that will kill the b*****rds and not harm the chicks or chooks please? I'm all of a dither right now, can't think straight, cos I'm petrified of rodents of any kind. I'm really fastidious about not leaving any food around during the night, though I suppose there's always going to be the odd bit of corn or pellets that's got mixed up in the straw etc in the runs. I'm at my wit's end right now. PLEASE SOMEBODY, CAN YOU HELP?

[davefromthechipie]

The only real way is poison>< Don't make the mistake and just put alittle down Use loads! . Just place out at night & under a pot so cats etc... cant get to it GL MH

[MaureenHall]

Thanks Dave, I'll put some out tonight as well as I'll get one of the box/trap/killy things to put in the run. Will that be ok if I put it where Precious can't get hurt and move it out before any chicks are hatched?

[frias]

Can you get some very fine mesh to put around the broody run so vermin can't get in.? Then he needs an alternative food source. I have always found the best to be blue blocks fixed inside a metal bait trap. Loose bait sometimes gets moved back to the nest and dropped en route where as the blue blocks get eaten in situ. Most vermin run along walls or fences and because they are incontinent you might find his run as it looks dark and worn. You might then be able to put a live trap or large spring trap there. Of course if you can shoot a gun that's quick but not an option if your aim is like mine.

[di]

We use poison under a shed,close to the chooks but far enough away that they can't get to it.
Apparently rats are also attracted to the smell of chook poo,so don't beat yourself up about not being particular enough...rats are bloomin' everywhere...the best we can do is keep their numbers down.
Obviously it'll be best to be rid of it before the chicks hatch,but I think daytime Mummy hen will keep fight them away from the chicks.Just make sure their coop/box is totally vermin proof.

Oh,& try not to panic!xxx

[leicestershirelass]

Hi Maureen ... just a thought, is this leftover food?

May be best to give them a little less to ensure all eaten and no reason for rat (or anything else) to visit.

[MaureenHall]

Hi Maureen ... just a thought, is this leftover food?

May be best to give them a little less to ensure all eaten and no reason for rat (or anything else) to visit.

No, not leftover food, it was put down fresh at 7.30 this morning. I clean her run every night when I've locked the coop, there's no poo or food in there at all. Though, there would still be the traces of a smell (to a rat) of poo and very fine crumbs of food.

Good idea about the block Frias, I'll get one of those as well! (maybe 2 or 3)

[frias]

Wilkos have metal bait station £14.99. Blue blocks from agricultural places. (Get mine supplied by BIL who's a pest controller.) They do need to be fixed into place as rats will take them back to nest if not. Most professionals use this method. You will probably see big green bait stations at places like supermarket car parks.
Good luck.

[Polly Fouracre]

I put rat bait in lengths of plastic drain pipe and put them under a bit of wood or tin. That way hens and birds can't get at it.
I have no compunction at about poisoning rats. They not only eat chicks but leave behind them some very nasty diseases!

[RichmondHens]

If the rat is bold enough to come out in daylight to steal food (most do it at night) then I would suggest you find someone with a gun who will shoot it. It might mean a bit of patience but if you can shoot it then at least you know it's definitely dead.

Otherwise, traps, poison etc as others have suggested can be used too - belt and braces approach!

We have had no success with poison, but moderate success with trapping youngsters (adults are too wily to go in the traps) and have had daytime raids from bold adults which we have successfully shot.

Good luck!

[Birdie Wife]

I would put poison and traps down even if you can find someone with a gun - where there's one rat, there will be others unfortunately... definitely go with belt and braces, as RichmonHens says...

[bluemoon]

Ours are kept on an allotment site where many (probably most) other people keep some poultry too and we have to keep well on top of the rats - I'm not sure everyone does, but I think it's our responsibility if we're keeping chooks. We put poison down in the privet hedges where they seem to live and nearer the chooks we use Eradibait which is a rodenticide that will not harm anything other than rodents. So keen are they that they chewed their way into the shed and stole it before we'd even had chance to use it. We still hear the odd one scuttling around in the hedge, but there certainly aren't the numbers on our plot that were there in the beginning.

[Suechooks]

I do exactly what Bluemoon does. I have permanent poison down in places where the chooks don't/can't get to and Eradibait in the unused runs.
For this reason i put 1/2" mesh on my ark including the underneath in case i ever hatch anything or have a sick chook in it.
Hope you get sorted quickly.

[HayleyB]

We use a big poison trap that rats get into through a tunnel thing, that's the only way, and Aunty Mo..... BREATHE

[Bramble-Poultry]

The main problem you will have with warferin based rat posions in and around chicken runs is the chicken food itself is the antidote!!! Formulated feeds contains added vitamins - warferin antidote is Vitamin K and C injections!!! That is the main reason that rat control is difficult in chicken houses!!

Eradibait is a good one as it doesn't harm pets such as cats who opportunistically take a dead or dying rat.

the rats are extremely unlikely to be your fault, they are probably there anyway given what you back onto, they are in your garden because of the food but also in your neighbours garden especially if anyone feeds the birds with bread - unfortunatley if your neighbours spot them the automatic assumption is that they must be your fault cos you keep chickens and then the council will become involved!!

Air rifle to shoot the buggers is good, get a humane trap bait it and then they will be trapped - problem with this is then you have to approach a live rat to kill it and adult rats do not usually caught easily in one - or get someone else to do it, trapping them or popping them off with an air rifle is the only sure fire way to know you have gotten rid of the blighter because you have seen it with your own eyes, bait is an unknown, you know its eaten the bait but you do not know if it has eaten sufficient to kill it.