rats

[hawthorns]

any fellow chicken keepers been visited by rats. ive recently caught 2 in traps.

[Bramble-Poultry]

yep. we get them all the time as we are surrounded by a 600 head dairy farm. put some eradibait down and got out the ferrets (having said that, too cold on their paws now!) havent seen evidence of a rat now for ages

[Snadger]

Grrrrrrrrrrrr...............

[Glutton4...]

Yup - poisoned the b*ggers

[HayleyB]

Yep, all the same posters why am I not surprised

[matthew2riches]

I used to have them on the lottie when I had the chooks up there before they all got slaughtered. I put down some homemade rat killer and they still kept coming - found a few dead ones. The lottie is near a river though :-(

With the chooks in the garden now, I haven't seen anything. We have 2 dogs and cat though... and I have a selection of guns and traps :-)

[Flummery]

We've had them in the garden long before we got chickens. They can't get into the run though, the weldmesh is too fine. I recently got some Eradibait. Don't know if it's worked but I've not seen one since. I think they come for the bits the small birds scatter from the feeders.

[Eco-Chic]

I had rats before chooks. The last few winters I left the shed ajar so they could get out and I didn't have to remove their mummified remains in the spring. Dunno why they went to the shed, unless it was for shelter, because there was never anything edible stored in it.

Now, no matter what the weather is, I let the Jack Russells loose in the main garden when the chooks are locked up at night and I think they must be discouraging them (and hopefully the foxes) from our garden.

The Cat has never considered outdoor rat control to be anything to do with her although she dealt with some mice who were daft enough to pop into the bathroom.

[Snadger]

Had a look for rat prints in the snow today around my chook pens...........there weren't any!

There were cat prints though Never again will I launch a turnip at a cat!