Neighbour's Rats

[lottielady]

My next door neighbour has had a rat problem in his garage since the new year, he found them as he used to keep his dog food in there and they moved in and ate the lot. His wife told me that he didn't want to use poison on them and so he has tried catching them with a bit of success. We have chickens in our back garden with the house on slabs and wire mesh under the main house to prevent rats coming in, we also bring the food in overnight and close the door to the main enclosure overnight. Today he has come round and told me that I should be raising the food off the ground and that his rentokil trap will not be used by the rats until there source of food ie my chicken feed is removed. I am now totally paranoid that it is my fault that they are there and that he will end up with the environmental health officers coming round. Can I be forced to remove my chickens and how likley is it that the food for my chicks is their only source of food, my husband says it is unlikely. Before I got my chickens rats were the one thing I was really worried about and now I am upset that this may have caused the problem next door.

[janeyo]

Sounds like he just wants to pas the buck.
Where are you storing your chook food? In a metal bin with a lid is the only rat-proof option I know of. And bringing the food in etc will help to deter them.
I would be tempted to put my own traps about too just to see what is about.

[snakeshack]

I think it unlikely you have caused the problem,have you had your food eaten by rats or is it only your neighbours dog food?
if you keep your feed in a metal container for storage (I use a dustbon)then rats will be unable to get to it ,a raised feeder with a brim suspended by chain will prevent the rats stealing food if you set the height right.
my enclosed run has weldmesh on all sides and underneath to prevent rodent access.
your neighbour was the one who left his dog food available so is at least as much to blame as anyone else

[Sanjo]

Lottielady you didn't say whether your neighbour had the rat problem BEFORE you had the chickens
Can the rats actually access the chicken food, especially if you are taking it in overnight.
We don't keep chickens but we do feed the birds. Last year we saw our first ever rat in the garden (after 40 years that is).
Next door has a young child and was so worried that he called in the rat man who said that whilst we were feeding the birds there was no chance he would get the rats.
We agreed to stop for a week while the bait was put down. We also bought our own bait box. We now take the food in overnight
We have had no activity that we can see anyway, for some time. We also met next door halfway with the rat man's costs as we were made to feel guilty that it was our bird feeding that caused the problem in the first place.
By the way, just out of curiosity, if your neighbour was not using poison but catching, how did he despatch them or did he take them away to pastures new?
If your birds are well looked after I don't see that anyone can tell you to get rid of them, not unless your house deeds say you shouldn't be keeping them in the first place of course.
Good luck.

[lottielady]

Thanks for the reassurance we store our food indoors well out of the way, a neighbour behind had rats a couple of years ago and we found one of those on our bird feeder so did the same and stopped feeding, I am not sure if he had them before the dog food incident but we live in 50's houses with original garage doors so that is an easy way in, my main bird house has weldmesh wire under it but the run doesn't so maybe I should put that there too. I don't think the food has been eaten but not sure how I would tell that perhaps just by the amount of food that is being consumed. Thanks for the help

[wollyanna]

How I feel for you we had the same problem with a neighbour ayt the bottom of our garden He ranted and raved and threatened my husband about the problem which we didn't know existed. We stopped feeding the birds got rid of some of our compost bins and i began to be scard to go out into the garden in case they had another go. We called in the rat man who said we didn't have a problem. Try yelling that to the people over the fence. The thing is we are at the end of the road with a road gooing along the side of us so would expect anything to be a bit wary. On top of that the people at the other side of us feed the birds and evertyhing but they haven't given up. Just keep your chooks safe. I would love to keep hens but not with the neighbours we have

[Hilary B]

If rats are helping themselves to the chicken food from the feeders during the day, you would expect some evidence (rat poo, paw-marks on the feeder if the ground is muddy, holes if they are coming in under the run.........) and while rats WILL come out looking for food during the day, more often they will come at night.
If the rats were eating his dog food, odds are that is what attracted them. They were probably there anyway, but the bonanza of dog food encouraged breeding.
There are few places with garden space that there are NO rats, it's just that for the most part we don't see them.

[Sanjo]

If rats are helping themselves to the chicken food from the feeders during the day, you would expect some evidence (rat poo, paw-marks on the feeder if the ground is muddy, holes if they are coming in under the run.........) and while rats WILL come out looking for food during the day, more often they will come at night.
If the rats were eating his dog food, odds are that is what attracted them. They were probably there anyway, but the bonanza of dog food encouraged breeding.
There are few places with garden space that there are NO rats, it's just that for the most part we don't see them.

I'd agree with that. The one I saw in our garden was a first and was sitting in broad daylight on our garden path noshing on something tasty. It was so big I thought at first it was a rabbit. Once I realised it was a rat I felt sick. The idea of them in the wild is fine (live and let live) but in this case I turned into a NIMBY (not in my back yard)
We have our own bait box now as I previously said, and OH places twigs across the front and checks regularly to see if they have been moved.
Rarely happens but if he thinks it has then he checks and rebaits the box (with my best organic peanut butter I might add)
Enjoy your chickens.Don't have them myself but really love the antics of our daughters ones.

[frias]

Bird tables, compost bins and chickens (they are messy eaters) will attract rats. I've tried traps without much success but have a bait box with blue blocks in along each fence. The blocks do get nibbled in situ but from the chew marks and droppings it looks like mice so far. I know mice have chewed things in the shed before we even got the chooks and I used to use loose bait then but mice will move the bait back to their nest if possible and can't chance them dropping it where the chooks might go and pick it up.

[Ger-annie-um]

My only worry about keeping chickens is having the potential to attract rats. I am rat phobic, no problem with mice, just as well as our much love cat brings them home on a very regular basis. We once had a rat in our garage and I left home for 3 days until it was 'despatched'. Irrational I know, I'm blaming 'Doomwatch'. If/when we have chooks the feed will be in a metal container, away from the hens and clearing up will be a priority. I'm not stupid enough to think vermin will not be around but I am stupid enough to think I don't need to come face to face with them!

[leah]

Hello,

sorry for crashing the post, but wondered if anyone had any advice re rats. I saw one in the greehouse and later discovered they had eaten all my seeds , this was about a month ago.

I filled in the hole they dug into the greenhouse.

I have since found a hole from next door under the fence, far too big for a mouse. I filled it with a stone last week and now they have tunneled at the side of it.

I have children and a rabbit. The thought of rats is horrible! Next door have rabbits too. I know they are coming from that side, but don't like the idea of telling them that

If I put poison in the hole, will they take it back to the nest? I put some in the greenhouse in a nescaf lid and the whole thing was gone and had moved to the other side of the greenhouse!!

Hate the bloody things! We often get mice in the house (old 30's house), they try every single year, and I swear there was a rat under the floor and then in the loft! It sounded too loud for a mouse. (In the cold snap) So I don't want to risk them coming in again.

Has anyone got any tips that wont involve them dying close and stinking the house out for months?

I'm looking to get chickens eventually, but can't even think of it if there is already a rat problem

[Bramble-Poultry]

as a chicken keeper, you are duty bound to keep your area rat free. If you are keeping your feeds in protected bins, and you are removing uneaten foods at night, then the food source is removed. You must also remove any hiding places. This means getting rid of any clutter, scraps of wood and easy access to compost bins etc. By all means, have a compost bin, but dont make it easy for the rat to gain access.

Now, all chicken keepers should have a rat policy, i.e how to deal with them. We use bait and put traps down. Dont skimp with the bait either. rats tend to gorge themselves in one sitting so put down plenty of bait in a purpose made bait box to protect the non target wildlife. You should have bait box every 15m run. always place them along wall edges, under raised houses etc, anywhere that the rats may run or hide.

Now, if you can demonstrate that, then even if your neighbour gets environmental health around, you are doing everything a responsible chicken keeper can. you will have nowt to worry about.

also, take the offensive. as a council tax payer, the council work for you. you have a right to ask for the councils pest control officer to assist and advise you of how to deal with any potential problems. This service should be free of charge. if you have in excess of 40 birds etc, it may be hard to prove you are not a business and therefore the pest control can charge you for calling out.

If you can get the PCO out and he agrees you are dealing with the problem, then throw that back at your neghbour

[MaureenHall]

I used Eradibait to get rid of any rat problem here (only ever seen 1 rat in 2 years of keeping chooks and not seen any evidence of a problem either). Eradibait is the only safe rodent killer that won't harm the chooks if they eat it. I occasionally put a container of it behind the shed where the girls can't get to but would be so easy for rats if I had a problem, and it's never touched. All the feeders are always brought indoors at night and the feed is stored in the house till I get some galvanized bins then I'll store it inside the bigger hen house

[lottielady]

Thankyou all for your responses I have ordered some eradabait and will put it in bait boxes down either fence of my garden at least as Bramble says I have done my bit to sort the problem.

[frias]

Let us know how you get on. I haven't tried Eradibait as my brother-in-law has his own pest control business so keeps me supplied with blue blocks. B&Q do lockable bait boxes which stops children getting to the bait.