Rats!

[Mikey]

Last night when I was shutting the chooks into their run I found a visitor in their run.

There wasn't much I could do about it so I shut them in their coop and left it until this morning. The rat was still trapped in the run so I shot it with a pellet gun.

It was a big beasty 11 inches not including tail, what are my chances that it is the only one in the vicinity?

Anyone with much experience?, I've contacted the council and they said they'd sent someone out in the next three days but couldn't say when. I've kept the evidence so they can tell me whether its a male or female.

[veggiechicken]

I had the same problem, they unnerved the chooks and put them off laying too. Ate lots of their food too. Council man used to come along and put poison down - regularly.

[petal]

You can get safe poison bait boxes to pop around the place- that saw ours off- and the fact we have 3 cats....

[Mikey]

I was going to ask whether the council would have a problem with the chooks being there.

I have three big lidded bins that I keep their food and bedding in, so the rats have no access to it in the shed.

The only other food source for them is the chooks food or the compost bin, but I'm quite careful what I put in the compost, and its mainly chicken droppings.

I don't think I can make their main food bowl secure during daylight, as my chooks are free to roam a bigger area during the day. I could put the chooks in a little earlier in the evening to ensure the rats aren't out and about.

[polo]

Mikey, you have made me think now. The layers pellets have been going down very very quickly lately and as I have just wormed the hens I dont think they are eating it all.

Might get some safe poison bait boxes - thanks Petal - I also have 2 cats!

But that was a big rat!

[Hilary B]

Rats don't hide their assets, so it should be easy enough to tell whether that one was male or female. A male that size might be a loner, but a big female is usually a matriarch....
Get a few traps (I prefer the cage type, if you have the means of dispatch, eg a pellet gun) and you will get a better idea of the size of the problem.

[fenwoman]

I was going to ask whether the council would have a problem with the chooks being there.

I have three big lidded bins that I keep their food and bedding in, so the rats have no access to it in the shed.

The only other food source for them is the chooks food or the compost bin, but I'm quite careful what I put in the compost, and its mainly chicken droppings.

I don't think I can make their main food bowl secure during daylight, as my chooks are free to roam a bigger area during the day. I could put the chooks in a little earlier in the evening to ensure the rats aren't out and about.

it is easy to sex a rat.I keep some as pets and the males have flipping huge.....er....'bits'. If a human male had the equivalent size, men would have to walk about with them in a wheelbarrow!!
To stop the rats getting to the chicken feed, get a proper feeder and suspend it inside the chicken house so that the feed is dispensed at shoulder height to the birds.Putting it insude the house also means that wild birds are less likely to cost you money by having a feed from it. Same with the water. Not only does it make it hard for the rats to get to, but it keeps muck and shavings and poop out of them too. Rats are out and about during the daytime too. You really need to get a baiting regime going. There are lots of different poisons out there. The one I use is called 'tomcat2'.Tomcat || The Most Advanced Rodent Control Products How it works is that you place it in a bait box, or length of drain pipe or, if you have the henhouse stood on breeze blocks, you could simply put a couple under the house itself as long as it cannot be accessed by children or pets. It comes in the form of a blue waxy block. The shape and colour means that birds do not see it as 'food' (unlike the grain type poisons). It is not a one dose knoc down. Meaning that each rat will not get a lethal dose in one feed. It needs them to come back and feed over the course of a week to ingest a lethal dose. The advantage of this is that you are less likely to have dead rats above ground whose bodies contain a lethal dose of poison. This would be bad for scavenging wildlife or pet dogs etc (cats are generally far too intelligent to eat something dead and smelled funny. Dogs especially labradors, aren't so fussy).I have cats and dogs so this is very important to me . So with the tomcat2, by the time the rat has enough poison in it's body to make it dangerous to a predator, it is feeling very cold and tired, much as an anaemic human would feel. So, it goes and stays in its nest where it will simply go into a coma and die. I buy a 5kg bucket of the stuff from an online site, and I place the blocks into bait boxes. You check them once a week to see what and how much is being eaten. This tells you how big your rat problem is and how much poison you are likely to need to eradicate them.
One thing you need to know about rats is that they are neophobic.In other words, afraid of new things. It's what makes them such a survivor. The work on the premise that anything new is dangerous. You need to place the bait box carefully along the rat run. Usually along fences, the sides of buildings etc (you will often see a dirty greasy mark along where the rats run). Place the bait box where the rats run and do not touch it for 2 weeks. If you know someone who has pet rats, it helps to put some soiled cage bedding and rat poo around the box as it makes them feel that another rat has been along there. After 2 weeks, check the bait. If it has been nibbled, all good and well. If not, reposition the bait box. It's best to have several boxes, not only around the henhouse but in various places around the garden. If you find any rat holes, drop a couple of blocks down them and put a brick on the top. Check a few days later and re apply if the bait has been eaten.
Needless to say, safety first, always. Do not let children or your dogs be with you when you bait as they are invariably curious and despite you telling them to leave it alone and it is dangerous etc, once your back is turned, they may well go and take a closer look. Read the label on the container carefully, wear gloves to handle the blocks and wash your hands afterwards.Safety first, last and always!
The last thing to remember is that once you have eradicated the rats, you have created empty territory. More rats will move in. So rat baiting is something you do on a permanent basis, not a one off , clear the rats and you never have another problem with them

[Mikey]

Thanks Fenwoman for taking the time to go into such detail.

I'm waiting for the council to come back to me with a view to coming out.

Our rat didn't have anything obviously hanging like my nephews male hamsters, so I'm guessing this is a female.

If she's as big as this, I'm assuming she's not alone.

[OverWyreGrower]

In terms of removing food from rats, you will either need a hanging feeder, or a treadle feeder; so that they cannot get to the food. We've had success with a treadle feeder - even the larger rats don't seem to weigh enough to push the foot plate down.

Your ratty visitor will almost certainly not be alone. She may have a nest of babies somewhere (which can breed from about 5/6 weeks old....), as well as other females - they are very social animals!

We use Eradibait as poison to put down - it's safe for animals and children, so whilst I'd not advocate feeding it to your dog/child/chicken; I feel pretty safe baiting with it. We bait every day - I just check the holes/entry points etc and stuff a bag of bait there. If it has gone the next day, I put another one down