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I think I've mentioned before that I'm not too fond of rodents, nothing as dramatic as an actual phobia, but I certainly don't like them. We occasionally see one on the lotties, but to be honest as long as it keeps out of my way I shudder and forget it. I've 'combated' them mainly by making sure there's nothing to attract them to my plot and that my compost bins are inaccessible to them, etc.
BUT... now we have poultry and I have a responsibility to make sure that I don't encourage a population boom in the ra...ra.....big ugly furry thing population. I've done everything I can think of; I keep the feed at home and only take one day's supply to the plot each morning, feeders are kept behind small gauge wire-mesh which cannot be accessed once the pop-hole door is closed at night and any that I spill is always eaten by the boys long before a you-know-what could ever find it. Even so, on Friday night we heard one in the hedge, so on Saturday bought some poison from the lottie shop. The poison came in a polythene bag with no instructions, so OH made a sort of lean-to 'house' out of a couple of large stones near to where we first heard it, poured some poison inside it and we forgot it... until yesterday afternoon when we found a dead specimen in the middle of the plot. It hadn't been there in the morning. So, now what do I do with it? It's probaby full of poison, I don't want it anywhere near where my grandchild might go, don't want it near my cockerels and don't want to bury it where one day I might grow veg. What is this poison likely to be? If I do designate a small area as a rodent cemetery would it be harmful to the environment? And is there anything other than poison that I can use instead? I'm told traps don't always kill them outright and don't fancy dealing with a living one.
BUT... now we have poultry and I have a responsibility to make sure that I don't encourage a population boom in the ra...ra.....big ugly furry thing population. I've done everything I can think of; I keep the feed at home and only take one day's supply to the plot each morning, feeders are kept behind small gauge wire-mesh which cannot be accessed once the pop-hole door is closed at night and any that I spill is always eaten by the boys long before a you-know-what could ever find it. Even so, on Friday night we heard one in the hedge, so on Saturday bought some poison from the lottie shop. The poison came in a polythene bag with no instructions, so OH made a sort of lean-to 'house' out of a couple of large stones near to where we first heard it, poured some poison inside it and we forgot it... until yesterday afternoon when we found a dead specimen in the middle of the plot. It hadn't been there in the morning. So, now what do I do with it? It's probaby full of poison, I don't want it anywhere near where my grandchild might go, don't want it near my cockerels and don't want to bury it where one day I might grow veg. What is this poison likely to be? If I do designate a small area as a rodent cemetery would it be harmful to the environment? And is there anything other than poison that I can use instead? I'm told traps don't always kill them outright and don't fancy dealing with a living one.
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