The Poultry Keeper

CP · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:15 pm Post subject:

It is the shed where the chickens are......sort of! They are in 1/3 of it, separated from the 2/3 we are clearing out if we have to keep them indoors. The shed corner was full of junk & undisturbed which is why we hadn't noticed them in there.

The area where the chooks are is double-skinned & well protected from the rats though. And as we go in there several times a day, we would soon see if there were any signs of the rats getting in. Evil or Very Mad

fenwoman · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:26 pm Post subject:

hi chicken palace. Good for you. If you can afford it, I would buy several bait boxes and place them in likely positions. If you can afford to buy a tub of the tomcat it costs about £40 but will last you a year or more. Don't forget that they will not use it at first as the secret of rats surviving so well is that they are very very wary of new things. I was lucky inasmuch as I have a pet rat 'Frederico' and used some of his soiled litter to sprinkle around and into the bait box so that the wild rats thought it was safe. Once they start using it they will die quickly but I would honestly have several boxes about since not all the rats will be under the shed and you may even have a couple of seperate colonies on your land and if so, their territories will not cross. You will wipe out one colony but since the other never got to use the bait box, they will survive and breed. Rats are very territorial.
I've found some websites which will help you identify rat runs and understand about where and how to place bait boxes etc.

http://www.hastings.gov.uk/pests/rats.aspx

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/reports/Rat_Fact_8.pdf

To beat them it will be a case of understanding them. "know thine enemy"

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CP · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:45 pm Post subject:

Thank you for the links fenwoman. Very interesting.

We only had 1 caught with the rat trap, but none since. Maybe if we move it somewhere else we'll get lucky again. What was really strange though, the rat was dead, but managed to remove itself from the trap!

They cannot get to the stored food as it's in metal bins, & we shut it all away at night. But I have seen them early in the morning, running over to the feeders to eat, then back again. Think maybe it's time to feed inside the coop. Wink

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

Fenwoman, perhaps you could start up a side line of selling Frederico's litter?

fenwoman · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:17 pm Post subject:

fenwoman · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:24 pm Post subject:

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

No, but you could corner the market

fenwoman · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject:

hmm not sure I want to be known as 'the rat poo lady' Laughing

Or 'RATPOO R US'?

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

I can understand that!