Rats )-:

[Gordon Henderson]

So... In 6-7 years of keeping a few chickens in the garden I've never had a rat problem (that I've known of) until now... And this summer gone we had some decking laid down and a new garden shed. Evidence suggests they're living under the shed/decking - holes in the gravel/soil leading under them, and a hole leading from the outside, under the gravel board to the inside of the chicken run. Some 2-3" in diameter, so I'm guessing rats.

Best way to kill them dead. I want none of this catch alive and release nonsense I want them dead. An airgun would be viable, but I really don't want to spend time down there at night waiting for them. Poison? Don't want them dying and stinking the place out while they decompose. (I've smelt dead rat before )-:

I'll be off to the local country/farm shop tomorrow, but suggestions for a make of trap and bait would be appreciated. Even if it's just "little nipper, rat size", but if live traps are more efficient than snap/kill ones that's OK as I have no issues dispatching them if needed.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Nick]

Do you live in or near an area liable to flooding? Only ask this because I had a similar occurrence 10 years ago when a 3m dia water pipe imploded and flooded the local area. The event was about 1 mile away. Repairs took about 3 months and local damage was extensive. This drove the rats to pastures new. Bastards totally destroyed my house wiring. How to kill them? Traps or poison. I used a lot of both. One afternoon we found 7 dead within the house, much to my wifes horror. We were checking twice daily. In all we knocked off more than 100 of the buggers. Not a pleasant aroma but it doesn't linger. Not too long anyway. Forced a total rewire and subsequent redecorating. Not a bad thing really as both were overdue. A good thing that this bought about: One morning whilst this was going on wife says 'we've got a raccoon living in the conservatory with the vermin'. Unlikely says I but I think we should call it Rocky. Eventually got rid of the rat problem and Rocky turned out to be a very skittish and fierce britdom kitten. Very small and had been living with the rats. Took about 3 months of gentle coaxing before she would come into the house. Rocky Raccoon is still with us today. Good puss still very small and skittish.

Rat poison is good provided you get the industrial variety. Rat sized traps do the job but you have to remember where you've put them. I prefer poison as this takes the vermin to water (away from property) and thus negates the majority of aroma. Airgun pretty hopeless unless you're good with .177 pistol. Don't use .22. .410 perhaps. 12 bore could be a little damaging.

Good luck and all the best, Nick.

[Davey]

There is already a thread on this, started on 4/12/2014.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

I beg to disagree there... .22 is great for blatting rats. .177 doesn't have the same stopping power but I guess your wounded rat will scuttle off and bleed to death in a hole somewhere but far better to do a straight kill and be able to clear up the bodies.

8¬o

[Gordon Henderson]

No and Yes )-:

Technically yes according to the EA, but it's never flooded. The stream behind my garden wall is barely any depth right now and we've had a bit of rain recently. 2 years ago it did rise by about 2m and there was flooding down the street, but it never entered the garden.

Garden is somewhat distant from the house.

Hm. The council did chop down and cut back a lot of trees 3-4 years back and then I did see a rat - in the mouth of a local cat. Nothing since.

OK. Thanks. Will check the local farm supplies shop to see what they have.

Gordon

[Gordon Henderson]

Hm. Must have missed it- will check back, thanks.

Gordon

[harryagain]

Prevention is best. You usually find rat problems are cause by access to food. You'll likely find some idiot it is feeding them. Horsey types, rabbit/sheep/cattle food thrown on the ground/too much given. Bird feeders.

Nitwits and waste food/black plastic bags.

Have a look around nearby, these problems don't appear by magic.

[Bob Henson]

Jeyes Fluid. Out Ratman who used to come out periodically to sort out the premises I used to work in recommended it. If you can't confine them, and it sounds as though you can't, you will never kill them. If you put bait down and kill some they will stink unbelievably badly, as you say, and more will come in to replace them anyway. You can't shoot them, there is only one of you and there are millions of them. What you can do is to make them someone else's problem by discouraging them, which is what we had to do at the old place.

Our street was linked by old cellars and even older drains, so if you killed the ones in your cellar more came in from elsewhere. His solution was - rats always have one spot at each venue that they use as a lavatory, find that and apply liberal amounts of Jeyes fluid. If you couldn't find the one spot then flood the area with it. If it's dryish under there, so much the better, the Jeyes will stay there longer. Repeated application worked at our place - they just went off to someone else's cellar that smelt more to their liking. Every year or so they'd be back, but it kept them away for some time. We even had a trap door put in the floorboards to ease the application - they're a tad dim and always came back to exactly the same place under the building.

You could also try rags soaked in old fashioned creosote, or the newer equivalent - I've never tried it on rats but it keeps foxes and badgers away if you hang the cloths over their entrance holes to your garden - so it might work for rats.

[Huge]

Peanut butter.

[chade]

A good treadle feeder will allow the chickens access to food (after a littl e training) but stop the rats feasting. They can be bought or made. They wo rk by lifting a lid from the front of a hopper when the chicken stands on t he treadle. A rat can not stand in the right place and reach the food or si mply is not heavy enough depending on design. I would post links to YouTube videos showing chickens succeeding and rats failing but the tablet I am us ing has defeated me.

[JTM]

Now you know how the rats feel when defeated by modern tech. :-)

John

[Big Les Wade]

Nick posted