Rat

[paulinems]

Hi, we have a rat in the run with our girls,he has killed one already have put a trap down for him but he is crafty and digs a hole underneath trap to get food we put on it,any idears how to get him ,we dont realy want to put bait down cas of out girls, :o

[paulinems]

[flatcap]

hi paulina
some people at lotties beside us had this problem they put pioson down in a plastic bag when the hens were locked up for the night then made sure it was gone before they let birds out not sure if thatl be much help

[paulinems]

thanks, maybe we will try that, we had a robin traped in trap today ,it was ok though.

[autumn leaf]

So sorry you have lost one of your girls. We managed to find useful containers for the rat bait that were safe to put in the run with the hens.  These look like  an 18-inch piece of large black plastic drainpipe.  There is a clear plastic tube fitted in to the top of the length roughly in the middle.  You put the rat bait granules down the tube so that they go in to the length of drainpipe.  Because the tube is transparent you can see when the level of the bait goes down and needs topping up - you can also therefore tell if the bait is being taken.  There is a lid on top of the tube to keep bait dry and other things out.  The rat goes into the drainpipe through the hole at either end - inside the drainpipe, partway down on either side there is a circular partition with a smaller hole in it.  This acts like a restrictor so that the food can't get out, chickens can't get to the bait but the rat can.  It has always worked for us.  You can fix a couple around the edge of your compound or near the route you think the rat takes.  Good luck. :) :)

[paulinems]

thank you, think we might try that as the rat seens to manage to get the food in our trap and not tripping it he filled it with muck the other day so he could get in and out

[Rosyred]

Didn't think rats went for chickens, glad you told me as I saw one just outside our chicken run yesterday. I wanted to put posion down but hubby didn't really want too.

[sallyann993]

having kept chickens,geese and ducks for the last 15 years,whenever i had a rat problem i set the traps baited with either chocolate or cooked bacon rind, tied onto the trap with fishing line,make sure that you wear gloves when setting any trap as the rats that might have passed around the area of the baited traps could have WEILS DISEASE which can be fatal to humans,i hope that this helps,some council run (not self managed) allotments sites can use the council rat man to lay poison bait around there allotments for free,ask your council if they provide this service,our council does but only to council managaged sites as rats are an enviromental issue, as our allotment site is within 100 metres of houses.

[paulinems]

thank you,
we havent tryed bacon rind or chocolate will try that tomorrow

[blisters]

Sorry to hear a rat got one of your girls - you must have been absolutely gutted :'(

You can get a rat poison called Eradirat, which is fatal to rats but doesn't harm anything else. 

It isn't a poison as such, but contains an ingredient which rats can't metabolise and they die as a result.

Totally safe for chickens, and I will be using this winter when Mr Rat and family appear.

Hope this helps.

[cambourne7]

If it helps i just found something rat/mouse floating in one of my water buts!

Had a man at the alltoments burry it for me cos i got girly!

[paulinems]

thanks were can i get this rat poison from

[blisters]

If you google 'Eradirat' loads of stuff comes up and you can take your pick.

[paulinems]

Have left some choc for mr rat,hope he gets it,but just in case he gets away have orderd the Eradirat,should get it friday.
thanks for all the advice,something must work!
;D

[cambourne7]

I dont mind them i just dont want to see them alive or dead!

[sallyann993]

TAKE A LOOK AT THE www.gardenaction.co.uk website it has a trained rat man talking about how he gets rid of the vermin.

[paulinems]

well been down our land today and the rat ,well he filled trap up will soil so it didn't shut choc still there though, will have to wait till frid for the other stuff, its not the same name but the chap said it does the same thing

[paulinems]

the chap didn't come back to us about the eradirat so we have put the poison down now,he has taken the bait,and we have filled holes up ,if he has opened them up again will now that it didn't work  :)

[paulinems]

no signs of rat today hope thats it,but hubby did shot one today at top of Field by hedge and got shock on touching fence as chap next door has electric fence for his horses on , and he thought it was still off  and silly fool touched it,will have to have word with him about it because its more our side and if my granddaughter had touched it might have been nasty.... :(