Oh rats!

[Lucylou]

Oh dear, looks like we have the problem of rats again. We had this last year, or suspected anyway, did what we could to get rid of them which we thought had worked. Obviously not, as they're back. This time I think we will get in a pest control person as its not cured the problem obviously.

But once we've got rid of them does anyone have any suggestions as to how we could secure the run in the future, we are rural, near water (a brook one side & a large lake on the other both of which are very high at the moment which probably doesn't help) also our neighbours have a large flock of wild ducks & geese that live on their land & which they feed, we don't have a compost & nothing the Devils can nest under like decking. After our last invasion Marigold suggested wire mesh flooring but the ground has been so wet just too difficult to do. We now have a roof over the run & it's pretty dry again so this might be the way forward but just not sure. We get quite a lot of wind too so am concerned that whatever we cover the wire floor with will just blow about.

Any bright ideas?!

 

[Bugsy]

We are also very rural and do get rats. When building our new run for the chickens I opted for a concrete base with a single layer of blocks around the perimeter. If the ground is firm the concrete doesn't need to be very thick, 6 to 8 cm's is fine.

This is just about as rat-proof as you can make it.

Our french chicken-keeper neighbour also suggested scattering broken glass under the concrete but I couldn't bring myself to do that as it does seem pretty cruel.

The blocks also keep the floor covering (we use chopped hemp) in place when its windy.

Hope this helps.

 

[dinosaw]

If you live in a rural area and have livestock I'm afraid you can't avoid vermin, in some ways your lucky that your neighbour is keeping geese as they will attract a good amount of them to their property instead. We know when the farmer next door has started bringing in his wheat because our cat starts bringing us a rat every day as a present, we get a load of them for a couple of weeks. I would agree with Marigold that 1/2 inch wire mesh is the way to go, put a 1 foot strip around the outside of the run and another 1 foot strip on the inside. Of course if the mesh on your run is wider than this then you may still get the baby rats coming directly through the sides. When you talk about what you cover the floor with blowing about do you mean aubiouse and similar? , if so it has never made any difference what the base is, it just doesn't tend to blow around but if you are worried put some kick boards around the run.

 

[Lucylou]

Just for info, I have had a professional pest control guy out who has put bait etc down & we'll take it from there. He did say out in the country we'll never eradicate the possibility & rats can dig 1 mtr down then along & up again to get to a source of food :evil: They can also travel up to 1kilometer from food source to nest !! And as there is a farm 2 fields away & a horse stables just over the road we don't stand much chance of keeping them away permanently.

Once this current problem is solved will definitely look at mesh floor, think this is the only way forward. It will be quite a task as size & current flooring will need a man with muscles!! Any volunteers