Rat? Problem.

DurhamHens said:
Modern Rat poisons won't move up the food chain so if an owl eats a rat killed with rat poison it won't die. Make sure you rat station is safe for hens their necks can reach almost 8" and can pick up crumbs left by the rats in some rat stations!
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So if one of your hens ate some modern rat poison and died, you'd be quite happy to have her for dinner?
 
chrismahon said:
I don't like using poison for 3 main reasons. Firstly it is indiscriminate, so a mouse or vole could eat it and then poison an owl. Secondly the animals die anywhere and then you have the heath issue and stench. Thirdly death is always slow and painful. Large snap traps carefully placed are very effective and are not triggered by smaller animals. Whilst kills are not always instant, 5 times out of 6 they are.
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Many rat traps will also injure other animals or not kill the rodents properly. some rodents don't die instantly. I don't really care for the snap ones. I like the humane cage traps, then i can dispatch quickly and painless or return to a local wood far from the house...or closer to an enemy :lol: :D
 
DurhamHens wrote:
Modern Rat poisons won't move up the food chain so if an owl eats a rat killed with rat poison it won't die. Some old fashioned poisons would move up the food chain. The old poisons would kill the owl that ate the poisoned rat , then the fox that ate the owl then the family dog that found the dead fox etc' etc.. that's why some old poisons are highly illegal. So if you have some old stuff your grandad had in a tin get it disposed of correctly!

Make sure you rat station is safe for hens their necks can reach almost 8" and can pick up crumbs left by the rats in some rat stations. There a some rat safe boxes listed on a well known auction site among other places.

marigold wrote:
So if one of your hens ate some modern rat poison and died, you'd be quite happy to have her for dinner?
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No I can't bring myself to butcher our hens and you should eat animal found dead but with no obvious cause! But my point is a family dog might try to eat a rat it found dead. All modern rat poisons won't kill an animal eating a poisoned rat. Also If you use poison to control rats you need to ensure your hens can not get to the poison! We've tried rat traps again and again , paid for gamekeepers to help set them but nothing. The only thing that seems to control them is poison in rat stations that are hen safe.
 
Big snap traps have to be protected from hens as well of course. But the tip I was given was to bury them for a few weeks to lose the 'new' smell before setting them. I don't use bait, just position them in the rat runs, buried just below the surface with soft black horticultural fleece over the top to stop rain washing soil into the mechanism. Only the little ones are stupid enough to take bait off a trap in my experience. Takes a couple of weeks to get one but I have now had no rats for over a month and the only rat run in the Orchard has such a small rat using it which is too light to trip the trap. There is no humane trap I have which will take rats this big.
 
I have found that perspex over the front of the wire,
and slabs under the run and coop do a pretty good job.
If I need to I shall put some over the outside of the wood,
they won't be able to climb that in a hurry.


:-)17 :-)17
 
Have you thought about a plastic hen house they can't chew though the plastic on ours
 
I bought a small rat trap cage at the National and so far have caught 3 rats in it. I washed it first, handled it with gardening gloves and baited with tuna, an apple core hanging on the hook inside and a few pieces of maize that they seem to love from my mixed corn. It's placed alone the side of a wall with a piece of wood leaning against the wall for cover.

They were only small rats I admit but I'm pleased they have started going in the trap.

I dispatch them with an air gun, bag them with gloves on and bin them.

If you set a trap, it can take weeks before they go into it - you must also make sure they are hungry so ensure there is no other food left about.

As for a plastic house - I looked at these plastic houses (scroll to bottom of page to see the plastic house) a year or two ago and they were very robust if a little small for my girls.
 
There are bigger plastic houses available , our breeding stock are in a 4 foot by 3 foot houses. Wev'e had rats chew through wooden houses , but never even tried to chew through the plastic ones. I don't think I'm allowed to post the link but if you google "plastic hen house durham" it should come up.
 
If you look at other posts you will see some people have condensation problems with plastic houses so you potentially solve one problem and create another. Despite the dozens of rats I've caught only once has one tried to eat into a wooden coop. Being wooden, the damage was easily repaired and the rat, being that brave was easily caught. But I've seen rats chewed through plastic and even an aluminium sheet -if they are hungry they will get in.
Tim. Found a piece of corn on the cob jammed on the hook the most effective bait of all. Top trigger arm needs to be bent slightly on that trap to minimise the tripping pull weight at the hook. Simple rule is if the rat can't turn round in the trap without dragging its tail on the bars it won't go in. So you will only get small ones. For the big ones use a rabbit trap but the small ones escape through the holes.
 
I will try the sweet corn - thanks for the tip.

The trap I bought has a tilt on the floor - so is activated before the rat even gets to the hook :-) It's very sensitive and I caught a mouse in it the other day too.

I have a rabbit trap set too - although the bait has gone from this, so I need to tie it down to the trip which is a small hindged piece of mesh on the floor - not very good...
 
Hi Tim. 15 minutes late putting the girls away and their feed and spotted three medium sized rats in the runs. Too small for the big snap traps but may get the cage out and the smaller snappers (baited with peanut butter) tomorrow. Too fast to shoot certainly. They are actually going over one of the large snappers but they are too light to set it off.
 
Fun and games then Chris!

That's reminded me - I'll try the peanut butter too on my snap traps - they should be ready soon, they are burried at the moment to get rid of the 'new' smell!

Thanks for the tips - some of the best I've had :-)
 
The little rat run that passed over the large snapper was invaded last night. Funny thing, I went down late and there were no little rats to be seen. Anyway, a very large rat had decided to dig under the wire to enlarge the hole even more so that it could use the rat run which the little rats use to access crumbs spilled by the hens during the day. Mistake -the extra weight set the snapper off. Instant kill -broken neck.

I've just cleaned the trap up. I bought some cheaper copies of the original Fenn 4 (4" snapper) which were £5 instead of £10. The difference is only minor with the setting lever being slightly lighter gauge brass. But the trip plate has a steel notch piece in it instead of brass and the setting lever has begun to corrode to it. This explains the large weight necessary to set it off, so I will be smoothing the notch surface off and applying grease when I set it again.
 
Yeah a result Chris!

When you say 'snapper' - do you mean like a standard mouse trap but larger?

T
 
Essentially yes Tim. These are two jaws 4" square that form a figure of 8, 8" x 4" when open and set with a 2" square plate in the centre which is the trip plate. I've seen a 6" version as well but they are too strong for me to open and set. There is a safety catch because, if they go off during burying them, they will break your fingers. So you bury them carefully first and then remove the safety very carefully. May be on the internet -search for Fenn Trap MK4 and 6. There are strict rules about their use but they are common sense really.
 
After keeping banties for nearly 4 years found my first rat in the run today. He was under the paving slabs that the coop sits on. I hit him hard with a rake but he escaped out of the run door. Was gaining access through a small opening between the slabs round the outside of the run and the side panels. Tomorrow I intend to fill all the small holes round the outside with cement, put a strip of heavy duty mesh into the ground round the inside of the run and raise the coop off the run floor.Here's hoping!
 
Thanks Chris, yes I understand the sort of trap now.

@bantiekeeper - There's never just one rat from my experience.... there's many!
The first signs of rats usually mean I'm going to catch a dozen. A real problem if they have a chance to mature and breed!

Hope you manage to catch your unwanted visitor!
 
Thanks Tim. My banties are on my allotment so as you say there are many more around. I always keep the area round the run free from clutter so I have a good veiw of what is going on. Have raised the coop off the floor today by about 12". The cementing round the outside edges and sinking mesh at the bottom of the side panels is next.
 
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