The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: smudger on March 12, 2012, 09:19:40 am
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We have a growing problem, literally. After jumping out of my skin on Saturday when I opened up the 'rat proof' treadle feeder and a rat flew out, I have to give up ad-lib feeding and give them a set amount at various stages through the day. Any tips on frequency I will need to do this ie can I get away with 3x day or do I need to do less food and more frequently. I know there is only so much they can hold in their croup (and no point doing this and food being let on ground for rats to gorge on).
Also we have being using the poison which doesn't have secondary affects (forget its name) but think we need to up the stakes until we have got it under control. Any one recommend a really effective poison. We have been using the bait boxes but they have been left untouched, hopefully if no hen food that will change.
I'm also not feeding the wild birds, so if there is a good feeder which doesn't spill food I would like to know.
thx
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rats are just as intelligent as humans the hens feed is high in protein so they grow faster and bigger
unfortunately the only down side to poultry is vermin either birds or rats
mix your own poison with hen feed and put in bait boxes the boxes only work against walls as they use them for the runs and any people smells they will not touch it :farmer:
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Is your treddle feeder properly balanced as a rat shouldn't be able to open it. Stick -on alloy wheel lead weights are good as the adhesive is waterproof. Any tyre place will sell you some.
Scatter feed twice a day. First thing in morning and two hours before dusk. Same amount both times. Risk is lowest in pecking order won't get enough and will stop laying.
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I don't know if it is just mine that do this but you could try running a muscovy drake with them.
My Daffyd delights in killing rats, i have so far only spotted 2 and each time they are bloodied corpses in the morning.
But it could just be my maniac ducks! :&>
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Keeping cats has always kept our rat problem to almost nil and the cats never went for the chickens
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My 3 young semi feral cats are fantastic at keeping the rats and rabbits down, we see them with rabbits all the time now as I think they have all but done with the rats now as I haven't seen or seen signs of any for a couple of months.
The cats go into the chicken coup area mainly at night when the chickens are in bed as they are scared of the chickens after being beat up by them a few times.
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Don't get me started on rats today ;) and EllisR it was a big rat not a baby despite what you said on my photo - the picture was deceptive lol!!! Snowball our siamese cross brings them in all the time, usually dead and we get bits (heads and tails mainly) left around as evidence. Last night/early hours however she bought a huge rat in and dropped it live, onto my bare feet. It was squealing and so was I.
Ours tend to be in our goats sheds (well under them) not had any problems with them in the chickens yet. Keep your feed well locked up in bins (well not locked but you know what i mean) so that you don't get it infected with their droppings.
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We have a really bad problem with rats in our food/hay barn. They have actually dug through concrete floor and through some stone wall to make runs and have chewed their way into our chicken shed floor. Have given up on getting rid and we are now just trying to keep the numbers low. They go in the chicken shed even if there is no food in there. Luckily they haven't gone for the chooks yet. We don't use poison as I am worried that our cats/dogs/chickens etc might be harmed by it so just lots of traps and hope for the best.
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I get lengths of plastic piping just rat size and put the bait well into the middle of them. This stops anything else, cats, chickens etc. getting to it.
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Yes, but what about cats, chickens etc getting to the dead rats?
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this is just my experience but my cats and indeed chickens will kill rats but they dont seem to eat them, when i shot trapped and poisoned the gross infestation here, i didnt find many dead uns on the ground, they all seemed to die underground. i figure a cat would have to eat a reasonable portion of rat to ingest some poison, i think vitamin k is the antidote.all the above is pure opinion, not fact!!
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Ours eat most of the rats and just leave us the head and tail but occasionally we get them in live. I would worry that Snowball in particular probably eats several a day (mice and rats, mainly rats) :-\
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Caught a big one in the humane rabbit trap this morning (just under a Kilo I would say -full of chicken feed). Caught more rats in that trap than by any other method. Big enough for them to turn round so they more readily go in. Gravity closing door so chicken safe. Despatch with an air pistol, which is easy as they come up to the barrel to see what it is! I had it baited with apple one Winter. It just sat there for two weeks waiting for the damn rabbit. One morning and looking through the mist -yipee, I've caught it! No I hadn't. But it was the biggest rat I've ever caught.
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OH and i sat and watch a big rat come on the patio this morning, we feed the chickens near there. He was a big boy ( the rat) not OH! and we have tried shooting him but he got away. going to try poison soon we put it behind a concrete slab so chooks can't get at it.
Have to say i bet there's more rats never live alone
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chrismahon - could you pm where you got your trap from? Quick google search gives a wide range of options from cheap to not so cheap and ones on amazon don't get good write ups. Husband bought an air rifle so if we can trap them that might be a good option. This squirrel trap gets good reviews (157 of them!) - will it do? Also cheap so can get a few:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheese-STV076-Squirrel-Cage-Trap/dp/B000NWGJNW/ref=sr_1_1?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1332411334&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheese-STV076-Squirrel-Cage-Trap/dp/B000NWGJNW/ref=sr_1_1?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1332411334&sr=1-1)
I will look at putting some magnetic weights on the feeder (basically there is no resistance so they can push against the flap; I have also ordered a chooketeria).
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Your local agricultural supplier will have them. It's the devil's own job though to get anything in them. Dead chicks is a good bait.
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if you have cage traps you may catch one then the rest know what it is and you will never catch another if the bait in them is nice and tasty to rats they send in the young ones to get the food if it is the enclosed green traps they have there own poisonous bait that you lace them with :farmer:
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Hi Smudger. As Sylvia says your local agricultural merchant will have them, about £30. I leave apple in the end or drop chicken feed in from the top. Just be patient, they will go in eventually. Alternatively bury a Fenn MK4 in the rat run and cover it over with soil and the a cover over the whole lot so the rat runs down a tunnel. Nasty traps though. Break your finger easily! The little rats and mice go in and escape through the holes -the big ones then think it's safe. Same with the Fenn -little rat is too light to set it off so they establish a run over it and the big ones follow -Bang!!!
I'm suprised rat catching isn't more popular as a recreational activity. A real challenge and exciting when you go down to check the traps in the morning. Had 7 in one trap once! Had 12 in the dustbin waiting for collection once as well.
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Hi Smudger. As Sylvia says your local agricultural merchant will have them, about £30. I leave apple in the end or drop chicken feed in from the top. Just be patient, they will go in eventually. Alternatively bury a Fenn MK4 in the rat run and cover it over with soil and the a cover over the whole lot so the rat runs down a tunnel. Nasty traps though. Break your finger easily! The little rats and mice go in and escape through the holes -the big ones then think it's safe. Same with the Fenn -little rat is too light to set it off so they establish a run over it and the big ones follow -Bang!!!
I'm suprised rat catching isn't more popular as a recreational activity. A real challenge and exciting when you go down to check the traps in the morning. Had 7 in one trap once! Had 12 in the dustbin waiting for collection once as well.
Lol - I like the idea of it as a recreational activity - I am sitting on a goldmine here, USP for holidays??!! After a peaceful couple of months heard some thuding in the loft again last night so assuming they are back. Have to get the rat man in again. Funnily enough he said we didnt have any evidence of them around our chicken area.
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yes nothing more satisfying than a good rat hunt you verses them and you winning some times :farmer:
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Much more fun blasting them with a gun. very satisfying!
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Much more fun blasting them with a gun. very satisfying!
Absolutely! I usually bait them for a while out in the open under the lights after dusk. A few nights and they get used to it, then it's just a matter of waiting. As you can tell from my nickname, I like to shoot stuff.
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Not sure I'm going to let hubbie read these last few posts. I keep turning corners and find him taking pot shots. Its like a scene from dad's army. If we catch some in the cage trap, them maybe he might have a fighting chance to hit one ::)
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do muscovys really kill rats...if so i will get one,,, does it have to be a drake....also no good stopping rats eating your feed as if they cant get that they eat the eggs.
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Great cover for a Fenn MK4 snap rat trap is roof ridge tiles. Makes a very natural tunnel. Have one put out on on a rat run i spotted this morning and see if I get the rat that is living under a neighbours shed. Don't want to mention it to them as they will get pest control out and put poison down.
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do muscovys really kill rats...if so i will get one,,, does it have to be a drake....also no good stopping rats eating your feed as if they cant get that they eat the eggs.
All I can say is my muscovy drake does! If he would do the same if his ladies weren't here I don't know ???
No one round here believes me, so I challenge them to find a rat. You could leave a sandwich outside the duck house all night here and it would still be there in the morning :o
I do have to let him roam everywhere though. I don't mind as he makes me laugh wagging his tail! :&>
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I like the Fenn Trap mk4 but you have to becarefull chickens or pets dont get trapped.
To stop this I ofter put them against a wall with a board against the wall to keep out
bigger animals. However wild birds are at risk. The best way way is to put the fenn trap
in a box contstructed out of wood there will be pictures of this on the tinternet somewhere.
Crofterloon
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is a fen trap legal as i goggled the name and there is a picture of a fox with no back paws :farmer:
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Got to be honest I do not know the rules did change a few years ago.
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Fenn trap is a nasty piece of kit, just you imagine yourself caught in one of these traps with you legs mangles crofterloon, you would not be saying then that you liked them ???. This is cruelty in the worst degree. I wish to make it clear to all reading this post that I am a detester of rats, mink, rabbits, foxes magpies, crows etc but this trap is not nice.
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The Fenn trap is legal. There are however legal requirements for their use. They must be covered, as in a tunnel which stops birds (or our chickens) stepping on them. If the tunnel is small enough the size of bird that could enter is so small the trap will not spring. I doubt a blackbird could set one off either. Only big rats are heavy enough. They must be checked every day and anything caught but not killed despatched humanely. I accept that being caught by one and not killed outright for any period of time is not humane in itself. But I won't use poison.
The Fenn MK6 has 6" jaws and is an incredibly nasty thing. Break your fingers no problem and is really just for Mink. If it is covered as required by law a fox will not stand on it. But I have been told of poultry keepers nailing Fenn 4's to the top of posts. Buzzards are attracted to the shiny plate and lose their legs, which is highly illegal and extremely cruel. If the practice continues it is probable that snap traps like this will be outlawed.
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Fenn trap is a nasty piece of kit, just you imagine yourself caught in one of these traps with you legs mangles crofterloon, you would not be saying then that you liked them ???. This is cruelty in the worst degree. I wish to make it clear to all reading this post that I am a detester of rats, mink, rabbits, foxes magpies, crows etc but this trap is not nice.
When I said I liked them I should have said I have used them in the past with great success.
I had always believed that the rat was killed instantly as the rats I had caught were caught at the neck.
But after reading your post I think I will be reluctant to use them again.
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My mum's dog was caught in one of these and chewed off his own paw. It was in a large unfenced garden which backed onto public forest land and the trap was probably baited with meat - which drew in the dog. The dog was pts - and mum never got over the cruelty of it.
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As I said in my last post by law they must be covered to stop this sort of thing happening. In effect they need a tunnel over them and I use 45 degree ridge tiles which are heavy enough not to be moved by accident.
Issues can arise with illegally placed poison as well. Unfortunately some people completely disregard laws
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Can i just add that if you are using poison and it appears to have worked, don't think that is the end of the matter. Keep your bait boxes topped up as other rats will soon move in to replace the dead ones. My dog kills rats but i've never seen him eat one and i always find bits of mouse from the cats but always whole rats so i don't believe it is a concern that our pets may eat a poisoned rat.
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Our two out-door cats (not ferral as soft as anything, love a fuss!) seem to keep our rat problem down. They two are scared of the chooks and even give the little chick a wide berth as little Bannty mum chases them!