[GribinIsaf]

We are overrun with rats this summer.  They are everywhere in large numbers bold as brass.

I am not really asking for advice as it has been all said before unless anyone has a wonderful foolproof new suggestion!  Just wondered if anyone else was experiencing this.

We are scrupulous about feed storage.  The main hen flock has treadle feeders and I have just got the ducks to use one, which I think is quite an achievement.  There are always small groups of pullets and ducklings being kept separately and they have their food opened for short periods of time periodically.  No food is accessible at night.  We have removed the bird feeders,.

We have very reluctantly resorted to poison (red blocks) in bait stations.  In some locations all the bait is being eaten overnight, in others not touched.  We are experimenting - there are problem areas spread over two or tree acres.

Hope their next stop is not inside the house.

 

[macgro7]

Ive got the same problem this year!
Never seen them near the chicken coops before but now see them (or maybe just one?) nearly every day!
I used to see mice before but the rats just moved in 

We have had a rat in the shop before once! Very clever thing. No traps would fool him. He either moved out himself or the sound of commercial rat scaring device was too much for him.

[Fleecewife]

This is the third year in our 25 here that we have had a load of rats, each time when a nearby farm was doing some major disturbance or building project.  All of us around get the resulting rat exodus from that one farm.
What they come for with us is the wild bird feeders - they are fearless.  This time I first realised we had an invasion when I saw 10 young rats, various ages, feeding under the seed feeders, like a pulsating rug. We put poison in our attic, because with double stone walls rats easily get up there, and it's well away from pets and livestock. Most of the rats have disappeared now.  However, I know they are also living in a den right under the barn - impossible to get to - and in some drainage pipes, which might be easier to at least block off.
I hate using poison but sometimes it's necessary.  The sad thing is that I really like rats - I would happily have a pet rat living in my pocket, they are friendly and intelligent and so interesting.  We tried shooting them but with poor success.
There seem to be a lot of reports of rats coming out of hiding this year and being seen in domestic environments where they are usually not found.


The obvious answer for us, once the main numbers are cleareed, is to stop feeding the wild birds, but I really don't want to do that.  The feeders allow for a lot of spillage and I'm trying to find a solution to that. We have stopped the rats from climbing the feeder poles, but ideas for catching fallen seeds, grain and fat block peckings are all impractical.
Our new dogs are totally hopeless with rats.  Sophie caught one when she first arrived, but seemed to drop it in surprise, and now they perhaps think that rats are in the same category as livestock and are not to be caught.


So, no, you're not alone.

[GribinIsaf]

Thank you Fleecewife, that was just the kind of empathetic response I needed.

Your description of a pulsating rug beneath a feeder is exactly the sort of sight we have had.  For us too, wild bird feeders are a big part of the problem but also like you we are not going to give up using them in the long-term.  The farm fields round us are almost devoid of bird life and over the last five years we have built up our little patch with just a tiny bit of woodland to have a large and varied population of resident and visiting birds with very dense nesting taking place.  As you say, it is ground spillage from the feeders that is the biggest issue.  I am really going to apply my mind and design skills to solutions to that!

We too like and admire rats as a species.  We have had pet rats in the house - passed on to us by daughter when she swapped them for a baby - and enjoyed seeing their behaviour.

Our Welsh Sheepdog will kill a rat if it insists on running under her nose but is more happy to wander by and observe their antics. Once she kills them she leaves them, I hope this means that poison use will not be an issue.

I live in hope that local populations rise and fall for a variety of reasons. (Sometimes I do have visions of the numbers continuing to rise exponentially until....)  Meanwhile we will do all we can to hasten the fall.

[harmony]

An EHO told me rats are coming to properties to look for water in the hot weather    Not sure about that. Usually where there is a food source there is also water.


I think you are wasting your time with the bait you can buy if you haven't done the course.


Someone I know puts empty hanging baskets with liners under bird feeders so the feed doesn't fall on the floor.

[Eve]

I had the same problem one summer a few years ago (which ran over into two years...  ), I had to affix large plastic plant pot trays at the bottom of the wild bird feeders as the finches and tits spill so much, and only hang the feeders out during the daytime. Even now still need to remove the chickens’ feed every evening or the rats are straight back 

I refused to use poison until one day I saw a rat walking up the ladder into the chicken coop in the middle of the day. A word of warning, though: even if you cover the bait station really well and hide it properly under planks of wood several metres longs, the rats will still drag the bait to their nests so you may find half chewed blocks 5 or more metres away from the bait station. This happened to us several times, luckily we saw it before the dogs or chickens did!

[GribinIsaf]

I think you are wasting your time with the bait you can buy if you haven't done the course.

I have just been looking at the online certification.  Are the "professional" purchases just larger quantities or also different (stronger) poison?

Thanks

[sabrina]

Rats can move home in mass, saw it once in the late 60's and never wish to see it again. We get them but only see the dead ones that the cats have caught. Couple of years ago they got into the house through an old pipe. My Jack Russel lets us know and it was quickly fixed. They do say you are never far away from a rat. Have seen the odd one if we are up in Banff late at night wondering about the street. Keep all my animal feed in bins just in case.

[harmony]

I had the same problem one summer a few years ago (which ran over into two years...  ), I had to affix large plastic plant pot trays at the bottom of the wild bird feeders as the finches and tits spill so much, and only hang the feeders out during the daytime. Even now still need to remove the chickens’ feed every evening or the rats are straight back 

I refused to use poison until one day I saw a rat walking up the ladder into the chicken coop in the middle of the day. A word of warning, though: even if you cover the bait station really well and hide it properly under planks of wood several metres longs, the rats will still drag the bait to their nests so you may find half chewed blocks 5 or more metres away from the bait station. This happened to us several times, luckily we saw it before the dogs or chickens did!

I put the bait into their runs so it is already close to their nest. That way you target nests quicker. Otherwise I would only nail blocks to a piece of wood so they couldn't drag it into the open.

[harmony]

I think you are wasting your time with the bait you can buy if you haven't done the course.

I have just been looking at the online certification.  Are the "professional" purchases just larger quantities or also different (stronger) poison?

Thanks

Both

[vfr400boy]

I always have 4 mk4 fenn traps set in tunnels 2 on the edge of my coop n 2 on the edge of the sheds no bait needed they just like to run though the tunnel,  you must check them every 24 hours

[twizzel]

We have had the same problem. One tip is to change the active ingredient in the bait periodically, they can develop a tolerance to bait over time. We use a range of baits- currently loose bait, loose bait in sachets and wax blocks. Be careful with the blocks, they will carry them and hoard them in their nests rather than eat them. We tend to use loose bait in buildings where no non target species can access it. The sachets are good for pushing into the runs/nests but make sure you cover the hole up with a block of wood or something.

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

This is the third year in our 25 here that we have had a load of rats, each time when a nearby farm was doing some major disturbance or building project.  All of us around get the resulting rat exodus from that one farm.
What they come for with us is the wild bird feeders - they are fearless.  This time I first realised we had an invasion when I saw 10 young rats, various ages, feeding under the seed feeders, like a pulsating rug. We put poison in our attic, because with double stone walls rats easily get up there, and it's well away from pets and livestock. Most of the rats have disappeared now.  However, I know they are also living in a den right under the barn - impossible to get to - and in some drainage pipes, which might be easier to at least block off.
I hate using poison but sometimes it's necessary.  The sad thing is that I really like rats - I would happily have a pet rat living in my pocket, they are friendly and intelligent and so interesting.  We tried shooting them but with poor success.
There seem to be a lot of reports of rats coming out of hiding this year and being seen in domestic environments where they are usually not found.


The obvious answer for us, once the main numbers are cleareed, is to stop feeding the wild birds, but I really don't want to do that.  The feeders allow for a lot of spillage and I'm trying to find a solution to that. We have stopped the rats from climbing the feeder poles, but ideas for catching fallen seeds, grain and fat block peckings are all impractical.
Our new dogs are totally hopeless with rats.  Sophie caught one when she first arrived, but seemed to drop it in surprise, and now they perhaps think that rats are in the same category as livestock and are not to be caught.


So, no, you're not alone.

why not get an old bin lid. turn it upside down like an upturned umberella and fit the feeder pole through it that way it will catch the feed sort of like a bowl and like an upside down umberella  the rat maybe able to only climb so far up the pole and not up and around the lid

i willhave 10% once you get a patten on the idea :-)

[Backinwellies]

. Be careful with the blocks, they will carry them and hoard them in their nests rather than eat them.

we nail blocks to piece of wood ...  that seems to work

[GribinIsaf]

Today I saw a group of rats working together to successfully open the poultry treadle feeder