Rats Everywhere!

brahma

Hi i keep a small flock of poultry and a few pigs, i went out today and seen a rat and on closer inspection i seen burrows everywhere. My question is should i put down poison(could be harmful to poultry) or use one of these traps and drown them?http://www.lkpoultry.com/products/Rat-Cage-'Monarch-Type'.html
Any idea would be great!

Indubitable

I got myself 2 cats a few months back. Rat populations seems to be dropping.

Of course the cats more than likely will not get on well with chickens.

fastrac

I would go with bait in pipes to protect the birds to get the numbers down before you go to the trap to finish them off.

supersean1999

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

I got myself 2 cats a few months back. Rat populations seems to be dropping.

Of course the cats more than likely will not get on well with chickens.

do you think a cat would be capable of killing 6 hens in one night, there is a few around mine, dont know who to blame cat pine martin or fox

johngalway

brahma wrote: »

Hi i keep a small flock of poultry and a few pigs, i went out today and seen a rat and on closer inspection i seen burrows everywhere. My question is should i put down poison(could be harmful to poultry) or use one of these traps and drown them?http://www.lkpoultry.com/products/Rat-Cage-'Monarch-Type'.html
Any idea would be great!

Might I suggest you take a trip over to the Hunting forum and ask if there are any lads using terriers on rats, they'd also help to clean out a few for ya. They usually block a lot of holes up, then use a smoker to flush the rats out to the terriers as far as I know.

I like to use Fenn traps for ratty. Though they need to be placed in a covered tunnel to avoid non target species getting caught in them.

I don't use poison myself.

Birdnuts

brahma wrote: »

Hi i keep a small flock of poultry and a few pigs, i went out today and seen a rat and on closer inspection i seen burrows everywhere. My question is should i put down poison(could be harmful to poultry) or use one of these traps and drown them?http://www.lkpoultry.com/products/Rat-Cage-'Monarch-Type'.html
Any idea would be great!

Everyone I know is having problems with rodents ATM - obviously caused by the cold weather.

PS: I'd go with JG's suggestion on this:)

pakalasa

We had a lot of rats around the place up to a few years back. Since we got 2 cats, haven't seen any at all until the recent cold spell, which drove them in with hunger.
I reckon the smell of the cats urine is enough to keep them out.

Pat the lad

Hi Brahma

If you know any body that works/has a piggery - they would have a lot of experience of working with rats & methods of dealing with them.

vanderbadger

have a composter for veg skins etc, bastards have burrowed underneath it, they have some amount of poison taken this stage, have a heap of cats but also have 2 westie terriers that have the cats terriorized and killed in a good few cases so the cats wont wander around the yard anymore for fear of getting caught..thinking of removing composter altogether..pity because it was handy

Corsendonk

Ferrets, a friend keeps them. Never seen a rat burrow wiped out so quickly.

theaceofspies

Honestly, Rat poison is a waste of time as they get immunune very quickly. After getting attacked by a rat one night a few years ago I decided it was time for something different. Cats are the answer. Cats do have drawbacks (more expensive than posion!) but at least you will have peace of mind. The only rats I have seen since are dead ones.

No6

I found a dead one in the back of my wood pellet boiler, he was so hungary he chewed the cover of the wires and was slightly fried!!

pakalasa

theaceofspies wrote: »

....After getting attacked by a rat one night a few years ago.....

What happened exactly?

irishh_bob

theaceofspies wrote: »

Honestly, Rat poison is a waste of time as they get immunune very quickly. After getting attacked by a rat one night a few years ago I decided it was time for something different. Cats are the answer. Cats do have drawbacks (more expensive than posion!) but at least you will have peace of mind. The only rats I have seen since are dead ones.

if you have a strict programme of putting down poison , it works well in my experience

im terrified of rats , id die of fright were i attacked by one

reilig

Attacked by a rat???? I never heard of anyone being attacked by a rat before. A baby in america was attacked by a pet rat that hadn't been fed for 12 days but I never thought that wild rats would attack humans??????

I know that rat poison isn't an ideal solution because of the damage that it can cause to other wildlife but if you use it properly its relatively safe. Storm wax blocks are my poison of choice. They will not kill dogs or cats. They will not harm waterways or fish either. They are moderately dangerous for birds, but you need to lay them properly.

The new storm blocks have been designed with holes in them so thay you can nail them down and the rat cannot carry them all to his nest before his feast.

I suppose the best advice that can be given about poison is to use it safely and responsibly by using bate boxes and taking a lot of care

Birdnuts

reilig wrote: »

I know that rat poison isn't an ideal solution because of the damage that it can cause to other wildlife but if you use it properly its relatively safe. Storm wax blocks are my poison of choice. They will not kill dogs or cats. They will not harm waterways or fish either. They are moderately dangerous for birds, but you need to lay them properly.

There are plenty of cheap bait boxes on the market that make sure its only the rat that has access, this is the standard practice for pest control companies like Rentokill - you can also make your own fairly easily using spare waven pipes:)

thetiredfarmer

I use Klerat and Storm.Storm have a very very successful programme of rat baiting and if you follow it properly it works an absolute treat.Get the Storm Bait booklet and fill it in.Three weeks and the WHOLE problem is solved.I find the tubes from silage wrap are great with high tensile electric fence wire pushed through the bait and shoved into the pipe at each end.Six or seven bait points are plenty to clear out a farm yard.

BeeDI

thetiredfarmer wrote: »

I use Klerat and Storm.Storm have a very very successful programme of rat baiting and if you follow it properly it works an absolute treat.Get the Storm Bait booklet and fill it in.Three weeks and the WHOLE problem is solved.I find the tubes from silage wrap are great with high tensile electric fence wire pushed through the bait and shoved into the pipe at each end.Six or seven bait points are plenty to clear out a farm yard.

Couldn't agree more. Plus a nice sop of hay scattered down on the wavin pipe gives the little bastrads an even better sense of security to eat up the nice blue stuff. I have found throwing meal down in silage in the feeding passage just attracts them like a plague. I have cut a rake of plastic barrels length ways in halves. I throw these down on the silage and lib in the nuts and feck off to work. When nuts eaten cattle just shove barrel sections out of the way and tuck into the silage. Better than feeding the rats.

Poly

reilig wrote: »

Attacked by a rat???? I never heard of anyone being attacked by a rat before.

A rat will attack if conered, it's not the creature you should be afaraid of, it's Weils desease thats the frightener

tabby aspreme

reilig wrote: »

I know that rat poison isn't an ideal solution because of the damage that it can cause to other wildlife but if you use it properly its relatively safe. Storm wax blocks are my poison of choice. They will not kill dogs or cats. They will not harm waterways or fish either. They are moderately dangerous for birds, but you need to lay them proper

Two years ago i lost a pup that had eaten storm , by the time she had symtoms it was too late for the vet to save her

ihatetractors

theaceofspies wrote: »

Honestly, Rat poison is a waste of time as they get immunune very quickly. After getting attacked by a rat one night a few years ago I decided it was time for something different. Cats are the answer. Cats do have drawbacks (more expensive than posion!) but at least you will have peace of mind. The only rats I have seen since are dead ones.

Not exactly a rat but, one frosty spring mornin the auld fella went out to milk. Noticed the cat sitin on top of his knocked over welly in the garage. Knocked her off and put it on, could feel somethin in the top so took it off and tiped it up, out runs a mouse. Lands on top of the cat, on to the ground and off under the pallet we keep the sticks on, Christ he never got such a land he said!!:D