Controlling Vermin (P1) RATS!
Controlling Vermin! (P1) RATS!
One common question that people tend to ask when purchasing a chicken or bird is “Do chickens attract rats and other vermin?” The answer is “yes!”
It is not the chickens that actually attract the rats, it’s their food the vermin are drawn too, but also note that they have been known to eat their eggs and sometimes even kill a chicken! So not good!
On the other hand little mice are not something to be concerned about (too much anyway!) because they are small they are not a threat to a chicken as a chicken could easily kill it if they so desired, but they will however eat the chicken food!
How do I avoid attracting vermin?
- Firstly do not over feed your birds! If you are giving them too much grain & at the end of the day there is some left, this will attract those unwanted visitors later that evening.
- Always keep the area you have for your poultry clean and as hygienic as possible! (This also is good for the health of your birds.)
- Keep your feed in a storage bin or container! If you leave the bag out, or keep in a wooden shed, rats can nor away and get it and subsequently demolish your feed. Not only will a storage bin or container stop rats getting to the feed but also it will stop the smell of the food that attracts them.
- Remove eggs daily from your chicken coop! Rats will eat eggs if they are left hanging around so remove them ASAP.
How do I control my vermin problem?
Controlling vermin is always more tricky than trying to avoid the problem. This will involve lots of effort and possibly trying out multiple methods.
Obviously deciding on which method to use, should be partly based on how many chickens you keep and how much of a problem it is!
Rat Poison!
This is a very effective method for sorting out your rat problem but is not the most humane way to kill a rat, saying that, there isn’t really any humane way to kill anything, so its up to what you feel is best and right.
Using the most effective dispensers and bait will ensure you get the rat poisoned but not other animals.
Something safer than the commercial brands to use in a home environment is a homemade rat poison recipe.
Ingredients:
- Plaster of Paris
- Cornmeal
- Milk
Steps:
- Mix a 1/4 pound (113 g) of plaster of Paris with 1/4 pound (113 g) of cornmeal in a large bowl.
- Add 1–2 cups (0.2 L to 0.47 L) of milk.
- Use you hands and knead the mixture into dough.
Place the homemade rat poison balls anywhere you think the rat may be hiding.
Rat Traps!
Traps are another efficient way of controlling you rat problem and are very successful if used with the correct bait and placed where you believe the rats congregate. If you are careful and position them with thought, then they are not normally a danger to other pets.
They generally have a quick death and because of this it is considered to be more humane.
Where can I purchase Rat Poison & Traps? What are the best brands?
Rentokil are a leading brand in Rattraps & poisons, but they are known for being used to control and manage “small infestations.”
Their products are available from all leading national super markets, trade centres and hardware or DIY stores.
Their product RAT KILLER is a highly effective specialist anticoagulant poison containing Bromadiolone.
Features and benefits of this product are
- Suitable for both indoor & outdoor use
- Easy to use sachets with trays for bait
- It is available in both 2 or 5 sachet packets
- 5 sachets are enough to kill up to 10 rats
What Rentokil suggest to do when using their poison:
- Rat poison should be placed on a flat surface in a secure location.
- If loose rat poison (grain bait) is being used it should be placed in the trays provided or suitably sturdy containers.
- Possible indoor locations to position rat poison include under cupboards, behind furniture, in loft spaces, sheds or garages.
- If the rat poison is positioned outdoors ensure it is placed behind boards or tiles leant against a wall or inside a length of pipe, to ensure no other wildlife or children can access it.
- Do not place rat poison where food, feed or water could become contaminated.
- All rodenticide baits should always be kept well away from children, consider using our sealed pre-baited rat killer box if children and pets are likely to use the area. Rodenticides should also be kept away from pets such as rabbits, gerbils, hamsters and pet mice.
Please be aware of ‘Secondary Poisoning’ when dealing with a rodent infestation. This is where an animal is poisoned after consuming another animal that has eaten and digested poison. This can occur in birds of prey such as owls or hawks and mammals such as foxes and badgers. To help avoid this issue please ensure any baits are not accessible to non-target animals and ensure poisoned rodent bodies are disposed of carefully.
(THESE INSTRUCTIONS WERE TAKEN FROM http://www.rentokil.co.uk/rats/diy-products/ advised by their professionals.)
Rentokil also provide many types of traps for controlling a rat infestation, one of their leading products being the “ADVANCED RAT TRAP” the features and benefits of this particular product are:
- Easy trap to use
- Very powerful
- The trap is simple to bait & set up
- After you have captured the rat, you can easily open and release to dispose of the rat.
Pest Expert Formula B Rat Killer Poison 3kg (With Safety Gloves & 8 Bait Trays)
- This poison is suitable for both smallholdings and big commercial farm use making it a good choice if you have a big rat problem. Pest experts pride themselves in their quick results with this formula.
What are the benefits and features of using Pest Expert Formula B?
- Contains maximum strength Bromadialone
- Made from top quality whole-wheat grain
- No wax content so highly palatable to rats
Suitable for indoor and outdoor use
Click here to view on their website- http://www.pest-expert.com/pest-expert-formula-b-rat-killer-poison-3kg-with-safety-gloves–8-bait-trays-87-p.asp?gclid=Cj0KEQjwnv27BRCmuZqMg_Ddmt0BEiQAgeY1l98jO7OAMGg6pqNNYYC0KomSri1RsIyGTkKhh9wZP38aAs8Q8P8HAQ
How do A&J Poultry control rats?
(This will be useful for those with a big flock of birds and poultry/live on a farm or have a large amount of land.)
“Here at A&J Poultry we have always adopted another poison policy, this partly due to having 5 spaniels and also to the large amount of owls we have including tawny, little and a beautiful resident barn owl and the danger of a secondary kill using poison so we have a regime of things we do, to keep the rat numbers down!
- Trapping, these include well sighted fen traps safely set in a tunnel so things other than the target species are not caught,
- Digging out, using the dogs to kill the rats as they try and escape
- Rodenater, this American invention pumps a mixture of oxygen and propane down the rat burrows and then the gases are ignited causing a massive explosion collapsing all the burrows.
- Air rifle, good sport stalking the rats around the chicken pens at dusk or using a high powered lamp after dark
- Ferreting, using our ferrets to bolt the rats from there burrows into the waiting jaws of the spaniels, good sport for the dogs the ferrets and us”
-Andrew Vanstone Owner of A&J Poultry.
Above- Meet Molly a pro at Ratting! Above- Andy and his dogs out Ratting.
Above- The Ferrets, they love Ratting! Above the Rats killed after Ratting.
I hope that this week’s blog has given you a few methods to try and test out when dealing with a Rat infestation!
Blog written by “The girl in the green wellies!” 08/07/2016