Rat

Buzzard1985

Have chickens and a pond.    Other weeks early hours noise in the wall.  Thought nothing much. Few days pass cat gets a mouse inside.  Then see a hole outside bottom of house wall.  Throw some bait down-goes-repeat.  Fill it up- hole goes bigger- some bait taken.   Decided council time- just in case.   He thinks rat.  But as I baited very quickly and not all is gone over two days- probably dead.  He set up a box with bait.
My chickens are inside due to the legal requirements to keep them indoors- no outbuildings.
Guy was saying they eat the chicken poo and the dog poo- protein and something in the chicken feed with the bait.       Said just because I have chickens doesn't mean I have brought them- they are everyrhwhere.  In a village surrounded by farmland.   T
Never had a dam rat in my walls- hideous the thought

Apodemus

There is an old truism which says that if you have chickens, you have rats.  Just part and parcel of nature.  Keeping the exterior of the house as clear as possible will help, as rats really don't like crossing open ground if they can help it.

Edit - As a Buzzard, you should know a thing or two about catching vermin!

Buzzard1985

    I do a weekly walk around the garden and no rubbish is outside.    The hole is still covered up so nothing has went down/up it.   Fingers crossed my swift action baiting as prevented some residents.   Still what a thought!    Mice in the walls- okish.  Rat- shudder.

Apodemus

Buzzard1985 said:

    I do a weekly walk around the garden and no rubbish is outside.    

Please don't think I was casting aspersions on the cleanliness of your garden! 

What I was meaning was absolutely clear ground, devoid of any cover, for a couple of meters out from the walls all round the house if at all possible.  I used to have this but slowly, over the years, I have given in to the attractions of wisteria, espaliered apple trees, winter jasmine, a log store and so on.  So I've ended up providing wonderful cover and access routes for all the wee furries!  

DiggerUK

I don't think you have sewer rats, more likely brown rats, especially as you are in a village. Not such a hideous thought.

If there is a water course near the chicken coupe  they could even be water voles. 

You could try one of these to see what you catch. Depending on species and regard for the law you can do as you feel. Vermin cannot be released. 

I'm fairly sure that water voles are in short supply, they're also as big as any rat..._

Edit: some info on water voles, as I thought, they are protected..._

[Deleted User]

Brown rats get seen a lot near my, by neighbours, i won't mention a certain, bored, remedy 😈

twopenny

Do you feed the chickens potato peelings? When I found a dead rat in my compost heap and was reading up about them it said they love potatoes...........just a thought.

I put up a cheap motion detected light in the darker areas around it. So far, so good.

clive0510

if you got chickens or ducks, you get rats.mice voles foxes stoats. its only nature. if however you got rodents interfering with your home and causing a problem, it needs sorting. we used to have a cat that would of sorted it. she would kill rats mice any thing.

in_my_wellies

I have a permanent baited boxes near my hen house. I check them weekly when cleaning. They can go for several weeks/months without being touched and then will get eaten every day for a week or two until activity dies down again. 

I do have the food and water hanging about 12 - 14" off the ground in the hope that vermin won't reach. But I suspect a big one could jump!

Davesnave

clive0510 said:

if you got chickens or ducks, you get rats.mice voles foxes stoats.....

Possibly, but not inevitably. I wouldn't know about mice or voles because the chickens would simply tear them limb from limb if they could reach them. Rats, maybe, but I've yet to see a live one in 10 years. There are easier pickings in equestrian facilities nearby.

Stoats and foxes haven't visited. Fox trails actually avoid the chicken run and I think I'd know if a stoat had got in!

justwhat

First week of having chickens we seen 6 rats in the fenced area we feed the chickens in. A farm cat is your best bet.
We have cats cross our land and there is a stoat that pays us a visit. They sometime catch the vermin.
Not too keen on poison, but would start using it if we found rats in house. There was some mice in attic when we move in but we killed them all with traps.