Garden Wars and Wasps

[northernladuk]

Well the rats were here before us and the chickens, and will be here long after I suspect! We did get the local council out when we first moved in because we saw evidence of rats. Our boundary is directly with farm land. They did supply traps but they caught nothing at all, and they basically said good luck getting rid of them, because of the farm land and the water course, but basically i think i just made it cosier! Yes, I did have to keep the hens indoors from late last year to March this year, they were not happy!

Bet the hubby wasn't right happy with that racket while he's trying to watch The Mandalorian as well.

[Sue B]

Bet the hubby wasn't right happy with that racket while he's trying to watch The Mandalorian as well.

Can you imagine? Its not too bad for them, they have a large, fully enclosed and covered chicken run, big enough to get the coop, bath, bad weather lodge, feeders and drinkers etc in, so when they do have to stay inside, that's where they go.

[d000hg]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

One rat was fine, but when they took up residence it started getting silly, we'd see half a dozen of them in the chicken run around the feeder. Like having travellers move in, except the rats were actually quite cute. Well until one got into our house and set off the alarm.

When the bird-flu rule came in we had to make the run secure and suddenly the amount of food being eaten halved.
We favour live-catch traps. Not for humanitarian reasons towards the rats but because we have hedgehogs and squirrels who really like the bait. Caught rats get the firing squad, other critters are set on their way.

[Sue B]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

One rat was fine, but when they took up residence it started getting silly, we'd see half a dozen of them in the chicken run around the feeder. Like having travellers move in, except the rats were actually quite cute. Well until one got into our house and set off the alarm.

When the bird-flu rule came in we had to make the run secure and suddenly the amount of food being eaten halved.
We favour live-catch traps. Not for humanitarian reasons towards the rats but because we have hedgehogs and squirrels who really like the bait. Caught rats get the firing squad, other critters are set on their way.

Clever rats!

We dont use poison either, we have nesting owls in the woods and I would hate to be responsible for the secondary poisoning of an owl! Although...... if they were doing a better job of being owls, maybe there would be fewer rats. We have regular visits from pheasants, sometimes ducks and even a peacock has made its way into the garden so I just couldn't risk poison traps. I love nature in all its forms, but sometimes its a massive battle just to keep the produce we grow for our own use, the squirrels strip the apples, and the rabbits eat their way through the veg patch unless i shut it up like Fort Knox

[mattster]

We had rats earlier this year. All of a sudden, we seemed to have loads, to the extent that you could look out in the day and usually see one or two underneath the bird feeders. They also seemed to be nesting underneath the concrete shed slab, with loads of excavated soil and sand. Had to get rid or face shed collapse, so I'm afraid we did use poison (in those boxes) and they were gone within a week. Just found the one deceased in the garden, not sure what happened to the rest (under the shed probably).

[WTFH]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

It depends on the chicken food. We used to use Allen & Page organic layers pellets, along with corn and calciworms. As far as I know, there is nothing in the organic layers pellets that is an antidote to the rodenticide.

Had a couple of live traps, which were great.
...And my trusty cyclist rifle.

[OwlHoot]

We had the council rat-man out who told us that something in chicken food acts as an antidote to the poison they use.
In any case the rats ignored the poison to eat the chicken food.

One rat was fine, but when they took up residence it started getting silly, we'd see half a dozen of them in the chicken run around the feeder. Like having travellers move in, except the rats were actually quite cute. Well until one got into our house and set off the alarm.

When the bird-flu rule came in we had to make the run secure and suddenly the amount of food being eaten halved.
We favour live-catch traps. Not for humanitarian reasons towards the rats but because we have hedgehogs and squirrels who really like the bait. Caught rats get the firing squad, other critters are set on their way.

One word - Jack Russell. OK two words.

[ladymuck]

One word - Jack Russell. OK two words.

I think you'll find that was seven in total

[Lost It]

Kind of struggle with the thought that every animal whether we see it as vermin or not plays it's part in the food chain somewhere?

Even Wasps have a purpose. Not sure what it is exactly but they must have evolved to do something.

[d000hg]

It depends on the chicken food. We used to use Allen & Page organic layers pellets, along with corn and calciworms. As far as I know, there is nothing in the organic layers pellets that is an antidote to the rodenticide.

We hadn't heard it either, he might have been talking nonsense. Either way while they could access our chicken food the rats seemed uninterested in the poison anyway!