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Chicken manure will it attract rats?

AllotmentpixieAllotmentpixie Posts: 20
in Problem solving
Any advice appreciated. 
Our allotment neighbour has brought bags of chicken manure from their chickens at home to use in the compost heap and on the soil. 

Will this attract rats? 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I don’t think it will attract rats any more than any other type of manure. I’m from a farming family ... rat so are attracted to manure heaps. They are warm and snub places to live. 

    Once the chicken manure has been spread on the land and forked in it will be of no especial interest to them.  It’ll certainly be good for the veg plot 😊 

    Chicken manure is a great addition to a compost heap ... as long as the compost heap is properly tended, ie turned regularly, kept damp and not allowed to dry out, it won’t be a snug warm home for rats. The same goes for all compost heaps ... those with chicken manure and those without. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    I use it all the time and no evidence of rats so far - on the garden or in the shed.
  • AllotmentpixieAllotmentpixie Posts: 20
    Thank you both for sharing, that's good to hear.  
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    I attracted rats with some organic rose feed pellets that were part chicken manure. My mistake was to spread it and then wander off and forget about it. I think if I had watered them in well, or forked them in, it would have been OK. Not sure if it would attract rats whilst still in the bags. My rose pellets didn’t, but it was a small quantity. 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • BraidmanBraidman Posts: 274
    Not sure about chicken manure but pigeon manure and feathers sure do.

    A chap on the allotments gave me 6 bags from his loft which I buried deep where I had lifted the potatoes from last year.

    The rats arrived and started excavating down, holes all along the soil and throwing soil all over the place!

    Got a lot of rat poison placed it under bin lids every few weeks, finally these last few days no more holes dug, horrible beasts!
  • AllotmentpixieAllotmentpixie Posts: 20
    Thanks for all your replies, very helpful. Sounds good for the soil if compost well attended to.

    At the moment 10 bags have been left open on the allotment, nothing been done with it. I guess from what you say that's not ideal and could attract them before any compost heap created. Also isn't much other green material to add to a compost heap at the moment so bit concerned it will just be a big pile of chicken manure until they start tidying up the allotment. 

    I like the idea of what it can do for the soil but really don't want rats making a home there. 
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