We get rats in our garden during the winter months.....horrid things We live in an area surrounded by woods, lakes, fields and....allotments!! And I'm sorry to say that the problem seems to stem from the latter, looking out over the allotment area we can see them in the chicken pens that are the other side of our boundary. We only have one set of neighbours and have again called in pest control because they have had them in their cavity walls this winter !! Before that happened we had agree to us both not putting out bird food and for us it did the trick as we haven't had them in our garden for a while now, neighbours are closer to the chicken pens and I think they are being used as a winter bolt hole!
We get rats in our garden during the winter months.....horrid things We live in an area surrounded by woods, lakes, fields and....allotments!! And I'm sorry to say that the problem seems to stem from the latter, looking out over the allotment area we can see them in the chicken pens that are the other side of our boundary.
Have a look to see how the chickens are being fed, and how accessible their food is for rats. If the rats have easy access to the food then you could suggest to the owner of the chickens that he replaces his feeders with the rat-proof treadle type I mentioned above. These are also more convenient because you can put more food out at once (a whole 20 kg bag in the larger versions) in the secure hopper, and will save the owner a lot of money by stopping rats and wild birds eating the food. There are various makes e.g. see here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/treadle-chicken-feeder
Its probably the bird feed but as an additional piece of info, rats sometimes nest in compost heaps. If you have one, turn it regularly (say monthly which is a good idea anyway) as rats don't like disturbance.
I hope you manage to resolve this difficult problem.
Have you tried speaking to the council about the nuisance caused by the rats? The allotment holders have the legal right to keep hens (for personal use, not commercially) but I don't think that extends to a right to cause a rat problem by irresponsible feeding practices. Or if it's multiple plot holders keeping hens, have you tried going through the committee? Proposing a specific solution (rat-proof, money-saving feeders) might be more effective than simply complaining about the rats.
Yep both, nice people too! For a while all is good but ........things soon lapse again. We have learnt to accept it and if things get bad ( as in neighbours case) we call in pest control. Anyway enough of my problems , I seemed to have hijacked andrews thread......Sorry!
Andrew , two years ago we had rats actually coming in living in the ceiling between our bedroom and living room. It made me quite ill having these horrid creatures in my home. They came from my next door neighbours garden as it was an absolute rubbish tip. The garden was overgrown and rubbish off allsorts left lying around, even two mattresses. I called in the pest control and they put down traps and eventually they disappeared, much to my relief. But what I was angry about was they told us to stop feeding the birds, which we had been doing for many years and never saw a rat once till the new neighbours came to live next door and didn't give a hoot about how they lived.We never fed the birds at all last year because of this but have started again this year because the council came and cleared away all the rubbish from her garden...at no cost to them. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they don't come back again. Good luck Andrew.
I think it is important to be realistic and practical. Rats have the potential to live anywhere that meets their needs for food and shelter, including your house, sheds and compost heaps. Any store of animal feed will attract them and they are quite capable of living in your neighbour's garden and popping into yours for the bird seed. In cities, overflowing bins and easily-torn rubbish sacks make life easy; in the country, livestock means feed stores and barns and stables etc. Where I live, people put out scraps for badgers and foxes as well as birds so rats are inevitable.
You can reduce the nuisance with good hygiene and tidiness but if you don't want them on your property, you must not feed or house them. They don't care that you mean it for the hedgehogs.The only practical way to deal with a sudden rise in numbers is to kill the rats. They can be trapped, poisoned or hunted.
When we took our car for a service last month we were told that rats had eaten a crater out of the bonnet insulation. We lived in Belgian countryside in an old farmhouse surrounded by fields and fed the birds for 25 years but, while we had rats in the garden and sometimes in teh garage they never did this.
I have put down poison in the garage and sheds and so far we have found 3 corpses. We buy it in the supermarket but you can also get it in garden centres. However, there will always be more so careful storage of bird food and seeds, careful disposal of food waste and careful feeding of birds are a must.
As for your neighbours, do as we've suggested. Call in teh pest control people and they will talk to them for you and explain about how rats feed and live and multiply so they clean up their act too..
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
We get rats in our garden during the winter months.....horrid things
We live in an area surrounded by woods, lakes, fields and....allotments!! And I'm sorry to say that the problem seems to stem from the latter, looking out over the allotment area we can see them in the chicken pens that are the other side of our boundary. We only have one set of neighbours and have again called in pest control because they have had them in their cavity walls this winter !! Before that happened we had agree to us both not putting out bird food and for us it did the trick as we haven't had them in our garden for a while now, neighbours are closer to the chicken pens and I think they are being used as a winter bolt hole!
Have a look to see how the chickens are being fed, and how accessible their food is for rats. If the rats have easy access to the food then you could suggest to the owner of the chickens that he replaces his feeders with the rat-proof treadle type I mentioned above. These are also more convenient because you can put more food out at once (a whole 20 kg bag in the larger versions) in the secure hopper, and will save the owner a lot of money by stopping rats and wild birds eating the food. There are various makes e.g. see here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/treadle-chicken-feeder
We've spoken many times over the past 10 yes.....full of positive words but the outcome never changes. There are also a large number of chicken pens.
Hi Andrew,
Its probably the bird feed but as an additional piece of info, rats sometimes nest in compost heaps. If you have one, turn it regularly (say monthly which is a good idea anyway) as rats don't like disturbance.
I hope you manage to resolve this difficult problem.
Mark
Have you tried speaking to the council about the nuisance caused by the rats? The allotment holders have the legal right to keep hens (for personal use, not commercially) but I don't think that extends to a right to cause a rat problem by irresponsible feeding practices. Or if it's multiple plot holders keeping hens, have you tried going through the committee? Proposing a specific solution (rat-proof, money-saving feeders) might be more effective than simply complaining about the rats.
Yep both, nice people too! For a while all is good but ........things soon lapse again. We have learnt to accept it and if things get bad ( as in neighbours case) we call in pest control. Anyway enough of my problems , I seemed to have hijacked andrews thread......Sorry!
Hope you have better luck andrew.
Andrew , two years ago we had rats actually coming in living in the ceiling between our bedroom and living room. It made me quite ill having these horrid creatures in my home. They came from my next door neighbours garden as it was an absolute rubbish tip. The garden was overgrown and rubbish off allsorts left lying around, even two mattresses. I called in the pest control and they put down traps and eventually they disappeared, much to my relief. But what I was angry about was they told us to stop feeding the birds, which we had been doing for many years and never saw a rat once till the new neighbours came to live next door and didn't give a hoot about how they lived.We never fed the birds at all last year because of this but have started again this year because the council came and cleared away all the rubbish from her garden...at no cost to them. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they don't come back again. Good luck Andrew.
I think it is important to be realistic and practical. Rats have the potential to live anywhere that meets their needs for food and shelter, including your house, sheds and compost heaps. Any store of animal feed will attract them and they are quite capable of living in your neighbour's garden and popping into yours for the bird seed. In cities, overflowing bins and easily-torn rubbish sacks make life easy; in the country, livestock means feed stores and barns and stables etc. Where I live, people put out scraps for badgers and foxes as well as birds so rats are inevitable.
You can reduce the nuisance with good hygiene and tidiness but if you don't want them on your property, you must not feed or house them. They don't care that you mean it for the hedgehogs.The only practical way to deal with a sudden rise in numbers is to kill the rats. They can be trapped, poisoned or hunted.
When we took our car for a service last month we were told that rats had eaten a crater out of the bonnet insulation. We lived in Belgian countryside in an old farmhouse surrounded by fields and fed the birds for 25 years but, while we had rats in the garden and sometimes in teh garage they never did this.
I have put down poison in the garage and sheds and so far we have found 3 corpses. We buy it in the supermarket but you can also get it in garden centres. However, there will always be more so careful storage of bird food and seeds, careful disposal of food waste and careful feeding of birds are a must.
As for your neighbours, do as we've suggested. Call in teh pest control people and they will talk to them for you and explain about how rats feed and live and multiply so they clean up their act too..
Little point in contacting local authority pest control. Many have closed down in the name of "austerity".