Why do chickens get the blame!

[MrsC]

Why do chickens get the blame when a neighbour sees a rat!

Had an interesting conversation with a neighbour over the fence tonight, went like this:

Sue, I believe you've got some 4 legged friends?
Really, oh you mean the guinea pigs in the cage (on the decking) I rescued last week?
No, not them, rats!
Really, what you talking about?
Well, we have 1 rat, the neighbour next to us has 2, the one next to them has 1 also, it must be because you have livestock!
Really, well feed is given in the morning and the girls finish it off pronto and then feed is given on my return home from school around 3.30pm. All feed is kept in the playhouse in plastic containers. All feed dishes and water feeders are washed daily and no feed is left in the run at night.
I then asked is anyone fed their birds in the back garden, enough said really. He said, well 'well said.'

Bizarre or what. I'm not having my girls blamed for that. Bearing in mind I've seen no evidence of rats. I even go to the trouble each morning at 6.30am I might add of scooping all the poo out the hen house and replacing with fresh bedding!

Not a happy chick!

Anyone else had this and what is the next step? Maybe they don't realise that they are seeing the same rat running through the gardens. Maybe they can recognise them and have given them pet names. The neighbour concerned even admitted it was an area for rats seeing as those there is a brook running close by.

Anyway, enough of my rant, just thought I would share this!

ps - no more free eggs for them!

[di]

Annoying,isn't it?!I'm guessing if they're right then all we all need to do is get rid of our chooks and suddenly there'll be no more rats,anywhere

Something to add though,and I'm not now agreeing that it's the chooks fault.I was chatting to one of the Old Boys at the lottie,he used to work on a large chicken farm so kind of knows his stuff.Anyway,he was saying that not only does the food attract vermin but also the poo,so although we can be sensible and remove food at the end of the day etc,chances are the rats will never totally lose interest in our girls,even if we think we've removed all the poo there's always going to be some left behind(He also kindly pointed out that every plot on the field has rats and there's been rats on the field since year dot...even in the periods where nobody kept hens)....I think his point was that chooks do attract rats,but the're already there and if it wasn't for the chooks they'd be in the compost.

PS...his words not mine,no idea if it's true but it makes sense.

[petal]

you are never far from a rat.

[MrsC]

I'm so annoyed though! It makes me laugh, rats have always been seen around this area because of the brook and large expanse of field at the back of the houses! I even thought about the poo thing, it crossed my mind, but I spend hours everyday cleaning the girls and looking after them. It's so annoying. I trust they've rung the council and asked for bait boxes, maybe not. Why ask me, if I had a rat problem I'd deal with it, I don't though! Sorry for the rant, but these are the same neighbours who take free eggs and comment on how lovely and healthy the girls are. Sorry for the rant, but when I get up at 6.30am everyday just to scoop chicken poo out and dispose of it, it annoys me! Thanks for listening!

[janeyo]

I have the solution - come and live next door to us

It is annoying. We found rat evidence. Caught one. Baited for more.
Mentioned it to the neighbour who was really laid back and said he feeds the wild birds, we live semi-rurally so rats are here and there anyway and his dogs catch them which he doesn't mind.

Not all neighbours are funny over rats about. And if you are bing diligent which you are then nothing to worry about.

[CaroltheCarrot]

my neighbour too complained about seeing a rat,but said it was white!!!! pointed out that wild rats are not white,
anyhoo son caught it and it had escaped from house further up road.

These are folks who have a million( ok not a million) wild rabbits under their shed who come and eat all my plants.

No more free eggs for them either

[Glutton4...]

We have Rats, as we are surrounded by fields. We had 'issues' with them in the winter, but rarely see them now. Occasionally a young rat will fall in the Geese's water and drown. I tip them out and clean out the container, and the Geese eat the evidence!

[its hilly]

G4, ratatouille for geese

Dont worry Mrs C, I've got horses so therefore the rats near the buildings (before I got the chooks) were their fault...
In my experience rats in villages and towns are always somebody elses fault..if you see what I mean. In the countryside the genuine country livers just shrug their shoulders and say 'for goodnesses sake, of course there are rats around, you cant get rid of them totally you just keep them controlled' Apparently they say in towns and cities you are never more than 6 feet away from a rat.
If you have a river nearby, you have rats, if your neighbours feed wild birds, or have compost heaps, they have rats in the gardens..fact of life. Point out how carefully you keep your chooks clean as you dont want rats near them to pass on disease, and remind them that you haven't seen any in your garden because of that. Tell 'em to clean up their gardens and put down bait or traps. And to grow up

[Helgalush]

Interesting thread. I saw a mouse in our garden a few months ago, but it was nowhere near the rabbits - it was on our patio and nearer the house than the rabbits. We werent growing veggies then but did have herbs near ground level and my thyme went very bare. They are all raised up off the floor now but am too scared to use them in case they have horrid germs that washing wont sort!! Anyway I am worried it may come back now we are growing the veggies BUT we do have a wild bird feeder and it was when it was very cold so it was probably desperate....so I think we will take down the feeder (only seem to attract the squirrels anyway!).

And we have the two compost bins but dont know how to sort that really, as they are so useful?

(Sorry not meaning to hijack thread)

If I had seen a rat and knew you had chickens, I would be more concerned for the chicken's well-being than blaming them for attracting it!

[organic]

We've had mice all around the place near here for as long as I can remember - they stay secluded but now and then you'll catch sight of one darting around near the shed. I for one couldn't care less and they are welcome to stay as far as I'm concerned.

One (or more) has found its way into the house recently though and I've been surprised how many people seem to think next door's chickens have "attracted" them.

I can't get my head around it myself.

If this mouse doesn't climb into the humane trap for release in the next few days it'll find itself dead in a kill trap (I'm sad to say) but I won't have them in the house - hygiene issues. I'm not fastidious but I don't want mouse pee all over the place and the hanta virus thing is at the back of my mind. Outside though, the don't bother me and I really can't see the logic in blaming it on livestock.
We share this world with a LOT of animals, some of them rodents. People don't blame the presence of birds, squirrels or other wildlife on the presence of chickens - why make the exception for rats and mice? No sense in it.

[RichmondHens]

Regardless of what sort of animals you have, or even if you have none, rats will still be around as they are attracted by the presence of HUMANS. Rats are intelligent enough to know that humans mean food, be it in dustbins, compost bins or just stuff dropped about. Obviously if chickens or any other animals are present too, there is an additional food source, which if accessible/plentiful means they will increase in number, so we see more of them. But there will always be rats around; getting rid of chooks will not solve the problem.

[Suechooks]

Interesting thread.

And we have the two compost bins but dont know how to sort that really, as they are so useful?

If you're using the plastic sort with a lid you can put narrow holed wire mesh on the bottom of the compost bins. The worms can still get in to do their work but it'll keep rats and mice out

[kirsty b]

My allotment is surrounded on all sides by derelict plots and there have always been rats here. They take advantage of my chook food but short of levelling the entire site I'll never eradicate them. If they are stupid enough to go near my girls they get visciously attcked....by the girls.

[Shellintons]

I had a big rat problem a couple of years ago, I almost lost a chick to one in broad daylight. It was only that my neighbours dog was in our garden (we're a bit communal) and she has good ratting instincts, that the chick got dropped.

With the help of our lovely neighbour we dug out under the shed and followed the (shallow) run through to the other next door neighbours out houses where they keep their dog.
They didn't seem too concerned though, so we got hold of the stuff the farmers round here use and placed it all over both areas but away from our own animals and their dog.

The only signs we saw were a week or so after and they were baby ones caught by the neighbours cats.

We did get hold of some bags of ferret pooh/bedding from freecycle too and sprinkled that down the holes. Something worked. And the Opringtons I have now are so large I have no doubt they would tear any rat foolish enough to go in there, limb from limb.

[frias]

My sons dog caught a rat in our garden long before we had chickens. Since getting the girls I make more effort to make sure we stay as rodent free as possible. I have 3 bait boxes with blue blocks in, each one placed beside a fence. Also loose bait in the shed and mice and rat traps in the shed and garage.
My neighbour decided to move her duck house last week and was really upset to find rats underneath, so despite all my efforts the're not far away.