feeling totally overwhelmed

[amber66]

I am sitting here typing this close to tears. We aquired our 3 girls back in September last year and fell in love with them straight away and have tried to do everything i can to give them a safe area to live and thrive ( still worry that i may not be doing everything correct, but that is just me!)
To cut a long story short we have had new people move into a house at the back of us whose garden runs by the side of ours over the weekend , The garden has not been looked after in over 10 years and has 3 outbuildings that are falling down. They pulled one down and have disturbed the rat population. We are now over run with them every time i look out to the coop and run i see at least 1 running off, i have ordered extra wire with smaller holes, that should be delivered today.
I have just tried to speak to the woman over the fence but she has just blanked me and gone inside. I know i should call the council pest control but they charge nearly £30 per visit and i can see there being a lot of visits, do you think it would be ok to put some rat poison under my shed that is next to the run as i am worrird about my 3 dogs who also have access to the garden? I am also worried about leaving my patio doors open as i am worried they may try to come into the house.
I am sorry about the long post but just don't know what to do for the best.

Amber.

[Skeksis]

Dont worry. I know how horrifying it is to have rats believe me! Get some wheat based poison and bait stations, handle it all with disposable pkastic gloves so it doesnt smell of people (or use a plastic bag). I use proctor pest stop wheat poison as it has both kinds of poison and works fast. You are just going to have to keep your dogs on leads in the garden and not let them out otherwise for a few weeks cos of poison, disease etc. i would keep doors tightly closed.

You fould always ring the council and tell them about the next door property and the amount of rats and that it is a public health danger and they may force the woman to do something.

[amber66]

Thank you for your reply Skeksis, i will go and get some poison this afternoon and see how it goes, if there is no improvement i will ring the council.
Amber.

[jackian]

I had rats from under a neighbours decking last year and our council did not charge me at all. .the nest is not in your garden after all. . I would be straight on to the council as they don't want them spreading any more than you do.
Main thing is don't panic and make sure that you don't leave any food hanging around at night and bring in water. Make sure of course that any poison you put down is out of harms way.
I was told to put some in some drainpipe weighted down then the dogs and chickens can't get at it .
Good luck .

Jackie x

[bmpsands]

I agree that you should call the Council You are not the source of the problem and can just say that you are terrified of the rats on general principles. If your charming new neighbours get a bill everyone will be REALLY sorry.

[amber66]

I rang the council this afternoon and got put through to some lad on job experience by the sound of him. I was told in the first instance i need to talk to the neighbour, which is fair enough if i can get her to listen, as he says she may not know she has rats, (REALLY!)
Having to explain to him at least 6 times this was not going to happen and if he could explain to me how i could make her stand still while i spoke to her i will give it a go.
The upshot is i have now been put on the pending list, whatever that is.
I give up
Amber.

[Skeksis]

Just poison them hun it works quickly once they take the bait x

[amber66]

Your right Skeksis i think that is the only option if i wait for the council we will be over run with them.
Amber.

[Richard]

Poison is good but use with great caution.

If you poison them on your side of the fence they could die on your side. I've seen Chicken's set about a dying rat - had that been poisoned.........etc.
Also, cats, dogs and Owls of course.

Councils usually use a much quicker and more effective poison, not available to general public, normal poison causes the rat to have internal bleeding and it's a slow painful death.
Some use Gas I believe.

You usually know when a dead rat is about by the flies (and smell if in a confined area).

Usually Rats are after the feed (maybe bedding as well) but not the chickens, so make sure you only feed them enough for one helping so to speak. Also make sure the place where your feed is stored is secure. I keep my feed in an Old Chest Freezer.

The other option is if you have electricity down in that area to put a Repeller down there

Good luck.

Richard

[bluebell]

Good advice from Richard.

It goes without saying that the rats haven't just appeared and it is because the derelict buildings and garden have been 'disturbed' that they are venturing more frequently into your garden and probably other gardens.

At least the new owners are doing something about the garden/building situation and it isn't as if you are trying to be awkward with the new neighbour. Shame she didn't want to talk to you about the situation, perhaps she was worried you were going to blame her for the rats - which isn't the case of course.

I've used a trap to catch a rat before - I wouldn't use poison because I think you have to be so careful in its use. I set up a trap outside my runs and it was set up in a way not to harm any other animal, i.e. neighbours cats, wild birds etc.

I'm sure things will get sorted, phoning your local council for advice is a good start.

Hope you feel better, hun.

[amber66]

Thank you everybody for all your good advice.
You are right i was not blaming my neighbour at all for the rat situation i was sure there were rats in her garden due to it not being disturbed for many years, but luckly i had not seen any venture into mine, even though i am sure they did.
I was a little worried about using poison due to me having other pets and her having young children playing in her garden so i think i will wait for the council to come back to me and will chase them up on Monday if i haven't heard anything by then.
Amber.

[Richard]

Very good Amber.

I recall a few years back that an £7 can of Rat Killer cost me an extra £50 in Vet's Bills for my Cat !!
He was constantly vomiting and really down in the dumps. The Vet asked me what he'd been eating and I told him I'd found an almost fully eaten Rat.
He straight away asked me if either neighbours or myself had used any Rat Poison recently.

I've now just learnt to live with them. As long as you can make it as difficult as possible for them, it's not too bad. Being next to a field helps as they all go over there for Summer !
But, like foxes and London Buses, one goes and there's another on the way behind !!

Rats are not evil creatures, they're nuisance to human creatures, get in our way etc. After reading about their end, I feel quite guilty now about poisoning them.

Richard

[amber66]

Hello Richard,
I don't like hurting any living creature. it is not that i hate rats i used to look after about 40 of them at school many years ago, they were used in biology lessons once they had died of old age.
It just freaked me out seeing so many running in and out of the chicken run and annoyed me the attitude of my neighbour, I have now calmed down and will let the council deal with them humanely.
Amber.

[Richard]

Don't worry, I was in no way inferring you as anything other than a caring person about your Chickens and environment.

I do find the 'just kill them' line is occasionally a little bit the easy way out. Too often it is not, it's just getting one lot out the way for another lot to move in
bit of the prevention (as best we can) is better than cure.

The Council method is the best method.

I don't like rats by the way.

Richard

[amber66]

I didn't think that at all Richard. I will be putting the extra wire around the outer run later today and hopefully they will look else ware for food and not my chickens pellets!

Thank you all once again for your help.
Amber.