Rat trap

[SixFooter]

Big problem at the moment with rats in my chicken coop.
I've put poison down in chicken proof boxes and set up live traps. My question is, what to do with the captured rats. I've been drowning them, but someone said that was cruel and illegal. Personally, I dont think it's either, but am willing to be convinced. Is this true amd what's the recommended way of despatching them?

 

[Foxylad]

Drowning Rats is not cruel or illegal. Is is illegal to release the rat once caught. I can not think of a better way of dispatching live caught rats.

 

[Frisbee]

Big problem at the moment with rats in my chicken coop.
I've put poison down in chicken proof boxes and set up live traps. My question is, what to do with the captured rats. I've been drowning them, but someone said that was cruel and illegal. Personally, I dont think it's either, but am willing to be convinced. Is this true amd what's the recommended way of despatching them?

Drowning them is illegal....causing unecessary suffering or something like that. I have a rat problem. My chickens are in a field which has a river border so rats in the winter are a real nuisance. I use a combination of live trap and poison. The interesting question is what to do with the rat once you have it in a live trap? I don't shoot so have no weapon. I wouldn't be able to stab it through the bars of the cage and no way am I letting it go again....pretty sure that is illegal too as rats are vermin. I'm also not prepeared to leave the rat in the trap all day to wait for someone who can shoot . The river is handy so I drown them too. It is quick and I'm pretty sure causes no more suffering than a missplaced shot. This year I caught 8 in the trap one day after the other. Then a lull as they caught on, then another 3. The remaining succumbed to the poison. But they don't always take poison. You have to take it slow and steady with it.

Frisbee

 

[hedgerow pete]

air pistol, cheap chinise jobbie £15 and a tin of pellets or a cheap chinise air rifle £30 plus pellets, thats the easyest way of getting rid of them.

i use rat poisons, home made as well as traps and fenn traps and my son sitting in the shed some times with said air rifle, especialy at this time of year because it stays light for so long,

and lastly realy improve your hygene, ie removal of all food at night even the stuf on the ground, if your getting to many durring the day try feeding them a little less so they eat it rather than throw it about

 

[Russel]

air pistol, cheap chinise jobbie £15 and a tin of pellets or a cheap chinise air rifle £30 plus pellets, thats the easyest way of getting rid of them.

i use rat poisons, home made as well as traps and fenn traps and my son sitting in the shed some times with said air rifle, especialy at this time of year because it stays light for so long,

and lastly realy improve your hygene, ie removal of all food at night even the stuf on the ground, if your getting to many durring the day try feeding them a little less so they eat it rather than throw it about

HP do you provide a chimney cleaning service too?



Oh and OP might be worth checking the Defra site for the legalities.

 

[Foxylad]

Drowning them is illegal....causing unecessary suffering or something like that.

Frisbee

Can i ask where you found that information?

The use of live catch cages, drowning is a recommended form of dispatch.

Much better than a ricochet and shooting yourself or someone else in the foot.

 

[Midland Beek]

Surely we as human beings are not saying that drowning is more humane than the air pistol/rifle method?

Anyone with rat problems might want to investigate exactly where they are residing or coming from, like a broken sewer that needs the attention of the authorities.

 

[Freer4]

There is a guy under investigation because he was drowning squirrels in the traps the RSPCA said it was illegal. He owned up to it in protest to a guy who is already going through the courts for the same thing.
We used to drown the mink on the ponds cos they take a bit of killing with a pistol. And a bot more humane than dropping them out for the terriers

 

[Skyhook]

I'm trying to think of a sensible way of using carbon monoxide. I suspect it may need HP to invent something involving plastic pipes and a box, and conceivably a landrover.

 

[hedgerow pete]

no, i already know that one!

you use a dust bin or a barrel, run the landy for 5 mins with the barrel on its side right next to the exaust pipe . flip the barrel up right and there we have a barrel for of carbon monoxide gas, drop ratty into it and hes dead in 3 mins max

or if you can get hold of dry ice or an old extinguisher just put a short sharp bust into a barrel to drop ratty into

whilst i personaly can kill and total except any form or meathod to pop ratty off, I do think there are limits to alot of peoples "humanity"

A live catch rat trap with a rat in it on a piece of grass /soil and a air rifle poked through the bars with the barrel less than an inch from its head works the cleanest and safest way surely?

If i do catch the odd rat thats the way i deal with them, i dont even hold the riffle away from the cage to shoot as i was once told by doing so it was more sporting?? needless to say that friendship soon passed.

I would be dubbius about what or what not you say on a live forum as there is some where a rat loving urban fox feeding eco activist reading this somewhere, or just the idiots at the rspca,
PM me and we will swap ideas

 

[SixFooter]

I have an air rifle somwhere. I'll dig it out.

 

[milkermel]

As the wife of a qualified Pest controller Drowning rats or squirrels is definately illegal. It is also illegal to release them once caught (basically infesting someone elses field/property) it is also illegal to release moles if caught in live catch trap for the same reason.

Cheapest and easiest way - and legal is to release rodent into a heasian sack (minding your fingers!!) then standing on the closure so it cant obviously run out again hit it very hard with a heavy club, stick 2x4 - rolling pin, shovel, you name it - technical term is Priest but thought some may not know what i was getting at! This is what we were informed to do. given the choice i know i would rather be in a large sac and knocked unconcious/killed then the 1min plus of drowning.

Might be worth investing in some fenn traps they do the job for you. set them in a tunnel setup to prevent other animals getting caught is wise.

 

[milkermel]

Can i ask where you found that information?

The use of live catch cages, drowning is a recommended form of dispatch.

Much better than a ricochet and shooting yourself or someone else in the foot.

may have been years ago, but definately not now!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A friend of mine who was head of environmental health for the county (and boss of the rat catchers) experimented with drowning trappedrats and he found out it took ages so he didn't think it too effective, he's not sentimental, in fact now he's retired and does pest control as a hobby!
The bunny huggers suggest the humane way to kill a trapped animal is to slip it into a sack and whack it with as stick until it's dead!!
Air pistol is the easiest and quickest method, unless you fancy holding it with head between thumb and forefinger and using the other thumb to push up until neck snaps (quickest, but not for me!)

 

[SixFooter]

Found the rifle and shot one. I'm going to do that from now on.

 

[milkermel]

Just a bit of advice, you may already know, but keep the bait down and keep refilling until it stops going, big problem we come across is people put bait down and it all goes then they stop! rats are not dead and instead get a resistance to the poison. So keep checking it weekly and replenish until it stops being eaten. be aware also that if you find any dead ones dispose of them in such a way that birds of prey do not find them and eat them. Poisoned birds are becoming a real concern these days

 

[SixFooter]

I replenish the poison bait every day and I have 2 different types. I Have noticed a reduction in rat numbers, but they are still coming into the coop.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My grandparents kept poultry on a (small) commercial basis - the old days of locally reared and sold stock. They always maintained that wherever you have poultry you'll always have rats, you just have to accept the fact and control it as best you can.
However good your poison is you should change what you use on a fairly regular basis, but yes, feed until they stop taking the bait and some is left behind.

 

[SixFooter]

2 weeks ago, if I stood still, 6 ft away from the open pen door, in 5 mins I would see 5 or 6 rats in there. Now, I dont see many at all and they are more nervous, but I am still catching them in traps and lots of bait is being taken. I managed to shoot one from
about 5m away today, but the problem seems to be declining.
The chooks are not sleeping in the coop and I suspect this is because the rats are going in at night

So I'm using 2 types of poison and 2 traps and an air rifle in a sort of integrated pest management!

 

[Brosville]

You need a Jack Russell - good ones are rat killing machines - a swift snap and a shake, and the rat's dead. The local "terrier lads" had over 350 rats one afternoon when the deep litter houses were cleaned out.
One of the main problems with poultry and rats is that the only legal poisons are (were?) anti-coagulants, and poultry food is full of vitamin K (the antidote).
If an animal is to be killed, whatever it is, it should be done swiftly - I'm with the "airgun" brigade on that..... drowning is utterly barbaric (as I suspect is much poisoning, it's slow in action), and no animal deserves unnecessary suffering - rats are highly intelligent creatures, and domesticated ones make excellent pets, it's not the poultry food raiders fault they were born "on the wrong side of the tracks"