Rats

[Poly Hive]

Just discovered we have a problem in the garage so a heads up to check your kit in store for vermin issues. One poly nuc pretty much destroyed so expensive enough.

PH

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Just discovered we have a problem in the garage so a heads up to check your kit in store for vermin issues. One poly nuc pretty much destroyed so expensive enough.

PH

Where's ratcatcher when you need him?

 

[Poly Hive]

In this instance that would be me... trap is set.

PH

 

[kighill]

Rats and traps

I also get rats in my bee equipment stable and they make a mess of things if left unchecked. A friend swears by keeping poison down all of the time but I am not keen on this.
I have bought several rat traps including some mk4 Fenn Traps which I check a couple of times a day. I have caught several so they do work. Should anyone decide on Fenn Traps please keep your fingers out of the way and ask someone to show you how to set them or watch a few clips on YouTube. All of my traps are also covered with a safety cage to prevent accidents from none target species. (The trapper or his/her dog)
Ps only buy genuine ones cheap Chinese copies are illegal to use.

 

[Stiffy]

After having a large number of supers destroyed by rats in the past, I sadly keep poison down all the time.
I hate the stuff because of the damage it can cause through secondary poisoning but hate traps even more after trapping a rat by its leg and seeing it trying to chew it off! How long it had been caught, I don't know but I dispatched it as quickly as I discovered it, makes me feel ill to think it had suffered.
S

 

[REDWOOD]

Peanut butter on a spring trap works a treat, caught one the other day in work.

 

[pargyle]

We keep garden hens and whilst the rats can't get at them the hens seem to attract them. This time of year seems to see the beggars try to find winter quarters and they can get through very small spaces - I had one in my garage last winter - must have got under the garage door - a very small gap. They will chew just about anything and even heavy duty timber boxes can be chewed through in no time if they think there's something in there. Plastic boxes no problem ...

They get very wise to traps very quickly - the young ones are easy pickings but the older ones are very wary of anything new. I don't use poison and traps are only part effective - the best I've done is watching where they travel - they tend to be creatures of habit - my bird table was a favourite destination. Then, when they are still and at the food I get them with an air rifle. You really have to keep on top of them though - you never just have one rat - I must have trapped and shot 15 or more this last year - mild winter and a relatively good summer - ideal breeding conditions.

Millett gave me some good advice - no real need to bait the traps - just set them in the 'run' and leave them un-set for a couple of days before you set them, disguise them with some straw or leaves and don't handle the traps with bare hands - anything that they sense is 'not right' will put them off.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We see the odd tunnel under the hen run and once I saw a rat on a bird feeder in the middle of the day. Traps are baited all year and food goes sporadically.
Not much left under the bird feeders at this time of year as the hens have access to the garden and they spend most of the day gazing up at them and catching the dropped food...lazy little beggars

 

[SDM]

Neosorexa gold every few mths , my chickens are rat magnets.

 

[bpmurray]

What about dogs and cats? I had a terrific mongrel that was fantastic but, alas, she died a couple of years ago. We have two cats, small little things that look like butter wouldn't melt, but they're true killers. I don't think there are any rats around us any more, but they bring them up from the farmyard down the road for a bit of fun at night.

 

[SDM]

Tons of feral cats around me, they dont seem to make an impact on rat population though. Too many easier prey in shrews,moles, field mice etc.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Tons of feral cats around me, they dont seem to make an impact on rat population though. Too many easier prey in shrews,moles, field mice etc.

We found our yard cats were unwilling to tackle a fully grown rat in combat. However if there was a suitable vantage point over a run they would sit patiently and drop onto an unsuspecting rat as it passed underneath. Given the choice though they would hunt softer targets.
One year one of the queens had kittens. She killed a fully grown rabbit and hauled it back to the kittens which at that point hadn't even opened their eyes. Sbe must have had high hopes for her offspring

 

[SDM]

I've not yet seen it, but I've long suspected it's cats that are making some of the rabbit kills during the day.

 

[alfazer]

Yes, cats kill the rabbits. We got a cat to control the growing rabbit population around our home. She does a very good job, killing one approx everyday on average during the spring. At least, that's the ones we see left near our back door, maybe there's more.
We don't have a rat problem but she does bring the odd one home now and again.
She seems to understand the bees ok; watches them but doesn't get too close.

 

[Itchy]

The big problem with using poison all year round is the slow but steady feed into the predator food chain. Poison accumulates in the predator bodies, and eventually kills them.
Permanent baiting enables non target species such as voles and wood mice to consume a non toxic load, which ends up in the system of owls etc.
Trapping is by far the better option for lots of reasons. Importantly, it alerts you to the presence of rats. Foul catches, such as by leg or tail are down to badly set or placed traps.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The big problem with using poison all year round is the slow but steady feed into the predator food chain.

I worry about that.
The poison is taken sporadically. Maybe for two weeks then nothing for months so I'm hoping it's rats and they die out of sight. Mice in the bee shed get a last peanut and a broken neck

 

[BrianO]

The big problem with using poison all year round is the slow but steady feed into the predator food chain. Poison accumulates in the predator bodies, and eventually kills them.
Permanent baiting enables non target species such as voles and wood mice to consume a non toxic load, which ends up in the system of owls etc.
Trapping is by far the better option for lots of reasons. Importantly, it alerts you to the presence of rats. Foul catches, such as by leg or tail are down to badly set or placed traps.

So true, dont care what the outcome I would never use poisons.

Being a big Owl fan not a chance. Have caught many rats in traps . Best bait i would say so far is peanut butter.

 

[abm]

Fenn traps set in the correct way are the best way forward, guaranteed catch of specific target species if placed inside purpose made tunnels in sheds where rats are known.
You could easily adapt an old super as a tunnel.........

 

[Beefriendly]

The big problem with using poison all year round is the slow but steady feed into the predator food chain..

My cat eats a large percentage of the mice/voles he kills, although he leaves what I think is the gall bladder for us.
Poison is not an option in our household.
Regular worm treatments for cats are!

 

[Bryang]

I use rat poison in my allotment/apiary. It has to be replenished weekly, it is put in old clay pipes, approx. 4inch diameter. Rats are a perminant problem for me, there is a large pigeon loft next to the allotment, and the idiot owners constantly tip the "cleanings" over at the back of their shed. (They have been cautioned by Environment many times).Last year the rats decimated my peas, my crop was less than 50% of normal. yes I do change the variety of poison on a regular basis. I'm lucky the local pest control officer is a friend of mine (council) so I get any that is "spare"

Bryan