Rats ( again!)

I keep getting asked questions about Rats , on Facebook,on  the various fora I frequent, when I was on Compost stands and when I am out and about ( before the start of the social isolating against Covid -19)  so I thought I would  repeat my advice in one place on here.

So here are some tricks you can try if your compost bin is infested with rats.

1. Get some metal mesh..chicken wire would do or weldmesh sold by builders yards...and put it on the ground under your bin so that the whole of the base area is covered then resite the bin on top.

2. Make sure you go to your bin at least every day and hit it with a stick or give it a kick...just to disturb it! Rats are neophobic..they don't like anything new..and they don't like being disturbed...ideally resite your bin so it is close to the house and where it gets walked past a lot...

3. Keep the lid on the bin...

4. Rinse out any eggshells before adding them to the bin as Rats LOVE the smell of egg....

5. It is said male urine acts as a deterrent...and wee is also a good compost activator...

6. Dog wee around the outside of the bin would work, too!!

7. If you have a dog then that might help scare them off

Very important, whatever you do...wear gloves when handling the compost bin or the composting stuff...rats urine can carry Weils disease ( and other nasties!!) and if you get wet wee on a cut you can catch all sorts of unpleasant illnesses.....so obviously plasters on any cuts is a must, too.

They are a huge problem at the moment everywhere I am afraid.

Of foxes......

6 pm ....Saw Foxy just now...grrr...chased it off by shouting....going to lock in hens asap.

managed to shut in Legbars yesterday but cockerel not having any and is still feral, up a tree all night....

It has been suggested I shoot the fox but bugger all chance of doing that I suspect, don't have suitable gun, so instead have got male large carnivore ( CM) urine being sprinkled along the fence, and am watching what is going on generally during the day, but if s/he (suspect she) can leap OVER an electric fence ( as happened Sat), I am a bit stuffed (and so will s/he be, with MY blardy hens!)

Don't have or want a dog....so apart from keeping the hens shut in the runs all day (not a great idea!) am a bit stumped as to what to do.....

The Fox was a beautiful animal though, really well groomed and glossy..
That would be due to being SO WELL FED, I guess.....

Oh well, Fox is just being a fox.....

I have been asked about shooting the Fox ? I only have an air gun for squirrels etc so have nothing which would kill a Fox ...even if trapped in a cage IMO...I don't think a .22 air gun pellet would go through a Fox skull, even in the eye?...guess one would need a .22 rifle? And not sure I want to, tbh

Really wouldn't feel comfortable about attempting to shoot a fox , even at point blank range, with a .22 air gun as would not want fox to suffer at all, even if the bugger DID eat my hens!

Blasted Rats get their own back...........

Do you remember I posted about our rat problem?? I was SO pleased to have stopped them getting in to the hen run and house.........

But they have had their revenge!



This is the corner of my polytunnel...

ARRRRHHHHGG Tree Rats!!

The view from our kitchen window most mornings at the moment is of a lot of birds and a LOT of squirrels. I try to adopt a "live and let live" attitude, but the squirrels are becoming more and more of a problem as each day goes by........

Their latest outrage is to eat all the bird food and destroy the feeders.

There were only 2 there today, but some days there have been 6 of them AND they are now massacring the leeks in the veg patch!









Part of me thinks their antics are entertaining BUT they are now getting TOO destructive for us to tolerate any more. Hmm I feel the purchase of a gun coming on.

Rats update!

Ha HA!!! There is a 4 foot tunnel UNDER the weldmesh, but the little blighters can't get in!!!

VICTORY!!

Rats 0: compost family 1


I had posted about this on the lovely INEBG forum
and its turned into a sort of "Colditz" and "The Great Escape " discussion...with the Rats trying to get into ( rather than out of) the enclosure......

Rat proofing the Eglu.

Today we finally sorted out the problem with Rats tunneling into the Eglu (I hope)

You can see where the rats have tunnelled in under the wire skirt of the Eglu run in this picture.


We moved the Eglu sideways and dug over and raked where the Eglu currently stands....its on some of the veg patch at the moment.

We then got some weldmesh ( 1 inch square) and put it down on the ground where the Eglu and run will stand.

And put the Eglu on top....

Ta da!! A (hopefully) rat proof run!! I added a tray of nice leaf mold freshly dug out from the compost bin for the girls to scratch over when they are shut in the run first thing in the morning... and their water and feeder as well, of course.

The girls are only shut in the Eglu and run from dusk till we get up in the morning....then they are let out to roam the orchard area which has a circumference of about 50 m. So they are only in the small Eglu run for an hour of so.

I MAY put down a thick layer of leaf mold and bark chippings for them to scratch around in but I need to check that its ok for them to scratch around of top of the weldmesh as I DO NOT want them to hurt their claws by scratching over it!!

I LOVE my hens!!