Sometimes you walk past something a hundred times before you notice it. Like this little game trail.
It's from mice/rats and it leads to where one batch of chickens feed and then back under a shed.
I thought I'd been good and kept all my poison bate stations topped up. After talking to my dad, he says that they won't eat it if it's gone stale. So on Sunday I cleaned them all out and rebated them with fresh poison.
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| Stale poison |
I'm in two minds about this type of pest control. I don't like to poison anything, I worry about how it affects the food chain (many years ago we almost lost a dog who had eaten too many mice that had been poisoned). The only other option I can think of is to get a farm cat, but I love my song birds (although I think the sparrow hawk has had most of those this year) so it's tricky to find a balance.
What does everyone else do when it comes to controlling mice and rats (and a quick note to Hippo before his suggestion - I don't think snakes would do very well here as it's too wet!)?
I've always used traps myself. Peanut butter makes good bait.
ReplyDeleteYeah I do if I canput it somewhere no birds can get to it. chocolate works well as well
DeleteI simply have the cats, and one of them Archie is a fantastic hunter, and has had a few Sparrow hawks, which in my opinion has saved the lives of a lot of the other little feathered visitors we get.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course if the cats don't kill a mouse quickly there's always Rosy, the Jack Russell to finish them off, and she does with simply a shake or two of her head, in real terrier style.
So for me poison is a real no-no I would simply be risking my own animals.
A cat that gets sparrow hawks I could have! Mind you I wouldn't tell too many people about that they get funny about birds of prey! If I ever get round to getting a dog then I'll knock the posion on the head but until then I'll have to keep the numbers down somehow
Deletewe use eradibait as its nature friendly(if something eats the dead stuff) ....supposedly , although i don't think it's as effective as things like neosorexa and radiron
ReplyDeleteI'll look that stuff up, but the last thing I want to do is just make them fatter!
DeletePoultry seem to attract vermin. The worst thing you can do is to scatter food on the ground. I think a terrier and a few cats are the best option.
ReplyDeleteI keep my food in feeders but sometimes tey get knocked over, never been a great fan of terriers, too yappy for me!
DeleteWe use Eradibait as well - it is bird safe so if anything eats the rats or mice they will be ok, also if the hens get to it!
ReplyDeleteAnd we have the cats, who do deter the rats as well.
no chance of the hens getting to it in those bate stations so should be safe tere but I might look up the Eradibait and see what its like
DeleteMost snakes like water and are good swimmers. It's the cold where you are that would kill the African House snakes I used so successfully here.
ReplyDeleteMarcia used a type of glue that she would squirt onto a sheet of paper and place down on the run. It was very effective but you were then left with the sticky problem of disposing of a still live rodent.
Sticky problem! A bucket of water? Or shouldn't I write that here! I don't think my house full of girls would care much for the snakes anyway!
DeleteI have heard of mixing concrete with flour and corn meal and then the rodent goes to take a drink and solidifies.
ReplyDeleteI wondered how you'd ever make your own! I guess you'd have to mix it every night and remove other water sources for it to work well
DeleteNo poisoning going on here because of the risk to other animals. Predator species do a good job here,but if a mouse gets inside then the cats 'go to it'.
ReplyDeleteJane x
not sure where the predators are around here. I guess I want them to keep aways anyway because of my chickens!
DeleteWe have had to poison down although we kept putting off doing so. We have rat and mice ancient runs in the thick river stone walls of our house which will eventually we cemented up as we get the house renovated. We tried traps, but they didn't work, but then Lester saw a mouse peeping out of the kitchen wall, and I heard a heavy scurry of something or other under the temporary kitchen sink, so poison had to go down. There was a time a couple of years ago, when we were still sleeping in the caravan, when a late night wander through the house resulted in him watching several rats doing a jaunty circuit round the top of the walls! We are worried about the dogs though, especially after Lester found a nearly dead rat in the middle of Lissie's pen!
ReplyDeleteThe sound of them running around makes my skin crawl! We nearly lost a dog to it eating poisioned rats years and years ago so we try to train tem not to eat them.
DeleteI have good luck with snap traps ... and a pellet rifle.
ReplyDeleteThe .410 is good fo rats but it's all a bit close range here!
DeleteNobody likes poison, but other than cats, it's often the only way.
ReplyDeleteYep thats the conclusion I've come to. I don;t like posion but I don;t like cats!
Deletehere is a solution
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV9woxUshuA
the same idea with a soda can on a wire spindle works well.
That looks like a good idea. On eyear we had a problem in dads grain barn so did something simular but the bucket was filled with water!
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