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Hunting Rat's in the Chicken Coop.

SteveB13 said:
I'm really struggling with this.... how can a grown woman be so totally stupid? I feel really sorry for your brother-in-law.

The really scary thing about rats is the diseases they spread normally start off with cold / flu symptoms.

Would she be this blase about living with bags of clinical/ hospital waste in her garden? Because that's probably on a par with the rats.
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Your right but you can't tell her anything.
 
mitch21 said:
Do they have children, does she realise the places they play,have probably had a RAT walk on them or worse,
As above I am really struggling with this,
Good Luck 🤞 mitch21
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All grown up now. I was a bit shocked when she said that, but she is the type that knows everything.
 
Rats and chickens are very bad news indeed. If they get into the coop at night they have been known to eat the toes of the roosting chickens that go into a trance overnight and are not aware of it. Just from the amount of feed they must be consuming it's worth getting rid. The health issues have been covered I think, but I did lose a friend to Weil's Disease. He felt a bit ill at work and was advised to go immediately to hospital. By the time he got there and they checked him over his liver was unrepairable and he died shortly afterwards.

One way to reduce the problem is to hang all the chicken feeders up at night so they are not accessible, never scatter feed and most importantly remove all sources of water. If you have a pond that won't work.

Another point worth mentioning is rats will eat eggs and young chicks. They will carry them off, eggs and chicks and consume them at their leisure elsewhere. So if you find a stash of eggs under a bush it isn't necessarily a broody hen.
 
Old Ironsights said:
Oi @OldStock! There are a few of us on 'ere with them kwalif..., qualifit... er.. degrees! :)

But I know what you mean! :)

And it's spelt 'Ph.D.' - if it was four letters I'd have trouble.
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Ironically I am aware, that many people on here have degrees.
My point was about people who think because they do, they do not need to learn anything from those without.
But thank you for educating me on the correct way to write IDGA.F.
 
Gers32 said:
most importantly remove all sources of water.
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That is interesting, so how do you safely provide water for fowl?
Where I go, they have chickens, geese, ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys, (and often other species that need homing), out on a field during the day time.
I've moaned at them for not having enough water during the day (hot dry days) but I'd not considered the other side of the issue.
From other posts I note their rainwater storage (which they have only recently put back in, after it having been damaged by kids) would also provide a source for infection.
Gummage said:
Water butts fed from gutters are a major hazard.
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The place is virtually, but not completely free of rats, so I'd like to know good practice on disease mitigation, as part of keeping on top of the vermin.
I need to make some boxes for traps, as the solitary rat that is wise enough to stay hidden, is still about, but there are too many other animals and pets from local houses that are at risk from exposed traps.
 
I've got 3.
OldStock said:
Ironically I am aware, that many people on here have degrees.
My point was about people who think because they do, they do not need to learn anything from those without.
But thank you for educating me on the correct way to write IDGA.F.
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Screenshot_20260428_095623_Google.webp



I've got 3.😀
 
Realistically hand washing is most important imo, as it is one area that is easily controlled, gloves also, but bearing in mind if re- used they can be contaminated unless sanitised.
Water butts with lids on stop youngsters or unaware folk from dipping hands in.
Eradication of the rats, though never complete for long, minimises the risks too.
 
OldStock said:
Ironically I am aware, that many people on here have degrees.
My point was about people who think because they do, they do not need to learn anything from those without.
But thank you for educating me on the correct way to write IDGA.F.
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Sorry @OldStock it that caused any upset. My message was written with the intention of self-irony and good humour. I wasn't 'correcting' your spelling but making a joke I could spell it because it only had 3 letters in it. I was lucky to get to university here when it was free, over 40 years ago, as my truck-driving dad would have struggled to pay the equivalent fees today. I think I am far from being an academic snob. I do learn from people with very different life experiences to mine. My apologies, truly, if it came over any differently.
 
Old Ironsights said:
Sorry @OldStock it that caused any upset. My message was written with the intention of self-irony and good humour. I wasn't 'correcting' your spelling but making a joke I could spell it because it only had 3 letters in it. I was lucky to get to university here when it was free, over 40 years ago, as my truck-driving dad would have struggled to pay the equivalent fees today. I think I am far from being an academic snob. I do learn from people with very different life experiences to mine. My apologies, truly, if it came over any differently.
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No worries, I bit.
Can't say why, as it would drag the thread off towards politics in education and that would not do.

But anyway, back to hosts and parasites.
 
Going back over this thread:
We have a lady who does not think rats are a problem.
We have reports of two people who barely survived Weil's disease, (one at least, suffering serious debilitation), another case who died, and a child who was maimed.

At what point will the BIL's wife see sense?

To be honest, I'd see her behaviour as a serious health and safety risk, and if I was a neighbour, I'd consider reporting her to the local council.
I've never done such a thing, but the risks of tolerating vermin that carry such pathogens, cannot be overlooked for "lets all just get along" ideology.

Someone who has first hand experience needs to get a note to her.
Perhaps with an image of the missing fingers on that first hand.
 
If there is one rat there will be a lot more nearby.
I saw a rat in the garden so I put traps down and poison.
I also gave my neighbour a trap as it came under his fence.
In a couple of weeks we killed 14 in traps and three lots of poison went.
It turned out that next door but one left dog food out during the day and put out feed for wild birds which attracted the rats.
I leave poison out permenantly now (in a drainpipe) and check it daily.
If it goes out come the traps.
 
OldStock said:
Going back over this thread:
We have a lady who does not think rats are a problem.
We have reports of two people who barely survived Weil's disease, (one at least, suffering serious debilitation), another case who died, and a child who was maimed.

At what point will the BIL's wife see sense?

To be honest, I'd see her behaviour as a serious health and safety risk, and if I was a neighbour, I'd consider reporting her to the local council.
I've never done such a thing, but the risks of tolerating vermin that carry such pathogens, cannot be overlooked for "lets all just get along" ideology.

Someone who has first hand experience needs to get a note to her.
Perhaps with an image of the missing fingers on that first hand.
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Neither of them know I have asked this question on here, I live in Essex and they live in Cornwall. I might have a quiet word with the BIL though.
 
Drifter2406 said:
Neither of them know I have asked this question on here, I live in Essex and they live in Cornwall.
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Yes and this is fine, understandable, but it would be nice to hear a resolution has been found to lower the risk level, before someone gets very ill.

I think it is fair to say, in the older airgun community, handling rats is seen as something to be careful about, so someone not following those norms, is similar to someone waving a gun about, we get a bit up tight.

I'm a little surprised that would be the case in Cornwall, but some farming types will have been exposed to things that would kill the average towny, but I'm not aware of farmers, tolerating anything beyond a few rats.
 
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She sounds like one of them pink hair brigade an ex teacher or the likes that knows very little about nature and even less about rats . Personally I couldn't be around people like her their ignorance and stupidity is off the charts and they won't never listen to no one even when they are proven wrong . Maybe when she picks up leptospirosis or something else from the rats or some one she cares about does she will see some common sense .
 
I'm currently awaiting the skip, Mick George have just helpfully sent me the promised email with ETA thats imply reads... "Your skip will be delivered...TODAY". Yeah, brilliant, thanks.
In the meantime I started taking a few things out of the shed to see how bad it is, if 0 is good and 10 apolocalypic I'm going 9.6.
The droppings are making a whole new floor in places, there's old pee stain everywhere and boxes, buckets, tubs, crates...everything is covered, chewed and stinks to high heaven. I had a large box of rat bait in there which they've ironically decimated, so christ knows what I'm going to find as I get further in; the shed is 12ft x 16ft.
I'm not moving anything until the skip gets here so I can just shift it once, have some heavy duty chemical grade rubber gloves and a face mask. It's a 6yd skip and Im genuinely thinking it won't be big enough...
 
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