Rats!!!!!

[spudulike]

Generally they are after the food we feed birds and you feed your chickens. They are always after the easy option. I have seen a big run where a local farmer sets aside a corner of a field for sweetcorn and can see the cobs that the rats have dragged back to the burrow to eat.

 

They like old tree stumps and compost heaps as well but don't like a few grams of .22 lead!!

[farmer rod]

Chickens digest about half of the corn thats fed to them, so rats (in some countries they feed it to cattle) can eat the chicken s88t and do very well on it. The main problem with having a few rats is that you soon have many, and the damage they do to buildings, wiring, making nests in vehicles etc can cost a fortune.

 

We used to keep a few farmyard geese, one day a pair of rats were stealing an egg, one held it with his front legs while the other dragged him by the tail.

[Stock]

Was always told that if you see a rat during the day then there is at least six more about.

I normally put out the feeders in September and keep them full all winter with storm. However this year with the mild winter we have had very little poison eaten and the feeders are checked weekly.