A recent customer based in Ingatestone keeps about 5 free range hens. This has become a very popular thing among many urban dwellers now and it’s lovely to be able to collect their fresh eggs, but there are problems that can arise and that’s rats taking full advantage of a regular food source, especially in winter when food can be lean elsewhere.
The customer in question had a old shed which provided shelter, and as you know chickens have a habit of spilling their pellets or wheat as they feed – great for our rats, now well and truly settled in. After a couple of weeks of baiting the shed, the issue was solved and we have now placed some bait stations around the pen area to keep any new comers at bay.
Regular visits every couple of weeks means those rats won’t be setting up home again near to the chicken run. One great change was to install a metal feed bin which will stop rats from gnawing their way through plastic containers to source there food and good house keeping also goes a long way in prevention.
There are diseases associated with rat urine getting into any puddles that might form in the pen area over winter. This infected water only has to come into contact with open grazes or rubbed into eyes and leptospirosis in various forms could be contracted, hence the very important need to make sure a problem doesn’t occur. Give us a call for a free quote on a regular monitoring program for your peace of mind
