Will pecking at poisoned Rats/Mice kill my Chickens & Ducks

Ben n Deb · **Posted:** Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:38 pm

Hello!

I have discovered rats in my bird pen

. I was hoping to poison them. But when they die, if they go out into the open where the birds can get them, will the poison kill my birds too?

I'm thinking it would, so I was hoping someone else might have some ideas at pest control!

Thanks!

bigcoop · **Joined:** Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:57 am **Posts:** 5

My cat eats dead mice from baits and it has no affect on him but I think if it was still alive it might be different story. I would think they would have to eat the whole body for it to affect them? Its a catch 22 you need to kill the rats and mice

Ben n Deb · **Posted:** Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:51 pm

Hmm definitely catch 22!

anyone else tried it???

b&p · **Posted:** Tue Jul 20, 2010 4:14 am

I know when my big fella (dog) got ill earlier this year I thought he may have eaten a poisoned rat. Asked the vet about it and they said he would need to eat about 20 poisoned rats for it to have any affect on him BUT I do tend to disagree.

If you poison something than the poison stays in their system even after death. Try traps, but they are smart buggers and soon realise what the trap can do so try a few diff traps.

My cats have definately killed a few poisioned rats but they than don't eat them.

Guess it is something we all have to do in the end when we have a rat/mouse problem.

Try feeding of a morning so all grain is gone by evening (no food left for rats), this worked well for me. I'll be poisioning again this year and like last year will keep an eye out for bodies.

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

simple answer is poison is poison no matter the dosage
answered well above
we have cat proof pens and have cats that keep the mouse and rat population down - one even brings in the odd rabbit :shock:

Ben n Deb · **Posted:** Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:29 pm

Thanks for the responses...

We let the dog in the other day and lifted up some timber where I was sure they were living... unfortunately, the dog only has one head :shock:

, and so one got away :roll:

. With only one rat, I can try traps... will see how we go.

In the dry season, I spread the grain on the ground so the birds have to scratch for it. It is generally all gone come morning so the rats don't have a permanent supply of food.

Maybe one day someone will invent a poison that will kill the rats, but not what eats them

... and maybe pigs will fly too hey!? [smilie=a_rolling.gif]

Thanks for the replies!

Penda · **Joined:** Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:58 pm **Posts:** 1

This is a very good question and one I was thinking of asking as one of my first questions on the forum. I have had an out break of mice and the family has 4 cats so it is a worry using poisons. Maybe I will stick to live traps

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

Hi Penda and welcome - I agree this is a very good one to discuss
we all need to google to see what we can come up with and post it all here

b&p · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:27 pm

Quote:

In the dry season, I spread the grain on the ground so the birds have to scratch for it. It is generally all gone come morning so the rats don't have a permanent supply of food.

Maybe its all gone by morning because the rats are feasting during the night. Chooks don't eat after dark so anything left on the ground is rat food and this does give them a perm food source. Where there is 1 rat there are heaps. They breed so prolifically it is unbelievable.....think upto about 10 in a litter and ready to breed at about 16 weeks old

greenaus · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:46 pm

And they're tough.

We had (I thought) one rat living under one of those little sheds I put a wood base on. It would come up at night and eat the food in the shed. I put a full Talon block inside a piece of drain pipe (so the chooks couldn't eat it). I didn't notice anything the first day, but the second day the block was gone.

Day three (yesterday) I moved that trio, dismantled the pen and pulled the fence down.

Before tipping the shed over, I called my 7yo over and said, "Wanna see where the rat lived?"

As I tipped it FOUR rats scurried around. I couldn't do anything, I was holding a shed. There were three nests (three females and one male?) and no Talon bait block anywhere and no dead rats.

I took the nesting material out, stood the shed upright and guess they came back last night. Next time I'll have the whole family ready with shovels, spades, etc.

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