today i woke up and went to the loft only to find the 2 eggs i had on the loft floor gone. the straw they were on had not been disturbed. i moved all the straw from the end of the loft to find 4 holes about the size of golf balls. rats or mice im not sure. i started to basket the birds up that i couldnt let out so i could give the loft a good clean and 2 birds that amar gave me went straight over my head and away they went . i gave the loft a bloody good clean and now ive put a plastic fibre glass floor in . let them eat that. :it's :

nasty critters to be having in your loft mate cause all sorts of problems
do you leave corn lying around ?
put down some wheat barley soaked in de icer that will kill them of for sure mike
all the best
jason
group hug master ::

phillips wrote:nasty critters to be having in your loft mate cause all sorts of problems
do you leave corn lying around ?
put down some wheat barley soaked in de icer that will kill them of for sure mike
all the best
jason
group hug master ::

thanks for that mate i will try it. no i dont leave food lying about,i feed them a small bit at a time so they never leave any

doesnt matter if corn is laying about rats will rip the throats out of pigeons to get to their corn.
this happened to me a few years back.
i lost around 8-9 birds b4 i managed to rid them.

Just soak anything bread, rice, oats etc in bowl of anti freeze that is the best thing, it tastes sweet to them and has a strong odour to attract them. Upturn a milk crate and put it over the top of the bowl, this stops any birds or pets getting to it. Rats are perimeter creatures and follow only certain paths, I learned all these things while working in the mines, I hate them, I would rather face a rottweiler :blush:

lot vermin about

thanks for the advice i will try it tomorrow. it broke my heart to lose the eggs

any squirrils round by you i had few eggs and young taken once and one day saw it come out sputnic

no mate i havent seen any, not many trees round me

maid08 wrote:any squirrils round by you i had few eggs and young taken once and one day saw it come out sputnic

I had the very same, I could have sworn it was a rat that stole eggs and butchered some stock but it was a squirrel I caught in the trap, never had any trouble since

i know its not a squirrel cos the eggs went during the night and the loft was secured also the hole was right below the nest

MIKE1957 wrote:i know its not a squirrel cos the eggs went during the night and the loft was secured also the hole was right below the nest

Holes in the floor appear to be a rat or a weasel/stoat, what ever it is the antifreeze will sort them, put some down the hole if it is not accessable to any pets as it will kill them

i will put it down tomorrow. thanks for that

MIKE1957 wrote:i will put it down tomorrow. thanks for that

No problem, what birds escaped over your head?

2 blues that amar gave me

MIKE1957 wrote:2 blues that amar gave me

If it was the whites they would have come back to me. Amar will need to tell you where he got the blues

ive still got the white, they are lovely birds

MIKE1957 wrote:ive still got the white, they are lovely birds

Yes they are of good stock, I wish you well with them
Duncan

i had a problem with rats this year holes in the loft etc but since keeping poison down there has been no more holes once you kill off one family of rats another will move in keeping poison down 24/7 means the rats have an easy feed outside the lofts and they dont need to get inside your loft for food.

I have bait pots perminently under my loft and at the back there is a nice tasty snack for the dirty little sods. keep them topped up its the only way to keep them out and the numbers down!

I tried one of these sticky pad traps, I found five robins stuck to it. Four of the five roblns were alive and released ater we cleaned them up, sadly one perished so we gave up on that method.

if its rat you have i think the cage is the best thing to catch the buggers, and that way you can have a count on them, the cage is simple to use just through over bit of felt on top of cage just to darken it down, and have a 4" bit of pipe about 2foot long at the entrance, load the cage with a bit of
cooked bacon once one rat goes in you will get 10 in a night the day before get a bucket big enough to take the cage, have it filled with water the day before, then just put cage in and leave for ten minutes place the cage along the side of you shed look for signs of
a worn path by the rats then bingo

yep then phone local chinise and they wil give you quid each for them