small ratting breeds

[EDDIE B 3,166]

2 minutes ago, baker boy said:

Probably take that with a pinch of salt..

A yea I know, but spoiling a dog by entering to game too early, is very real. 

[huckelberry 114]

3 hours ago, baker boy said:

Huckelberry

Do you not use paragraphs in the Netherlands..

i once did use to do that but now in the computer age i dis learned (don't even know if that word exists) to do that. because in loads of computer conversation using the paragaph button is making a complete new awser post. and i hat that. 

[huckelberry 114]

6 hours ago, OldPhil said:

Hi,..well, you are obviously passionate about your pastime, and I applaud you for that..(I love a man who is serious about his hunting, I cannot be doing with fellows who are simply playing at the game..

They hold no interest for me)

Words and meanings frequently get lost in translation, and this occurs even when men are talking the same language I apologise if my previous post was not as concise as it might have been.

Like a lot of lads, I've been at the death of thousands of rats, especially when the big Barn Poultry sheds and Battery Chicken farms are being cleaned out...The rodents have often been allowed to eat themselves fat on the spillage from the feedstuffs...Unless a man has been down and dirty, and well amongst a stampede of rodents, all making for the exit, then he ain't fecking lived 

Its an amazing feeling to have them hitting you, right left and centre and even climbing up and over you....Its great fun though

Yeah, I kinda get your words regarding varying teams of ferrets , all with specialised tasks in their toolbox,..and it makes good sense to be over gunned, as opposed to being a bit short on firepower...(This is even more so when ferreting rabbits on a week long basis)..

In mentioning the mass destruction of rodents with dogs, ferrets, smokers, etc,..I would have to tell you that my main work for the last thirty years has been as a Rural Pest Controller....

For me, that solitary, one and only rat in a cottage roof or farm shop, really is far more important than killing a big bag of longtails on a farm, or amidst a local council Rubbish Tip.

 Often that single rat is far harder to eradicate than a whole group of the feckers....

It is time consuming and frequently costly for the client..

The main thing I have found when trying to control any pest species is to be,....adaptable..

 I wish you well in your continued search, for that right tool for the job

 Stay safe now, and be lucky..

 

thanks a lot for your helpfull words.  the people here around my home who have seen me ratting often make the joke his dog go totaly crazy for the rats but we still think he himself goes even more crazy than his dogs for rats.

the big Barn Poultry sheds and Battery Chicken farms i only wish that out here i could find places like what i have seen on you tube from the uk. out here they are way more tidy and the best i managed to harvest in one long day with ferrets and  1 and a half dog and airgun was just 63 rats. on a  dutch chicken farm.  next close followed up hunt there 28 and then 14 and then the chickens returned arter that it have never been that good of a harvest there anymore(so i must have done someting good for the owner)  and that was the most rat infested chicken barn i have seen. and one  other chicken farm was just before that and the rats there were in between 2 sheds on a long narrow strip of land where also the food silo was. the strip was about 75meter long by about 7 meter and it had vegatation like netels and such but still young/ early in the year.  there was only one pvc water drain pipe that went to a small ditch at the back of the farm where the rats could leave this strip of land. so i blocked this pipe with stones. then i  put my 2 dogs on a box (i do that so that they can overlook better and not have the rats escape right bihind their ass without noticing it) and i started with just an normal garden hose and home made ratting shovels to flood the burrows with mud(works better than just water in my opinion)  the dogs had a great day  and it seemed like we caught all of the rat in just one day. but the next day the farmer told me that he did see rat activity so muy next move was to take a long strip of mesh and with that i blocked the peace of land to the concete where the feed silo was.  and along this mesh placed walk through traps at about 1,5m interval. the next day the last rat was caught and the farm stayed rat clean for about a year from then. but together with the baby rats only 52 where caught.

 

 

many of my work is smaller placed like small chicken floks at the back gaden. but also farms, people with a few horses, with wallnut trees, people who feed wild birds.  but also rats in houses under floors in ceilings and sutch and they are indeed way more time consuming to catch and i can not always suceed at places like that  and many times when i can not solve it it seems to be a sewage break/opening,   and or verry difficult double walls where the rats are better climbers than the ferrets. 

during my rat hunting i'm still learning new things every now and then. it happens way less than when i first started. but it still does and that just  keeps the job more interesting. see a problem and try to figure out a solution that work for the problem  and along the way have succes and/or fail but as long as you can learn from what happens it is a win anyway

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by huckelberry
typos and such

[eastcoast 4,122]

4 hours ago, huckelberry said:

thanks a lot for your helpfull words.  the people here around my home who have seen me ratting often make the joke his dog go totaly crazy for the rats but we still think he himself goes even more crazy than his dogs for rats.

the big Barn Poultry sheds and Battery Chicken farms i only wish that out here i could find places like what i have seen on you tube from the uk. out here they are way more tidy and the best i managed to harvest in one long day with ferrets and  1 and a half dog and airgun was just 63 rats. on a  dutch chicken farm.  next close followed up hunt there 28 and then 14 and then the chickens returned arter that it have never been that good of a harvest there anymore(so i must have done someting good for the owner)  and that was the most rat infested chicken barn i have seen. and one  other chicken farm was just before that and the rats there were in between 2 sheds on a long narrow strip of land where also the food silo was. the strip was about 75meter long by about 7 meter and it had vegatation like netels and such but still young/ early in the year.  there was only one pvc water drain pipe that went to a small ditch at the back of the farm where the rats could leave this strip of land. so i blocked this pipe with stones. then i  put my 2 dogs on a box (i do that so that they can overlook better and not have the rats escape right bihind their ass without noticing it) and i started with just an normal garden hose and home made ratting shovels to flood the burrows with mud(works better than just water in my opinion)  the dogs had a great day  and it seemed like we caught all of the rat in just one day. but the next day the farmer told me that he did see rat activity so muy next move was to take a long strip of mesh and with that i blocked the peace of land to the concete where the feed silo was.  and along this mesh placed walk through traps at about 1,5m interval. the next day the last rat was caught and the farm stayed rat clean for about a year from then. but together with the baby rats only 52 where caught.

 

 

many of my work is smaller placed like small chicken floks at the back gaden. but also farms, people with a few horses, with wallnut trees, people who feed wild birds.  but also rats in houses under floors in ceilings and sutch and they are indeed way more time consuming to catch and i can not always suceed at places like that  and many times when i can not solve it it seems to be a sewage break/opening,   and or verry difficult double walls where the rats are better climbers than the ferrets. 

during my rat hunting i'm still learning new things every now and then. it happens way less than when i first started. but it still does and that just  keeps the job more interesting. see a problem and try to figure out a solution that work for the problem  and along the way have succes and/or fail but as long as you can learn from what happens it is a win anyway

 

 

That is one of best photographs I have ever seen. A Robin Reliant? With dogs on the roof and and rats on the bonnet! I will never forget a yellow Robin Reliant pulling up outside of my house when I was a teenager and 3 huge men getting out and knocking on the door. They wanted to use my terrier to stud a bitch. Long story short but ended up with me squeezing into the mad car with 3 very large blokes and my dog. Happy days.

 

[huckelberry 114]

7 hours ago, eastcoast said:

That is one of best photographs I have ever seen. A Robin Reliant? With dogs on the roof and and rats on the bonnet! I will never forget a yellow Robin Reliant pulling up outside of my house when I was a teenager and 3 huge men getting out and knocking on the door. They wanted to use my terrier to stud a bitch. Long story short but ended up with me squeezing into the mad car with 3 very large blokes and my dog. Happy days.

 

it is a reliant  rialto slightly different body than the robin. it is my bad weather and/or longer range vehicle.  i got quite some pictures with rats on the bonnet and the dogs on the roof i'll dig into the computer if i can find some more.  

[huckelberry 114]

Just now, huckelberry said:

it is a reliant  rialto slightly different body than the robin.  so also with cars i seemed to have been looking for a smaller breed. it is my bad weather and/or longer range vehicle.  i got quite some pictures with rats on the bonnet and the dogs on the roof i'll dig into the computer if i can find some more.  

 

[huckelberry 114]

for some reason google decided to put one picture upsidedown and i didn't understand how to rotate it back to normal

[eastcoast 4,122]

14 hours ago, huckelberry said:

it is a reliant  rialto slightly different body than the robin. it is my bad weather and/or longer range vehicle.  i got quite some pictures with rats on the bonnet and the dogs on the roof i'll dig into the computer if i can find some more.  

Background story behind that surreal moment, I knew one of the fat men, one was to me a legend when it came to terriers at the time and the other owned the bitch that he wanted lined and the 1st choice dog wasn't interested in doing the business. The reason for the 3 wheeler is that they had all lost their driving licence but one had a motorbike licence and so was allowed to drive a 3 wheeler and that is what were using as transport at the time.

Edited July 4, 2021 by eastcoast

[huckelberry 114]

i got most of the licences possible. but for my this reliant is briliant. it has a galvanized chasis. a body of glassfiber. so not much will rot away on this car. it is a simple car to do most of the repairs yourself. parts are still for sale new and used. it is low in weight and also efficient with petrol so cheap to drive.  because of the 3 wheels the light wheigt and beacause it is narrow and small i can reach almost any rat hunting space really close by  without much chance of getting stuck.  so that all of the ratting gear is close and quick at hand when needed. 

[big sid 1,126]

min dachshunds they would do the job

[huckelberry 114]

11 hours ago, All-terrain said:

A-t

what type of breed is that? do you hunt rats with them yourself? how much do they weigh and how tall/small are they. 

[Daniel cain 45,356]

14 hours ago, All-terrain said:

A-t

Little machines from the land of milk and honey

[Daniel cain 45,356]

6 minutes ago, All-terrain said:

Jackahuaua, I have hunted with a few of them over the years, a few mates have them or had,  some are used with hawks to flush rabbits etc which is what they was bred for originally, some are used for ratching about, ratting rabbiting and bolting fox to guns, I don’t know the weight, the smallest ones I’ve seen like the one on the right are tiny, but they will put some terriers to shame they are busy little things, atb A-t 

They that small,they can run over cow pat's and not leave prints

[Daniel cain 45,356]

[socks 32,253]

The one downfall I can see where very small dog’s are used for ratting is when you get into big numbers or long hours as a small bodied dog that’s lifting and shaking rat after rat after rat and is obviously going to work harder to kill them is going to get tired a lot quicker than your average ratting dog.