Where you have livestock or food, you have rats. For us this is especially true since the wheat field next door has been cut. Having the wildlife camera out at night allows me to monitor where they are and what they are doing:
This was taken one night last week – I wanted to see if they were trying to get through the door of this ‘brick’ built chicken shed. Several times in the night they (or it – I have no idea whether there are several or just one) came from the left (near the top) went behind the bricks, ran past the door, along the paving slabs and disappeared from view. There were occasional other movements but most of the activity was the same.
A couple of days later I set the camera watching this wooden chicken hut:
Again, there was repetitive behavior: they were coming into view from the back of the hut (top right), passing by, and looking at, the poison near the blocks, circulating to near the bucket of water, then wandering to the front of the hut.
During one part of the night this happened with such frequency that either one rat was running right round the back of the hut or several where taking it in turns. I suspect there are a few rats living under the hut.
In this final image, taken late at night, the rat seemed to merge into the ground:
The following morning showed a fresh hole that had been dug at this point from under the shed that night. Industrious creatures! They are also very cautious: They ignore the rat bait for many nights then suddenly it is all consumed. I expect they wait until they feel ‘safe’…