Take 37 chickens, 3 acres of woodland and a 100 year old house (plus outbuildings) and what do you get?
You get rats. And mice.
And spiders (but the spiders I can handle)
We buy our animal feed in large 40ld bags. Chicken pellets, rabbit food and “scratch”, a seed filled snack for the hens. We have tried storing the bags in a locked building and in airtight bins, but the rat always finds a way.
So, we fight back.
Traps are set, and rats are caught, but never the “last rat” There is always one that gets away, ready to breed again and make a million more rat babies.
So we fight back harder.
We learned that rats can “smell death” on the traps, so hubby switched to plastic traps, bleaching them between each kill. We caught more rats, but still one eluded us.
He would sneak onto our porch, leaving “packages” for us to discover. The garage, and workshop.
The final straw came when hubby found his delicately set traps sprung, with the bait eaten. . . and no rat in sight.
The little critter is getting smarter.
That was the day the hubby suggested his last resort solution.
A cat.
Now, we are not cat people. We are bird people, and rabbit people and dog people. We are not cat savvy. We know nothing about cats.
Thankfully there is no shortage of cats needing a home. The Ontario SPCA estimates that one-fifth of cats were returned to shelters in Ontario in 2013 after the holidays. Be it allergic reactions, problems with other pets, or issues with their behaviour, including house training, or litter box training.
We are animal people, and in the end we have resources available to support us if we decide to go this route. We want to ensure that if we do, we are fully prepared to nurture our little feline into good health. We will collect our arsenal of “cat products” to ensure that our little friend has everything he (or she) needs to adapt to our home.
And even though the chickens sometimes crowd the front porch, that is as close as that “outdoor smell” gets. I don’t want “cat” smell IN the house, and at least while we are adapting to our new additional, I am keen to battle the odor with Clump&Seal. 
I am a huge believer in Arm & Hammer products (look how well they work on my fridge) and I am guessing they would battle the kitty litter as much as our new cat would drawn the line on our rat problem.
Now, this isn’t set in stone, but I do know one thing. . . if the kids find out their Dad has even been entertaining the thought. . . we will be a cat friendly home!
But maybe then we will finally be “rodent free”