Introduction
More often than not poultry farmers underestimate the severity of rodent pest infestations, leading to a lot many problems like,
- Building damage
- Insulation destruction
- Feed loss
- Feed contamination
- Diseases
Apart from the above mentioned points, it is extremely vital to understand that if a rodent infestation has occurred, a pest control programme should immediately be put in place in order to disseminate the situation. At what point does a rodent pest infestation begin to cause your business significant losses?
- Rodents are extremely adaptable mammals, this very feature about them makes getting rid of them particularly difficult. That’s where your business comes at stake.
- Wood and electrical wiring is something you just can’t keep out of the way for mice and rats. They always get damaged in the process of pest infestation and in turn lead to building damage.
- Insulation is an important part of a poultry farm and a rodent infestation can create a string of costly affairs, investing in energy costs and other re-insulation costs.
- A lot of the feed that should be fed to the poultry, ends up going to the rodents, causing significant loss to your business.
- A rat can contaminate 10 times the amount of feed it eats with its droppings, urine and hair leading to feed contamination.
- salmonellosis, pasteurellosis, leptospirosis, swine dysentery, trichinosis, toxoplasmosis and rabies are all diseases that rodents have been recognized to carry amongst 45 other diseases.
- Their ability to breed at a young age, coupled with a short gestational period can result in mice having from 5 to 10 litters in a year. A single mother can produce as many as 60 offspring in a year. With these numbers you can imagine the speed at which an infestation can become a real problem!
- Mice and rats are both highly reproductive and extremely capable of surviving in all kinds of conditions making it harder to come up with pest control programmes.
- Openings as small as 1 cm allow rats to sneak in and mice can squeeze through openings of 0.6 cm, or less, in diameter.
- Since rats are smart and tend to avoid new objects, it may take a few days for traps and bait to work.
The reason rodent pest control is of essence is due to the fact that the costs that go into controlling the infestation are far less compared to the costs involved in covering the losses caused by the infestation. Hence, establishing effective rodent pest control is an investment that will deliver results in the long run. A mix of biological, mechanical and chemical traps are usually used to ensure that the infestation is controlled.
- Spilled feed is a common bait of attraction for rodents, by cleaning it up you are practically cutting out a part of their food supply, which is one of the reasons rodents tend to stick around and infiltrate.
- Aluminum cans with lids are suitable to store feed to avoid access to rodents.
- 60 centimetres off the ground and 60 centimetres from any wall are suitable viable spots for placing all bagged food and equipment.
- Concrete, galvanized steel, brick and wire mesh can be used as these are rodent proof and hard for rodents to gnaw through.
- Make sure load-out and walk-in doors close and seal properly.
- Make sure that all possible nesting places for rodents are eliminated to cut off shelter for them.
- Proper construction of the farm site and maintenance of buildings helps prevent entry of rodents.
Aviagen takes pest control as priority to ensure a healthy broiler stock and a healthy environment for everyone to work. Signs for rodent infestation are observed at the beginning itself to assess and analyze the need for control. The population size is also determined early on so as to adjust the rodent control and baiting plan accordingly. In high rodent activity areas bait stations are installed, for which snap traps/ box traps are usually used. An effective rodent baiting plan is established before beginning while farm design and maintenance are given due importance as well in the process of pest control.