Rats Eating Chickens

[cakkleberrylane]

I have two small silkies (3 months old) inside a hardware cloth pen which is inside a wood chicken coop. There are 8 roosters in the coop which is why the silkies have their own pen.
At 3:30am I heard a lot of peeping and checked them, one of the silkies was very agitated and looking all around the bottom of the pen, the other sitting quietly in the corner. I'm positive there was nothing in their pen, can't be sure about the coop (or under the coop). I heard her again an hour or so later and checked, same thing, so I opened the door to the little pen and the one ran out, the one that was sitting in the corner was hopping and had spots on her that may have been bites.
Not sure if the other silkie was pecking at her, or if there was something that was in the pen, but left before I checked it.
The OK silkie is in the bathtub now and the other is in my "chicken hospital" (a trash can lined with paper towels in the bathroom). I put triple antibiotic ointment on the bloody spots.
We did have a rat problem in May, but I'm pretty sure that has been taken care of. Could it be mice? Or something else?

 

[foxtrapper]

Rats have always been my #1 in coop predator. While they generally wouldn't mess with my large breed chickens, the larger the rats got, the larger the bird they'd kill and try to drag down their tunnels.

I'm talking the big predatory Norway rat here btw. The little field rat is not an issue.

 

[GoodEgg]

Ugh ... still trying to finish the coop and it ended up with LOTS of small gaps because of the way the frame fits. I have a lot of hardware cloth left over so I guess I'll be stapling that over all the gaps. I did fill in the larger ones already.

I've never seen a big rat around here, but I'm sure there could be. Most of my chicks are heavies, but I have 7 banties too. I don't want to see them eaten by rats, nor any chicks if we raise any.

We do have a cat that lives in the garage (she won't hunt anything) and a small kitten that showed up from the woods that is on his way to becoming "mighty hunter" ... I have mixed feelings about that, but the landlady doesn't want us to have housecats and the neighbor told me months ago that the songbirds keep to the woods now because of all the roaming cats. I guess I hope that he will prove useful in the end, since my daughter is attached and wants to keep him, and we do have a problem with moles, snakes, and mice. He might cut down on other cats passing through our yard too.

He already wants to stay outside all night (although I don't let him yet, he's only about 8 weeks now) and is developing a healthy respect for the chickens, although he LOVES to play with the ducks. I don't think the ducks are playing though when they chase and bite him. Maybe this has the added bonus of teaching my ducks to attack. The kitten wants them to chase him, and although they can't hurt him, they are starting to look vicious when they attack en mass, rushing at him with their heads low and biting him. If they had teeth they'd be dangerous, LOL. Maybe it's enough to scare away an inexperienced predator that might get into the yard someday. They already ran off the neighbor's dachshund before I found the hole in the fence and fixed it.

trish

 

[turnerstar31]

I also had a rat problem a little while back. We had a hard time figuring out what was happening as we never saw any rats but we lost a few chicks and a lot of eggs and we finally spotted one. We used the bait that they eat and it did wonders. We found them around the coop dead but the only drawback to that is you have to make sure that your chickens and other animals will not get into it.

 

[foxtrapper]

A cat can be a good mouser, but isn't good against a large Norway rat. If you've ever seen that fight happen, you'll understand. The two are pretty evenly matched.

Don't count on a cat to deal with chicken eating sized Norway rats.

 

[GoodEgg]

I'm not sure about Norway rats ... ?

Actually, the only rats I've ever seen in this area (NW Florida, and not around this particular house) are not too big. Bodies thin and maybe 4 or 5 inches long, plus tail. Too big to be a mouse, but not what I think of as a rat either.

There are still some gaps in the coop about 1" that I haven't covered with wire. I was out there until about 10:00 covering everything within 4' of the ground. I do worry about rats and snakes getting in those gaps.

But if we are talking about some kind of giant rat, hopefully they can't squeeze through the gaps. I know rats are good at flattening themselves and getting in though.

The kitten is far too young to be of any use anyway. He begged to spend the night outside, but I don't let him. He's only about 8 weeks old. He just THINKS he's tough. A rat would probably eat HIM. So would a hawk at this point.

I will probably stay up half the night and keep checking the chicks though. The horror stories on here about rats have me worried.

trish

 

[GoodEgg]

I just did a search and read on Norway rats. It says they are the same as wharf rats ... I know what those are. Ugh.

It also says they are everywhere, and that while (as far as farm predation) they usually eat eggs and young chickens, they have been known even to kill lambs and young pigs.

Ok, now I KNOW I won't sleep tonight. Sigh ... I wish the chicks weren't freaked out by me finishing up the wire, and I wish I had a lantern to do it by.

Thanks for the warning.
trish

 

[Carole AM]

I tried the "Rampage" chunks just a few days ago, and found 2 dead rats. Our barn is old, so I put some under the floor before I covered it up. I still have my traps set, but I think this bait will work. I have it where my birds cannot get into it.

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
Oh, yeah. And if they aren't killing, they are crawling in the feeders and peeing and pooping everywhere. All bad.

 

[wendy]

yuk~~

i hope we never have this problem. we have a few neighbors with cats that wonder on our land and i think take care of any of that. but we keep our feed in the bag and inside a garbage can with a good fitting lid, like someone on here mentioned a little earlier and it is a storage building up off the ground on cenderblocks with a door to it (one of those metal buildings)
good luck!