An important part of moving or visiting a new environment is learning ahead of time what's out there!
Long ago we moved to Okinawa for a couple of years, DH was in the army. Before getting there we read up about it's history, climate, dangers (many!) and how to swim/ snorkle safely...
I have a bantam EE sitting on bantam EE eggs right now, hoping for some nice chicks, next week or a little later. I didn't decide to let this happen earlier in the year, so here we are...
Toads: slow moving for a reason, their skin exudes nasty tasting stuff, most animals only try one once...
We have very very few tree frogs and toads, a huge change from two years ago. And this year, very few insects of any sort, necessary food for the frogs, toads, and bats, also missing. And the normal swarms of mosquitoes also totally missing. We don't miss the mosquitoes or deer flies, but...
Good work for that tree frog! There are so few here now, it's really sad.
Our three unplanned cockerels are now about 17 weeks old, and one of the two Australorps needs to leave. he's so far not at all human aggressive or nasty to flockmates, but all three can't stay, and he's got to go.
Mary
Very nice ride! And now you know how she feels about 'I'm done' and that gate. You saved what could have been an interesting gate jumping/ plowing into it situation.
Good for you!
Mary
Feed store chicks!
My ten 'pullets' included three cockerels this year, and two breeds not mentioned on the bin. About right for feed store chicks in my experience. All are healthy at least, and one or two of the cockerels need to leave soon.
Mary
Back to your actual question: I don't think your birds will get sick from eating rat poo, but I also don't know what diseases the rats might carry where you live.
Mary
Ugh rats!
Hope you are wearing gloves and a N95 face mask, at least, cleaning this stuff up. Must eliminate those rats soon as possible! And make those runs safer.
We had three nice pullets killed and eggs eaten the one time rats invaded our coop. Fixed their entry points, tried and failed...
Cackle recommended using a heat lamp at first for their shipped chicks, and then the brooder plate. For feed store chicks that are in good shape, the brooder plate is fine immediately, IMO.
Mary
So true!
Garlic and apple cider vinegar are both wonderful, in our kitchen for us. The birds don't need either, just use them for your own cooking.
Mary
Cute structure, not so good as a coop. Actual dimensions? Do you have it on a concrete base, or a wide hardware cloth skirt, or some way to keep digging predators out?
How well is the hardware cloth attached, and how good are those latches? Picture two big dogs attacking it, or a nice big...
We've had both bantam chicks and standard chicks shipped from Cackle, and in general had a slightly higher % of deaths in the bantam babies. Never everyone, but a difference. And six is a very small number, more issues with either cold or heat in shipping possible.
Grit will be necessary when...
Depends on the dirt!
Here we checked our chicken eggs for lead, and found none. Wonderful! Our older buildings were never painted with paint containing lead, and no toxic dumping occurred either where they can roam. that's not true many places, with buildings built and painted before 1970...
Historically (before agriculture, a recent development in human history) people were hunter-gatherers, and ate animals and plants available to them. Did they live longer than we do now? Not likely, because there were so many other factors involved.
It's harder to balance a vegetarian diet...