Chicken eats rat poo, any treatment for chicken?

[SkyAJK]

This morning I was almost collapsed when I saw my beautiful hen Pretty ate rat poop. I felt pain all over.

Since last week I have been seeing rat poop in one of my chicken runs, but this morning rat poop are all in my 3 chicken runs.

I have been having chickens for over 7 years now, only here and there that I see rat poop, too few and far in between. But since last week this rat poop is multiplying.

I clean my chicken runs and coops every day. By the end of the day no poop in the runs and food removed, unfinished feed composted, everything else secured and spillage cleaned. Obviously feed can not be removed 100% from the floor.

What will happen to my hen that ate rat poops now?

Is there anything I can give her so that she does not get sick from it?

Do I eat her egg?

I feel sick, rotten, no hope, and just about to throw in the towel, why so hard? The soft shell egg, the bullying, the fighting, reproductive issue, the unknown illness, the crop issues, the worms, lice/mites, and the many mystery illness, now has to eat rat poop...

 

[Folly's place]

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 with traps, and finally bait stations worked. Miserable!
Some cats will kill rats, but our barn cat made it clear that rats were our problem, not his. Little rat terrier type dogs (well named!) will hunt rats, but only poison and fixing their entry points will actually work.
mary

 

[Folly's place]

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

 

[SkyAJK]

Today I will spend all day from morning to my chickens all in the coop to do things that stop those rat/mice/mouse.

I will throw out lime after the chickens are in their coop. I will mixed it in with the materials in the chicken runs.

I have no idea what disease these horrible rats have. But I must take drastic action today.

 

[SkyAJK]

This morning I put in 1/3 of feed in the containers for my chickens, when they finish it, I will put more in so that they don't kick out feed.

1 run I covered in lime powder, this run will be left unused for a week, see if any of those nasty rodents come in this run tonight.

I do not have spare space so the other runs have to stay the way they are, but after my chickens are in the coop, I will spread out lime powder all over. Tomorrow morning I will hose it down before I let my chickens out.

My chickens feed are all in 1 area in their run, when they kick their feed out, it is all surrounding that area only. I feed them treat outside of their run, and this area does not have rodent poop. I think this is because it is out in the open and no cover.

Oh..how I so so ....those rodents....I am tackling this rodent's problem with a vengeance. It has to be done today, I can not bear another day seeing those rodent poops.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You are treating the symptoms instead of treating the root problem; your feeders are of a poor design. A proper feeder doesn't allow feed spillage and it keeps the rats out day and night.

There is nothing wrong with not having a good feeder, you don't need it until you need it. But long before you need a good treadle feeder you start to pay for one in wasted feed and increased pests and disease coming into the flock.

Your options are limited being that you are down under. There are one or two treadle feeders available in AU, cheaper than importing a good one as the tariffs and shipping would be about the cost of the feeder. Not the Grandpa or one other Chinese made clones. Look for a feeder with an inward swinging door and bonus if they have springs on the door for adjusting the preload on the door to prevent rats from simply pushing the door open.

Search this forum for Howard E.'s many posts on rodent control. Be basics are bulk feed in a metal drum with a tight lid, clean up the pathways so the natural predators can get to the vermin as they travel between food and their den, and buy a good treadle feeder. Rats will feed during the day even if you remove the feed at nightfall. You have already noticed that the pen that is more open has fewer if any rats. They are prey animals too and do not like open spaces but once you start to clean up the other areas and remove the cover they use to travel hunger will force them to eat when food is available.

Great advice about wearing protective gear when cleaning. The hen will likely be fine as she is already sharing a feeder with the rats, nothing new to her. But deal with the root cause asap, then focus on trying to stop the rats from coming in, then worry about sanitizing the area.

Best of luck on this.