Chicken eats rat

[dshort1969]

Any information please. We were tilling our garden yesterday and a small rat run into the chicken coop. And the chickens chased it and all were eating it. Do we need to throw away their eggs worried about any possible diseases? We haven’t put any poison out or anything like that.

 

[IvysAnimals]

Hello! Welcome to BYC! You can take the chickens to the vet if you're worried ( if the rats ate something possibly poisonous ) or watch them to make sure they're safe. If you want, you can throw the eggs out. I don't think It would alter anything but if they did get some kind of disease or infection, I would get rid of them for safety.If the rats remains got on anything, you'll probably want to disinfect whatever it was on, or do it to the whole coop. They should be fine, though. It's quite common for birds like poultry to eat small animals like that, they should be fine.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

We had a full grown, full size Rooster, who would kill any rats or mice in the area and feed them to his girls. We never stopped eating the eggs, and never had any problems. We were glad the Rooster was such a good protector and provider.
Welcome from New Orleans.

 

[Painted Calls]

Welcome to BYC!

Absolutely no need to worry if you don't have poison out. Chickens are great little hunters and eat rats/mice/anything that moves all the time. City rats are the ones that carry diseases. Even then, it's highly unlikely that your chickens would catch any from them. Not possible for anything to happen to their eggs.

 

[SilverBirds]

Welcome to BYC!

As long as the rats never got into poison they will be fine. My chickens catch rats and mice all the time and we still eat the eggs.

 

[Callender Girl]

My chickens made me get rid of the rats for them and it was a trial!

But, they love a good mousey! This week, Bronwyn even ate what I would consider a mostly decomposed mouse corpse and seems fine. Mouse keep-away is a popular game for my flock.

Welcome to BYC; hope we've put your mind at ease.

 

[638858]

Snakes, mice, rats, frogs, and lizards.. are on the menu for your chickens.. no need to worry.. no trip to the vet needed.. totally natural and organic. Lol

 

[dshort1969]

Welcome to BYC!

As long as the rats never got into poison they will be fine. My chickens catch rats and mice all the time and we still eat the eggs.

Thanks

 

[dshort1969]

Snakes, mice, rats, frogs, and lizards.. are on the menu for your chickens.. no need to worry.. no trip to the vet needed.. totally natural and organic. Lol

Thanks

 

[dshort1969]

My chickens made me get rid of the rats for them and it was a trial!

But, they love a good mousey! This week, Bronwyn even ate what I would consider a mostly decomposed mouse corpse and seems fine. Mouse keep-away is a popular game for my flock.

Welcome to BYC; hope we've put your mind at ease.

Thanks