Deep gash on chicken's leg

[PD-Riverman]

I didn't realize this was going to turn into a kill rat thread but I'm happy it has. I think I'm going to dig a trench around my entire garden and line it with something so I can fill the trench with water and night when the chickens are locked up. Hopefully the rats will drown themselves. Our coop is secure now. We didn't think rats would kill even a silkie so we made the coop without a bottom. Now we realize how stupid that was and will fix it before moving the silkies back outside.

People are trying to help from future problems. A ditch will not do any good----they can swim, jump, etc. If I lived there I would use rat dogs in a large fenced in area around the coop at night----with lots of feed left to draw the rats. I might have to pick up a wheel barrow 1/2 full of rats each morning, but it feel it would get less as the days go by. Good Luck with the Little Chicken and Good Luck with the rats!!