I think my boyfriend just traumatized my chickens... and me

[RAsChickens]

So I live in the country, where we have rats. I was in the run giving the girls some extra grit when I hear my boyfriend yell "RileyAnn, look at this!" I yelled "Look at what?", and he came around the woodpile holding a very big dead rat and a golf club! He said "I just killed this thing with a club in the garage. Isn't it nice?"I jumped up from the run bench and yelled "Ew, get it away! You'll scare the girls!" He said "No, they like it! Come here Bridget!" I said "Her name is Gidget and she hate rats!" I was right. 3 of the 5 girls came over and as soon as they saw it, under the coop they went! I said "Thanks for traumatizing us!" As soon as my boyfriend and the rat were long gone, Tiffany dared to come out. I gave them some scratch to calm their nerves and told my boyfriend "I can't stuff them full of scratch every time you traumatize them!" My boyfriend is so silly!

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I trap mice I feed them to the chickens. They love them and have great fun playing keep-away with them.

When I trap rats I cut them open and put them in the run so the chickens can get to the insides. They enjoy feasting on them.

Chickens are omnivores and will eat about anything that doesn’t eat them first. Often they are afraid of anything new and it takes them a while to build up the courage to try it. I often see that with things like cabbage leaves from my garden. They often run away at first, but if I leave them in the run after a while one approaches them and tries a bite. That’s usually all it takes, the others usually then come running.

One way to really frighten mine is to carry something strange, like a small camera. They are used to me carrying a feed or water bucket so that doesn’t bother them, but if I how up with a tiny camera they run as far from me as they can get. They are often scared of things they are not used to. But let them get used to it and they will be OK.

I don’t know how your boyfriend presented the rat, probably not very well, but I wonder how much of the chickens’ reaction was due to your screaming instead of just to the rat. Someone running and screaming can frighten chickens.

 

[RAsChickens]

When I trap mice I feed them to the chickens. They love them and have great fun playing keep-away with them.

When I trap rats I cut them open and put them in the run so the chickens can get to the insides. They enjoy feasting on them.

Chickens are omnivores and will eat about anything that doesn’t eat them first. Often they are afraid of anything new and it takes them a while to build up the courage to try it. I often see that with things like cabbage leaves from my garden. They often run away at first, but if I leave them in the run after a while one approaches them and tries a bite. That’s usually all it takes, the others usually then come running.

One way to really frighten mine is to carry something strange, like a small camera. They are used to me carrying a feed or water bucket so that doesn’t bother them, but if I how up with a tiny camera they run as far from me as they can get. They are often scared of things they are not used to. But let them get used to it and they will be OK.

I don’t know how your boyfriend presented the rat, probably not very well, but I wonder how much of the chickens’ reaction was due to your screaming instead of just to the rat. Someone running and screaming can frighten chickens.

He was holding it by the tail and pressed it up against the hardware cloth on the run. I'm actually scared of rats so my screaming probably freaked the girls out!

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe it's time for a new boyfriend, if he gets his kicks by traumatizing you and chickens.

 

[allosaurusrock]

And if he hits animals with baseball bats...

 

[RAsChickens]

Haha you guys, he's a joker...

 

[Bunnylady]

I will take down a rat any way I can, and some of them have been pretty brutal - kudos to your BF for the kill!

All I can say is, at least it wasn't a live venomous snake. My husband has been known to bring them in the house for show-and-tell.

 

[RAsChickens]

I will take down a rat any way I can, and some of them have been pretty brutal - kudos to your BF for the kill! 

All I can say is, at least it wasn't a live venomous snake. My husband has been known to bring them in the house for show-and-tell.

OMG, if my bf did that, he'd sleep in the coop!

 

[Then I Will]

Hahhaha this is a funny story! Thumbs up for your BF for taking down a rat with a club!
It's okay if you're scared of rats. But it might help if you give the rats over to your birds and let them make short work of the carcass. It's a food chain after all. Predators eat your chickens sometimes... I say, let the chickens fight back when they can.

Your BF was just bringing home the bacon for the girls that day. I say he's a keeper. And chickens will get terrorized over you throwing scraps in at them sometimes. They'll get desensitized over time.

Once, my flock of free rangers took down a baby snake and then fought over it.

 

[drumstick diva]

Well I guess it's better than having a boyfriend that gets up on a chair and screams like a baby. You know like Keep off of MY chair. Rats carry diseases don't they? Would a chicken eating one get the disease?