Kinda scared..

[Vamvakas]

I have a rat problem with rats living under/near my chickens coop now since it's getting cooler now.
I now use rat poison, Ramik poison nuggets in the poison box and the rats been eating for days and I always refill it. But today it was snowing and in the morning I opened the coop the feed the flock.

I noticed my Black Australorp breeding cock had something in his mouth, it was one of the poison nuggets for the rats that he found in the snow in the coops run. I quickly shooed him away and luckily he dropped it and didn't eat it. I think during the night a rat must of dropped it by mistake.

Will my rooster die since he had the poison in his mouth but didn't swallow it?

 

[BravewingTheHen]

Rat poisons are safe in two ways; Firstly they are quite target specific and secondly they have to be taken in a dose proportionate to the body weight of the animal. It will be hard to tell whether the poison has affected him or not. I hear Vitamin K is the antidote, but I can't be sure. Here's a link that could be helpful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...my-chickens-just-ate-rat-bait/10#post_2697018

 

[Eggcessive]

Hpoefully your rooster didn't get enough to harm him. I have used a product called Just One Bite that is a solid chunk that has a hole in the middle and can be wired into a chicken-proof tube or poison box. The rodents just chew off a chunk and eat it, then die pretty quickly. I totally rid my dirt floor coop long ago with this product and have shared it with a couple of friends who have had similar results. It is poison, but it seems to be a little safer if an animal (such as a pet or chicken) should eat the poisoned rat.

 

[Vamvakas]

Only time will tell.. Most rat poisons take 2-5 days to kill rats depending on what brand. But my rooster didn't eat the poison just had it on his beak then I scared him and he dropped it. If I see him not eating soon then he has been poisoned and I'll feel so bad.