Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex :
Anyone on here have experience with rats attacking chickens?
All this week my chicken numbers have been going plus one, minus one. Last Saturday my broody silver penciled wyandotte (aka raffle donation!) hatched an adorable grey-brown chick. The next day it was found in the nest with her... missing its head. Needless to say, I was upset. I am sure SHE didn't do it, but I wish she'd protected it better. None of her other eggs hatched.
Then on Wednesday, my broody buff orp hatched a little black and white chick. Yay!
But then something small got into my little coop and killed (and ate most of) one of my 6 1/2 week old Aloha project chicks. I found what was left of it on the floor of the coop this afternoon. Just bones, feathers, and feet left. At first I worried it was death by natural causes and canibalism (ew!) but while I sat there contemplating the probable cause of death, I heard a scratching/chewing noise coming from under the coop. We tried, machetes in hand, to flood it out, dig it out, or otherwise scare it out... but it didn't show its self. Finally we just locked the peeps in for the night and set out snap traps at the most likely entrance point of BOTH coops. Whatever killed my chicks will end.
I am thinking rat, most likely. Anything bigger would have killed more and taken the bodies, right? No other birds have been harmed, no eggs seem to be missing/broken. The dogs keep most bigger things pretty well scared off, but rats are small and stealthy. Aside from the traps is there anything else I can do? I am only going to consider pet safe options (no poisons!!!) And I prefer not to have it suffer, even if it did kill my birds. Can't blame a critter for looking for an easy meal because that's its nature. I am not looking for revenge so much as trying to prevent more losses.
On a positive note, at least I ended on plus one- my BLRW, Scarlet, hatched her first egg today. The other 4 eggs under her might hatch tomorrow *cross fingers!*
And I have 3 more broodies setting. Lots of mutts will be coming to the swap to find new homes if the girls succeed at hatching and protecting their babies. (though I might keep Scarlet's peep. It appears to be pure BLRW, the only possible non-mutt that could come from my flock right now.)
Sorry to hear about your losses
I've had what I think was a rat or some small critter attack one of my grown chickens before. It chewed on her leg and she was limping one morning so I assume it happened at night in the coop. I took her to our local bird clinic and they gave her pain and joint meds and kept her over night. She was on the meds for about two weeks and her leg healed. I was surprised because she was an old girl, almost 6 years old. But that's the only rat and chicken problems I had. We set traps behind the coop where the chickens couldn't accidently step in them but caught nothing. Nothing attacked my chickens again though.
I'm not sure what it was but I'm assuming it was a rat.
