Rats? A Cat? Something Else? What killed my chickens?

[McChooky]

I'm pretty set against using poison, as not only could it get my chickens or local cats that wander, I also live in the woods and would hate to imagine some fox or possum or hawk dying from eating a poisoned rat.

I feel like some people have talked about a product that is safe and I need to do more research on that front. But I also feel like poisoning is a short term solution, because there's always another rat ready to move in.

RatX is safe to use around other animals including pets and livestock. It does not contain toxic ingredients and poses no risk of secondary poisoning. RatX is designed to kill rats and mice(rodents)

Common diseases spread by rats:
Salmonella,Avian TB, Leptospirosis,Pasteurellosis and parasites (fleas,mites and lice)

 

[McChooky]

Just a note from observing my cats they will eat the heads off of things they kill. (They have never killed a chicken)
When we lost our whole first flock from a mink/weasel it sadly took our WHOLE flock and took some of their heads and killed the rest. Sadly that is our experience with that type of predator.

Unfortunately weasels and minks get so excited in the 'hunt' that they'll kill everything .They can squeeze thru chicken wire effortlessly and wipe out whole flocks in one night. Often not eating a one

 

[McChooky]

"Oh, she died and some lucky rat went to work "

You have a good reason to suspect a 'lucky rat' may have killed your chicken. Limiting access to the feed can make them attack each other or your chickens( the youngest & oldest are the most vulnerable)I wish you the best with your problem and sorry you're going thru this in the winter when its so cold.It really limits how much you can do

 

[Al Gerhart]

"Oh, she died and some lucky rat went to work "

You have a good reason to suspect a 'lucky rat' may have killed your chicken. Limiting access to the feed can make them attack each other or your chickens( the youngest & oldest are the most vulnerable)I wish you the best with your problem and sorry you're going thru this in the winter when its so cold.It really limits how much you can do

With respect, I'll argue with you on that one.

Chicks, yeah, even with plenty of feed available the rats will go after chicks. That is what started me on the road to creating our feeder which you can find the original origin thread here on BYC. But after installing the first plywood, inward swinging door feeder, protected by a 3/4" diameter round bar that slid up and down in a couple of electrical conduit clamps to keep the door closed, we didn't loose a single chick.

Adult chickens, no, rarely attacked by rats especially if they have proper roosts where the rats cannot get at their toes. If an adult hen dies or is close to death, then yes, starving rats might go after them if they are stationary.

The rats WILL attack each other, you were 100% correct on that. The first casualties are the young, cannibalized as soon the food supply is gone. Then the smaller ones until only the large rats that are more dangerous to try to take down are left.

So don't be worried about treadle feeders causing rats to attack chickens, were that the case there wouldn't be many treadle feeders on the market. Rats have four to five days to move or die assuming there is no other human supplied feed source nearby. In my case on day four they were staggering around in the yard desperately searching for food and my two dogs were having a blast killing them.

 

[Anon112]

I adjusted the feed situation in my treadle feeders, and it seems to have solved the problem of the hens raking any out. Not a single crumb on the ground near any of the feeders for the last two days.

I watched on the camera last night as the rats went through the coop. One of them ran through where one set of chickens were roosting and startled my rooster down off the roost. I ran out, worried about the hen who'd been left alone, but both she and the rooster were apparently unharmed. I set a snap trap along a wall where the rats seem to run (in the run, but not where the chickens can access it), so we'll see if that catches anything tonight.

I was hoping to do a bit more work today on the run, but it's absolutely pouring rain.

 

[McChooky]

With respect, I'll argue with you on that one.

Chicks, yeah, even with plenty of feed available the rats will go after chicks. That is what started me on the road to creating our feeder which you can find the original origin thread here on BYC. But after installing the first plywood, inward swinging door feeder, protected by a 3/4" diameter round bar that slid up and down in a couple of electrical conduit clamps to keep the door closed, we didn't loose a single chick.

Adult chickens, no, rarely attacked by rats especially if they have proper roosts where the rats cannot get at their toes. If an adult hen dies or is close to death, then yes, starving rats might go after them if they are stationary.

The rats WILL attack each other, you were 100% correct on that. The first casualties are the young, cannibalized as soon the food supply is gone. Then the smaller ones until only the large rats that are more dangerous to try to take down are left.

So don't be worried about treadle feeders causing rats to attack chickens, were that the case there wouldn't be many treadle feeders on the market. Rats have four to five days to move or die assuming there is no other human supplied feed source nearby. In my case on day four they were staggering around in the yard desperately searching for food and my two dogs were having a blast killing them.

The rats had free access to food until the chicks started used the treadle feeder. So in my opinion the rats won't stop killing chickens until the chickens are moved unless the rats find an easier food source. Once the rats are gone its safe to bring the chickens back (5 days has passed)

 

[SlaterFarm]

On Wednesday morning I found my Delaware hen, Greta, dead in the run. She was laid out and something had consumed some of her face and there was blood around her vent area. For the last few months, I'd been thinking she was headed for heart failure, so I thought "Oh, she died and some lucky rat went to work."

Then Thursday morning I found another Delaware dead. Same half-eaten face. But this hen was clearly killed. I found blood spatter where she'd been roosting (though no sign of blood anywhere else?!), and she looked like she'd been possibly dragged to where I found her. (She was not super near a wall or other indications that something tried to take her out of the coop).

So . . . what did this?!

My main association with predators in the night is a total massacre. This animal (or animals) is just taking one chicken at a time, and just eating the face and maybe a bit of the body.

I know that rats can get into my chicken area. My chickens do not have a proper rat-proof coop---they roost on branches and bars in the run. I did a big inspection of the run yesterday and found to my horror that a section of wire that looked secure was actually totally detached from the board, meaning there was a huge (like 2 foot) section of wire that an animal could have crawled through. There is a ferral cat that comes through my property and spends a lot of time around my chicken run (because it hunts the rats), but I've never seen it in my run or try to get in my run.

I know that there could be other predators (minks, weasels, etc) that are around but I've just never seen them.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Just one bird killed, face eaten but that's about it? Could a rat take out not one but two large hens (we're talking 6 pound ladies)?

I spent last night in a hammock in the run with my grumpiest barn cat, so no fatalities last night. This weekend I'm going to try to cobble together a totally predator proof roosting box for the hens.

This is so stressful: I've had deaths before obviously, some of them terrible massacres, but I always knew what did it and how they got in. Having both be a mystery is really doing a number on me!

That would tear me up. Have you tried using one of those Trail Cameras? I have one and it snaps a pic when there is movement, so best to place it where the chickens won't trigger it but an approaching varmint will. They will show you what is in your area during the night. I have a secure coop, and a run for my eight hens. I inspect for damage EVERY day, even looking for scratch marks where something was trying to get in. Keep an eye out in the mud and dirt for footprints, and you can find track identification PDF's online. Now, all that said, It SOUNDS like you might have a rat. They will kill, but only eat a little bit at a time, so maybe that is the cause of only the head and vent damage. Good luck, let us know what's going on. Sonny - Slater Farm.

 

[Anon112]

That would tear me up. Have you tried using one of those Trail Cameras? I have one and it snaps a pic when there is movement, so best to place it where the chickens won't trigger it but an approaching varmint will. They will show you what is in your area during the night. I have a secure coop, and a run for my eight hens. I inspect for damage EVERY day, even looking for scratch marks where something was trying to get in. Keep an eye out in the mud and dirt for footprints, and you can find track identification PDF's online. Now, all that said, It SOUNDS like you might have a rat. They will kill, but only eat a little bit at a time, so maybe that is the cause of only the head and vent damage. Good luck, let us know what's going on. Sonny - Slater Farm.

I always feel like I'm risking my luck when I say this, but I found and closed off two vulnerable spots in my run and no fatalities since then.

Now, there are definitely rats in my run. I have a Ring camera that I relocated to actually be in their run. So I can see the rats searching around the run for food (but not seeming to find much? Move on, guys!).

At this time of year, I leave for work before the sun comes up and often return after the sun has set, so it's a bit harder to notice when wire is loose. I do frequently look for any signs of digging/scratching when I do my nightly "head count".

I'm using this holiday weekend to do even more work on making the run more secure.