Rats at night in chicken coop.

[Olivekat07]

Don't know where you are located, but at least in my state (California), you can get help to kill the rats from the County Vector Control. They brought out stainless steel bait traps with some kind of green solidified bait that could not be accessed by dogs or cats (at that time I had only house cats), and if the animals ate the dead rats it would not hurt them. During this same time I had a stray dog that hung around that I thought belonged to the neighbors but realized she didn't when I noticed them chasing her away. She got along well with my border collie mix who was kind of lonely since her mom died and was a nice dog, and after a month or two of not feeding her, I finally decided to just keep her... During that time I saw her eat the rats that were killed by the stainless steel bait stations on multiple occasions. A month later, on Superbowl Sunday in 2000, she had 5 huge, healthy puppies, that all grew up to be twice as big as their 40lb mother. All lived to a ripe old age, I gave one to my brother, kept 2 and gave the others away. Lost the last one in 2014. So there are things you can use to get rid of them (if you don't want to have cats) that won't hurt your dog. Vector control was most helpful with the rats, but wouldn't help me at all with the evil ground squirrels, who are in some ways worse than the rats (but don't eat chickens, only their food). But dig huge burrows that undermine your building foundations, and any pavement and carry bubonic plague, and destroy your garden and landscaping. Happily, my cat Tippy Tail finds them quite tasty...

Or in my state (Tennessee) you can call Orkin, they can control any type of rodent, from rats to snakes.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I think at least for me, it's a multifaceted defense;
I use the old school snap traps and poison(where the chickens can't get to it); I remove water and feed at dusk; I've used a few live traps;and keeping the area free of any clutter that the rats can burrow under and make themselves at home. I find that they come and go in waves seems to be the case, there are times when I don't see any remnants of them for months, then all of a sudden I'll see droppings. But this protocol for me seems to work, for now. I hate rats. I have German Shepherds, and my female is a master rat hunter and makes quick work of them once she hones in on where they are. She has taught my male how to hunt them and he pretty much picks up the slack when she's distracted by something else.

 

[cmom]

I use rat bait boxes that only the rats and mice can get to it. I haven't found any dead rats so I think they go down in their tunnels and die. I had a severe infestation in one coop and when I started renovating it they poured out, all sizes. I put a couple of the rat bait boxes in the coop and in the barn behind the coops.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rats and mice are created nuisances. People feed chickens without investing in a proper feeder and yes, the feed will attract, hold, and multiply rodents.

Lock up the feed in metal trash cans or steel barrels with lids. Buy a treadle feeder with a spring loaded door, a heavy counterweighted door, and a narrow and distant treadle.

Or you can spend the rest of your days trapping and buying poison. It is that simple.