Rats in chicken pen!!!

[Kuntry Klucker]

Yes... I really think so. As long as you don't give them any incentive (i.e. no spilled food or access to food) then they will not have a reason to visit your coop. Healthy coop management will keep the pests away. If you place the trap every night for a week and don't catch anything then I think all your worries are over. Of course, baiting a trap can lure them too so it's a catch 22. But yeah, you've disturbed them and did some cleaning so I'd say you've done very well to hang the unwelcome sign.

great!! thank you so much. I will set the traps for a few more days if I do not catch anything I will just assume that they ran off.
I will have to keep a close eye on the pen for the rest of the fall and winter I suppose.

I always thought that field rats were just that, rats that stayed in the field. With the destruction of my neighbors barn and fields mowed
I guess it just sent them flooding out into the neighboring areas. Yikes!!

 

[dheltzel]

Ok, so are you saying that chicken will not get fleas from rats? Do fleas even bother chickens? I know that they get mites and lice, just not sure about fleas.

It's possible a rat flea would sample a chicken (or a dog or human), but it will not be able to setup a breeding colony there. I have never heard of chicken fleas, but given how many species of fleas there are, there might be one, just not in the US.

I suppose we should all be thankful that fleas are not a chicken pest, as you mentioned, we have enough other pests to deal with already.

 

[Folly's place]

I'd like to mention that dogs, cats, other canines, and cats, all share the same fleas, the cat flea, here in the US.. Rodent fleas are different, and primate fleas are different species too. However, any flea will bite anybody, if they have the opportunity, although they will only stay on their normal host species. That's how cats and humans get plague out west where it's in the prairie dog colonies. Mary

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi All,

It is day three of setting traps. Nothing has been caught. However, a few of the traps look to be tampered with but did not
set off.

I see no chewing on the pen or the coop. I keep looking for rat pellets in the pen but I do not see anything.
Some of the dirt was slightly disturbed this morning but not new holes dug.

My question is, is there a chance that I am not dealing with a rat but something else?

I take the food up at night, leave no water, and lock the girls in the coop. I stir the bedding every morning
and find no evidence of rats in the coop. My girls all look healthy and happy, so nothing is apparently bothering
them at night.

I a so stumped, any thoughts?

 

[Folly's place]

I've never caught a rat in a trap! The year they were smiling and waving at me in the barn in daylight, a couple of juveniles died in half-full water buckets, but non in traps. Only poison worked. Lock up your pets, let the neighbors know, and set out a warfarin type rat poison. If there's one, there are many. Mary

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

I've never caught a rat in a trap! The year they were smiling and waving at me in the barn in daylight, a couple of juveniles died in half-full water buckets, but non in traps. Only poison worked. Lock up your pets, let the neighbors know, and set out a warfarin type rat poison. If there's one, there are many. Mary

ok, how long does it take the rats to die after using the poising? Would just one night of putting poison out be enough or should I let them
snack on it for a few nights?

Now the rats (or what I think it rats) are coming into my pen. Should I set the poison in the pen at night? Should I be worried about any residue that the girls
might get into. I have never used poison before.

One more question, do they have the cake poison? I don't want to use pellets incase the spread it around and take it away and my girls get
into it later.

Thanks

 

[Free Spirit]

Don't ever put any poison in the pen. If you miss or forget to pick up the one a chicken gets a hold of when you let them out (you get the idea).

How/where are you placing the trap may also make a difference. Rats (and mice) like to run along walls. So a trap placed along the outside of the fence line would be more effective than one placed in the open.

Place trap like so...


If you place it near where you see digging for better results. Digging could also be a different predator too. If you're able to get a game camera you can solve a lot of mysteries.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Don't ever put any poison in the pen. If you miss or forget to pick up the one a chicken gets a hold of when you let them out (you get the idea).

How/where are you placing the trap may also make a difference. Rats (and mice) like to run along walls. So a trap placed along the outside of the fence line would be more effective than one placed in the open.

Place trap like so...


If you place it near where you see digging for better results. Digging could also be a different predator too. If you're able to get a game camera you can solve a lot of mysteries.

I am placing the traps in the pen. I guess this might not be the best idea, it may just be attracting them to the pen.

I am beginning to wonder if I am dealing with something other than a rat. What other things dig in chicken pens. I can think of maybe mice and moles. I do not
see any rat droppings in the pen. I look the dirt over well and see nothing. There is also no chewing on the pen or the coop.

I am afraid to use poison. We have lots of birds of prey around here that I would hate to poison. Not to mention the risk of it leaving any residue
that the girls could get into.

I let my girls free range in the backyard, so the risk of the rats possibly spreading the poison or dropping some and the girls
getting into it is a real risk for me.

 

[Free Spirit]

If you want to put out poison then you can make yourself a homemade bait station so that the bait is safe from other animals and birds. Here's a link
http://www.ourbetternature.org/rats2.htm

These pictures show a purchased and homemade one place along a fence and a wall.
http://www.wildfarmalliance.org/images/FS Lg jpgs/5bRodentStations.jpg
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/toploaderfencebottom.jpg
http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/toploaderagainstwall.jpg

 

[Free Spirit]

I am beginning to wonder if I am dealing with something other than a rat. What other things dig in chicken pens. I can think of maybe mice and moles. I do not
see any rat droppings in the pen. I look the dirt over well and see nothing. There is also no chewing on the pen or the coop.

Here is a link to the BYC Learning Center for Chicken Predators & Pests
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-predators-pests-how-to-protect-treat-your-flock

Diggers that are threatening to your birds (not limited to and including) can be skunks, raccoons, foxes, dogs, coyotes, opossum, rats, mice, moles, etc.

Armadillos are diggers too but not much of chicken threat. Snakes and voles can be opportunists and take advantage of established holes.

Some of these may or may not be in your area. Where I live I have to deal with ALL of these and more.