Rats!!

[MissChick@dee]

So here is your funny for the night. We are new to having chickens as we just got ours at the end of August. Not to far into this venture I was out cleaning their boxes and coop out. I had noticed that their feeder was empty which at the time I thought was odd because it had never been empty before. To clean their boxes out I have to climb up into that area. They weren't using the bottom boxes so I thought there was no harm in not cleaning them and just leaving the straw there rather than waste it. I climbed back out and went and got fresh straw. I filled the top boxes and then noticed what I thought was a feather in one of the bottom boxes. I reached in to grab said feather and toss it out. As I touched the feather it ran up my glove, up my arm and down my body. I was absolutely frozen because A. it wasn't a feather but a rat B. I had no idea if it was still on me ( hood of my sweatshirt, down my boots??). I very calmly backed out of the coop to see my husband standing near by. I told him we have a rat problem. The only thing he utters is "What makes you think that?" Folks...that is when I did swear!

....Sounds like something my husband would say. At least he didn’t say...Are you sure?....

 

[Folly's place]

Most rodents will go home to their burrows to die; good outside, not so good in a house.
The truth is, traps will only get an occasional rat, not every individual. Ideally it's important to keep them out of the coop and run, but it's a constant battle to manage this. Some cats will kill rats, as will weasels and those little rat terriers. None of these critters will get all the rats in a colony either!
When you've had nice pullets beheaded overnight in their coop, and seen the rats involved during the day, as I did a couple of years ago, all bets are off, and all necessary steps were taken to fix the problem. No dead rats were ever seen here either!
Mary

 

[Trux]

TomCat rat traps with peanut butter does wonderus things...I don't have rats...anymore

 

[BrandonVercnocke]

I feel your pain. I live in a rat prone area. I’ve killed quite a few lately. I set out snap traps most nights. Thankfully my coop is rat proof. I lined the bottom completely with hardware cloth and damn happy I didz The problem I have is the rats dig under and pull the soil so I have hollow tunnels and exposed hardware cloth along the run floor. So annoying

 

[room onthebroom]

So here is your funny for the night. We are new to having chickens as we just got ours at the end of August. Not to far into this venture I was out cleaning their boxes and coop out. I had noticed that their feeder was empty which at the time I thought was odd because it had never been empty before. To clean their boxes out I have to climb up into that area. They weren't using the bottom boxes so I thought there was no harm in not cleaning them and just leaving the straw there rather than waste it. I climbed back out and went and got fresh straw. I filled the top boxes and then noticed what I thought was a feather in one of the bottom boxes. I reached in to grab said feather and toss it out. As I touched the feather it ran up my glove, up my arm and down my body. I was absolutely frozen because A. it wasn't a feather but a rat B. I had no idea if it was still on me ( hood of my sweatshirt, down my boots??). I very calmly backed out of the coop to see my husband standing near by. I told him we have a rat problem. The only thing he utters is "What makes you think that?" Folks...that is when I did swear!

 

[GldnValleyHens]

I’ve only had one rat, but lots of mice. It’s my own fault, they love my garage full of spilled chicken feed and horse grain. I always forget to sweep it up. Our wiener dog tracked down this massive rat and killed it, and through poison and traps we’ve been eliminating the mouse problem. Rats are the most disgusting creatures to ever crawl the earth, except maybe naked mole rats. I just really hate rodents

 

[Al Gerhart]

It's not possible to eliminate some spilled food on the floor at night, and rats also eat eggs, and will kill chickens in the coop at night.
Concentrate on rat proofing your coop (hardware cloth!!!), clean out things so you can see if any are still there, and set out bait stations in safe places, where nobody else can get to them. Only poison will eliminate your colony; you've seen one, and have many more!
Pet rats are adorable, but wild ones are NOT.
Mary

Not so. You are thinking people have rats because they have chickens. They have rats because the feed is being spilled in large amounts and the rats can get to the feed in the feeder. Without a very large source of food rats cannot build up large numbers and no, they won't eat your chickens. Chicks perhaps, but without the spilled feed the rats will not be waiting around to snatch chicks.

And it is nearly impossible to rat proof a chicken pen much less have any sizeable run. Even the commercial chicken barns know it isn't possible. The hardware cloth will rust out soon enough or the rats will chew through wood to get in. Even concrete, only sheet metal stops them cold.

The problem with poison as the main deterrent is that those poisoned rats will be eaten by the regular rat predators like snakes and birds of prey. Poison can play a part in accelerating wiping out a nest of rats but using it as the main defense is short sighted and environmentally irresponsible.

 

[Folly's place]

I had three nice bantam pullets killed by rats in my coop overnight!!! I hope you never have this happen to any of your birds, ever.
That's why it's a continuous effort to keep rodents out, because they are so successful, and do live almost everywhere.
I guess I wasn't clear enough; poison has a necessary use at times, in addition to everything else that helps keep rodents out of our homes, barns, and other outbuildings.
Some spilled feed is going to be present somewhere, and unless your birds are always confined, so there's never an open door, sometimes rodents will find a way inside.
Mary

 

[tjroth]

I’ve only had one rat, but lots of mice. It’s my own fault, they love my garage full of spilled chicken feed and horse grain. I always forget to sweep it up. Our wiener dog tracked down this massive rat and killed it, and through poison and traps we’ve been eliminating the mouse problem. Rats are the most disgusting creatures to ever crawl the earth, except maybe naked mole rats. I just really hate rodents

We had pet rats which were great! Outside rats not so much!!! We haven't had an issue now that we pick the food up and killed the one.

 

[tjroth]

....Sounds like something my husband would say. At least he didn’t say...Are you sure?....

I am fairly certain my head spun around at that point in addition to my swearing.