Rats?

[Padfoot417]

Okay,so the gist of this issue is that a neighbor told my mother that chickens 'attract' rats.
Now obviously rats are attracted to barnyards by the food and dung and they eat chicken eggs.
But we just have a hobby thing going on here,with my 5 older pullets out in our shed and the 1 young chick in the brooder.
Our shed does have openings at the top,and squirrels have burrowed into it before and chewed up the floor.(that was before we replaced it with better wood)
I'm not really worried about rats,I keep the feed covered and my gals are always clean.They're just reaching 7 weeks and so have not started laying either.
So should I be worried about rats in the future?
My mother is pretty much having a cow on the subject,she's a bit of a clean freak and terrified of anything that isn't 'domesticated'.
Please help,I'd like to lay her worries to rest!Thank you all!

 

[BrewedInNh]

Sounds to me like you have the right impression, or at least the same impression as I do.

We got our 6 hens as chicks and they're about 14 months old now. We live in a very rural area with lots of other small farms and horse properties around us.

We've had 1 rat so far, and it wasn't near our coop. It was living in the stone wall just a few feet from an open bird feeder on the opposite side of the yard away from the coop. I shot the little furry so-and-so with a pellet gun and haven't seen another since.

I work with a guy who has had a dozen hens in a more suburban neighborhood for 3 years. They've never seen a rat on their property.

 

[Padfoot417]

See exactly!
We live around a largely wooded area and near the water,but we've never had problems with any kind of animal,let alone rats.
Thanks so much,I look forward to telling my mom and putting her worries to rest