Will rats kill baby chicks?

[chickengeorgeto]

Hi, and thanks for your suggestion. I have considered poison, but I'm afraid that our dog might find and eat a rat that has been killed by it. I don't suppose there is any kind of poison that would kill the rats, but not our dog, is there?

Most rat poison is an anticoagulant, and it is metabolized by the rat. Therefor dead rats that have been poisoned is not a danger to other animals.

In the real world it is not the poison that kills but rather how much poison the animal is exposed too. When using a compound that must first be metabolized by the target animal to work, it doesn't get any safer.

 

[chickmom3941]

See if there is a nearby Do-It-Yourself pest control. They sell one that won't kill secondary animals. I don't remember the brand name, but it's the only bait blocks they sell.

Oh, I didn't know they made such a thing. That sounds really good. I'll have to check into it. Thanks!

 

[chickmom3941]

Just don't use one bite poison. Even if the dog does get into it, all you have to do is get some vitamin K from your vet. The poison causes the animal to bleed internally. The vitamin K allows the dogs blood to clot and he wont bleed out.
Happened to my dog, he wasn't in pain, he just got lethargic and started to fade. Vitamin K crushed, mixed with water and forced down his throat did the trick. He came back, and is as annoying as ever.

The vet said he got into a full block. The vet also said a rat cant eat enough poison, to poison my dog. He is a jack Russell terrier, so he isn't big. If your dog eats a rat, he will be fine. If he eats a block, he will need cheap vitamins. You just need to be aware of his/her activity.

Oh my, I'm so glad to hear that your dog is okay now. It's a bit comforting what your vet said about how a rat can't eat enough poison to poison a dog. I don't know anything about these one bite, second bite poisons. Guess I'll have to do some research. Thanks for your post, it was really helpful!

 

[chickmom3941]

Chickmom, what are the rats eating----are your chickens wasting a lot of feed??? Rats that bad and many have to have food?? Remove the food(or their access to it) and the rats should go some where else to eat?? Live Trap them, go out at night and shoot some with a pellet gun, gotta get rid of them.

I'm not sure what they are eating now. Once spring came and I could let the chickens out, I moved all food out of the coop and attached pen. I now feed the chickens in the yard, far from the coop. I tried a "have a heart" trap - couldn't get any rats to go in. We tried some good old fashioned rat traps (like big mouse traps) and caught about 3-4 rats, but then no more rats were caught. Then I bought one of those battery operated rat zappers, which killed one rat, and no more. I think they get wise to the devices that kill them, and avoid them. Believe me, I've really considered a bb gun (or do you think a pellet gun is better?), but don't know if I could hit any. I even considered putting our two cats in the pen (not coop) at night, but was worried the cats might catch a disease from the rats. Do you think so? Our cats are great hunters, especially the one we named Ozzy - he was a stray that "adopted" us.

 

[chickmom3941]

Yes. There was once a rat that killed my friends adult chicken but chewing off its legs while it was asleep.

OMG - I didn't know that was even possible. That's horrible (and scary)!

 

[chickmom3941]

I once had a flock of Marans. the Cockerel was young.
I am sure it was one of the swamp Rats from the nearby Creek that got into the coop. the Cockerel died defending his hens .
nothing could have gotten in there but a rat cuz I had a pretty sturdily built .I thought.
Karen

Wow - how big are swamp rats? That's horrible. The biggest rat that we've caught was only about 8" (body), but I don't know if there are any larger ones under there. The more of these rat stories I hear, the more I realize that I must get rid of them ASAP.

 

[chickmom3941]

Most rat poison is an anticoagulant, and it is metabolized by the rat. Therefor dead rats that have been poisoned is not a danger to other animals.

In the real world it is not the poison that kills but rather how much poison the animal is exposed too. When using a compound that must first be metabolized by the target animal to work, it doesn't get any safer.

Really? Are you sure? Not trying to doubt what you said, as it certainly could be true. I just don't know much about it. That is wonderful news, because I'll set up a whole buffet (of poison) for the rats if I know I don't have to worry about our dog's safety. I won't even charge them for it (now that's Minnesota nice for you - lol)!

 

[getaclue]

chickmom, let's not go off the deep end here. If you will do a couple of the the bucket bait station, it's highly unlikely your dog gets into any of the poison. I know it works on the rats, but never saw a sick, or dead one laying around for the dogs, or cats to get to.

 

[chickmom3941]

chickmom, let's not go off the deep end here. If you will do a couple of the the bucket bait station, it's highly unlikely your dog gets into any of the poison. I know it works on the rats, but never saw a sick, or dead one laying around for the dogs, or cats to get to.

Ha - I was just kidding about the poison buffet. Yes, I may have to try the bucket bait station. In regards to what you said about never seeing a dead one laying around - I wonder if they will all go under the coop (their home) to die, making the coop and surrounding area stink to the high heavens? I don't think there's any way we could get the bodies out from underneath the coop - it's pretty massive. That could be a problem...

 

[PD-Riverman]

Ha - I was just kidding about the poison buffet. Yes, I may have to try the bucket bait station. In regards to what you said about never seeing a dead one laying around - I wonder if they will all go under the coop (their home) to die, making the coop and surrounding area stink to the high heavens? I don't think there's any way we could get the bodies out from underneath the coop - it's pretty massive. That could be a problem...

I had rather smell a dead rat a few days than see him running around and in the chicken feed, coop, etc. I would gas them---if it was that bad----just have to make sure the Smokers were not lighting up. Boom!!