Will rats kill my chickens

[Egg king]

Hi
I wanted to know will rats kill my chickens
I noticed a hole in the ground so i covered it and today i saw it open again and my grandmother did say she saw them hanging around my coop

 

[Callender Girl]

When I had a rat problem a few years ago, none of my chickens were killed. BUT, mine were all adult birds who could fly up to a roost and away from the rats. I think it would be different with chicks.

Covering one hole in the ground won't be enough; rats tunnel. I had two coops that they would tunnel between. You have to rat-proof your coop. Two of mine had dirt floors, which I redid with hardware cloth. I tried everything I could read about that might work, and even then, it took weeks to get rid of the rats.

Protect your birds any way you can.

 

[Egg king]

I just covered it to see if it is really a rat hole
I think im just going to have to try out different things
Thanks for the help

 

[McChooky]

Rats will foul the chickens water and feed as they eat and drink from the containers and storage bins. They also eggs and baby chicks. Some will even attack chickens on the roost as they sleep at night . Anything you have to do in order to get rid of them is worthy of your time and money.( Hardware cloth on all openings and aprons around the bottom) Even if they never attack your chickens or only eat a few eggs they spread disease and viruses.

 

[Egg king]

This is so hard now i have fever at the moment and to go out its a mission but im gonna have to do this i dont want my chickens dying

 

[Al Gerhart]

Do a forum search for rats and chickens. Find Howard E.'s excellent posts on dealing with rodents. They might not kill the chickens directly but they will bring in disease and pests and waste half your feed.

 

[Shadrach]

It depends on the size of the rat and the size of the chicken. As mentioned above by @ChickensComeHome2Roost rats will break open eggs and eat the contents; whatever stage of development they are at and they will eat newly hatched chicks if the mother doesn't defend them.
It is rare for a rat to take on a full sized chicken head to head but it has happened in Asia so reports have it.

 

[addctd2plnts]

As a doctor and someone with a farm, rats should be treated seriously. Forget the holistic methods and pretend each one is a Mountain Lion carrying Ebola. It's not just them hurting your chickens you need to worry about, They carry diseases that can infect people, and they multiply extremely quickly. If they are in your coop, they can get into other places, including your home. The damage they do can cause fires and be deadly.

Here's some previous threads about rats on BYC:

1. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

2. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

3. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

Poison may very well be needed. If I had rats I probably would use it in carefully placed bait boxes. But I want you to know that mouse and rat bait is VERY attractive to dogs and cats too. I had two dogs get into less than 1Tablespoon of mouse poison and almost lost them both. It cost me $3,000 to save them (7 years ago), multiple blood transfusions, draining blood out of their lungs, and almost my sanity. The vets said they get several cases every month of pets poisoned. Make ABSOLUTELY SURE NO PET CAN GET TO THE BAIT BOXES, and make sure that any bait used is a blood thinner that can be treated with Vitamin K for an antidote. There are new mouse/rat poisons that have NO ANTIDOTE! Honestly, I'd build wooden boxes and put the bait box firmly fixed at least 10 inches inside, so no other animal can reach it. Then check them OFTEN, because if the bait block breaks into pieces, an animal could tip the box and get to it. As I said, I'd still use poison, but I'd create several levels of safety to prevent any other animal from getting it.

 

[Folly's place]

Here we had rats in the coop, and three nice pullets beheaded at night, in addition to eggs eaten. Redo your security, use bait stations, wear gloves, and get rid of them!!!
In our case, rats moved into a wall cavity easily chewing through particle board to get there. Also there was a small gap at a corner of our hardware cloth skirt around the coop, together with a crack in the concrete foundation. it doesn't take much to have rodent problems! And if a rat can enter through it's tunnel, so can a weasel, who will kill everyone at once!
And I agree about bait choices; read the labels! And keep any other critters from reaching the bait. Most dying rodents will return to their burrows and die there, so are lower risk for being found by other animals. Not zero risk, and any sick or dead rodents found need to go into a bag in the garbage.
Mary