Worried about rats attacking chicks during the day

[Newchick429]

I also posted in raising chicks for more information. But long story short, I lost three chicks at around 3-4 months old when I put them in the coop mid day. It didn’t have hardware cloth on the bottom, so rats made short work of my babies.

We have new chicks, around the same age. I’m free roaming them, but am wondering what is a good/safe time for that.

There’s other free roaming chickens in the area, three in particular that have adopted our yard. They haven’t seemed to have a problem. I just don’t want to go through losing any chicks again. Thank you for any advice! I’ve included pictures for reference on size. We also have a Muscovy, Muscovy cross, two Pekings, and a rooster that have had no problem with them. They do leave the yard though, so I don’t know how much protection they would provide.

 

[chicken mama 0908]

Do you have any idea where the rats are coming from?

 

[Newchick429]

Do you have any idea where the rats are coming from?

Yes, there’s a large open field next door. It’s a coconut grove with a lot of brush. I assume it belongs to one of the restaurant owners in the area, they harvest coconuts often and put the brush in a pile to burn when the time is right. But a perfect breeding ground for rats.

 

[chicken mama 0908]

I would make the yard harder for rats to inter. Where do you feed the chicks?

 

[chicken mama 0908]

Maybe leave some rat traps where rats would go, but out of reach of the chickens.

 

[Newchick429]

It’s a rental home. Our main fence is made of coconut trees with gaps. I thought about putting mesh screen over that, but the back ends to our landlords backyard that has a massive wrought iron gate up. He needs to open it when he fills the water tanks, so they could get through there. We tried using bird netting to keep the ducks in and they still found ways out. We feed them by the front door on our porch.

I’m hoping when they’re more mature they’ll intimidate any rats that come near like the ducks and our rooster/semi adopted hens do. The little black one already goes after the full grown chickens over food lol.

 

[chicken mama 0908]

I defiantly think rat traps, any hardware cloth or chicken wire you can do, and full-grown roosters will help. Also try to keep feed stored securely. Is your feeder hung? That would help.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rats will snatch three week old chicks if they have a chance. So will squirrels. Not sure if you can eliminate rats if they have a lot of natural food

 

[Newchick429]

I defiantly think rat traps, any hardware cloth or chicken wire you can do, and full-grown roosters will help. Also try to keep feed stored securely. Is your feeder hung? That would help.

Not yet, but we did buy a hanging feeder. So I’ll put that up and see how it goes. My husband spotted a fat adult in the yard yesterday and I saw a baby last night. So they’re still around. We have our rooster, along with another that comes by a few times a day.

I guess we’ll have to resort to traps. Poison is out of the question as we have dogs and most of the neighbors let theirs run free along with everything else.

Rats will snatch three week old chicks if they have a chance. So will squirrels. Not sure if you can eliminate rats if they have a lot of natural food

yes, it’s going to be a battle. I think we’re going to try traps. The trio spent the night out in the upgraded coop. So far, so good. They’ve started to steal all the duck eggs too. So not my favorite animal at the moment!