rats

Hello, a few months ago, I noticed a pair of rats (they’re small, so they may be mice) living beneath my coop. Now —I blame my tender heart for this one — I didn’t take any action because the mother was moving her babies, and I just didn’t have it in me to kill babies. Everything was fine for a...

Early this summer, we started noticing signs of rats around the yard. About A week later we saw one. A few weeks later they were a common sight, and their holes were EVERYWHERE! We've tried so many things to try to get rid of them but nothing works (even with a hunter cat that kills up to 7 rats...

I'm going to an animal sanctuary farm sorta place to give their rabbit area a makeover. It's in a building but not connected to any other and it doesn't have AC. I know lots of about rabbits but I have no experience with mice or rats. I'll attach some pictures of their current setup when I go...

So I previously had this with two polish and was unsure. But this morning I lost one of my old hens and the same is happening to one of the newest editions please help. She is lathargic shutting her eyes and rocking backwards and forwards without a desire to eat or drink. It’s killing my entire...

Hi there, I am worried that the rat I found in my chicken run may have been poisoned and my chicken may have ate some. Is there anything I can do or way to know if it was poisoned? Is it possible she killed it? I live in the city and have seen rats under my coop.

Soooo I went out to check the chickens today and let them out and I discovered a bunch of empty egg shells on the ground outside the coop, appears to be about 6 eggs with yolk still pretty fresh in some, and what appears to be raccoon prints on top of the nest box??? But I cannot for the life of...

I have a large (12x20) coop for my hens. They free range during the day (mostly unless we've seen a predator or I've got maintenance work going on). But we've got rats in the coop and I've got to keep them out! They're digging under the wire barriers and just being a nuisance. So I've...

How long will it take for rat poison to break down and become safe in a dead rat? Another words, for how long rat poison would be still dangerous for any animal (e.g chicken/dog) eating dead rat remains?

My chickens definitely ate rat poop over the course of a month while trying to get a rat problem under control. I heard this is how most chickens contract salmonella. Is this true? Are wild rats carrying salmonella and spreading to backyard chickens this way? If they are infected (how would I...

I have a broody hen (and, unlike most people, I am doing the happy dance) and, I want to put fertile eggs under her... We have a large colony of rats (also blue tongues and mice) living in our backyard. If Belle and the eggs/chicks are locked in guinea pig hutch inside the coop with bars that...

We have three backyard adult chickens. We also have a lot of rats in the neighborhood and enjoying the feed in the coop (plus they also feast on my compost bins). We just put in a new floor for the coop which will make it less accessible to the rats due to burrowing from below. Now I'd like...

After seeing some rat dropping in the nesting boxes and food I tried to clean it out. I didn’t have on a mask at first and I am really hoping I haven’t exposed myself to hantavirus. Can anyone calm my fears about this? Do most people get it after heavy exposure or can you get it more easily than...

After years of relatively healthy birds and a safe coop and run, we have recently had three hens between 1-3 years old die unexpectedly several weeks apart. We do have a ton of brown and black widow spiders at this time of year as well as rats/mice and possibly snakes that can access the hens...

Yesterday, while only a few feet away from me, one if my hens pounced and grabbed a young rat from the grass in broad daylight. The other hens wanted to "share" and quite a ruckus ensued. By the time I wrangled the rat away, it was dead, so I buried it. Had I not intervened, I'm sure they would...

Welp, with the beginning of spring the rats are trying to move back into my chicken coop once again as they do every year. Normally in the past, we've had to resort to your traditional rat-traps to get rid of the adults and then catching the baby ones and disposing of them ourselves. We plan on...

Has anyone tried one of these rat traps? I set it up a while back, but it was out in the open, and the squirrels had their way with it. Now it's in the large chicken run that is fenced all around and overhead. Squirrels can't get in. Hoping to find some angry rats in it tomorrow morning.

I've had my chickens five years, and we've always had rat problems. But in the last couple of months, the rats are eating so much food that I'm going through twice as much feed. They come out early in the day and empty the feeder by the afternoon. We aren't keen on trying to poison the rats...

New keeper here. Won't have birds until the spring. Can anybody tell me what the difference (ie--benefits) are between a treadle feeder vs no-spill feeder (bin w/ PVC elbows)? Specifically when it comes to attracting rodents? Anyone with experience w/ both types of feeders?? Thanks!

Hi. About half a year ago, I purchased a "rat-proof" treadle chicken feeder. unfortunately, the rats have learnt to open the feeder by just pushing the lid up with their noses. Because of this convenient source of food, the rats are constantly raiding our coop. I have been researching pest-proof...

I hate saying it, but my barn has rats. We’ve struggled with this problem for about a year and a half now. We’ve tried everything. Electric traps, pet friendly poison, & even hunting them at night. We have livestock dogs, but they don’t help either. We keep all our food in bins, our barn is...