Can rats break eggs and eat them?

[RenoHuskerDu]

We thought it was just clumsy ladies causing a few broken shells, but tonight I spied a decent sized rat in the coop. We are taking the standard anti-rat measures. The feeder will now be gone every night. Tomorrow I attack the rat nest, which is in a big unused commercial feeder on the front wall of our coop trailer. We have no cats, instead rely on Heelers. They'll be standing by when I open that old feeder tomorrow. Should be fun. For them.

But the rats will certainly come around again. Around us is all Texas cedar forest, grassy fields, etc.

We've found some empty shells recently, just a few. I'm sure rats will clean up what's in broken shells, but will they actually break intact shells to eat eggs?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Yes. And they've been known to eat chickens on the roost, starting at the toes or the bum.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Oh that's it. Those suckers are dead already, they just don't know it yet. This is war.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

Oh that's it. Those suckers are dead already, they just don't know it yet. This is war.

To battle! Against all those pesky pests!

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

Suppress all Rodents.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Suppress all Rodents.

Death to the fascist rodent that preys upon the life of the chicken!
-Symbionese Chicken Liberation Army
Central Texas

Our new motto.

Today into battle we go, Heelers, pellet rifles, and light 12g target loads in our hearty and hale hands. That old feeder was designed to take about four big bags of feed pellets at a time, back when our coop trailer housed 300 broilers. Now it's just 9 layers, 1 old hen, and 1 libido-driven useless rooster who never roosts the hens and apparently won't attack rats either. I'm yanking that feeder off there and boarding up the slot where the rats get in. Whatever rodents run out will be met with teeth, pellets and fury like the world has never seen.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Well things didn't go exactly as planned, because the rats were not in that feeder after all. There were no droppings either. I guess the one just went in there to hide last night. So now the hunt for rats is on without knowing exactly where they are coming from or going. I hear that bucket traps don't work as well on rats as they do on mice. I'm definitely going to go with anticoagulant inside our structures and outbuildings where chickens and dogs can't get to it.

Here is the old feeder. Now I'm faced with the question of whether or not to remove it and block it off or just leave it there. It could be useful some day if we wanted a lot more birds.

 

[ColtHandorf]

This is all I could imagine when I was reading your posts. But I totally feel you. Rats got into my birdroom with my small exotic finches. I lost over $3000 in birds in one night and nearly $1500 the following night. My retribution was swift and my wrath terrible. Their doom was upon them; their futures signed with steel and writ with blood. It was lovely walking out there and not seeing dozens of rats climbing up cages and leaping into holes in the wall they’d chewed through to get in. I think I covered almost all the window sills, the base of the walls, and anywhere there was an open seam with metal flashing.

Their destruction was absolute.

 

[Folly's place]

Bait stations, carefully placed, and renewed until left full. Change out the bait type at least once too. Be careful what you buy; some poisons are less likely to kill non target critters than others, while others are just not safe and can't be reversed.
Get those rats!
Mary

 

[igorsMistress]

Blech, I hate rats. I hope you find where they're coming from. One scared the heck out of me mid day in the coop. It was in the nest box with eggs and one was indeed broken. Bait station in the shed took care of it, found the body in there. Get em!