Rat half eaten in run

[Beezchickens]

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.

 

[Mtnboomer]

Chickens will kill rats. There is no way to know if the rat was poisoned or not (unless you wanted to have it necropsied). Keep an eye on your chickens and watch for any abnormal behavior.

Even if thr rat was poisoned, its unlikely the chickens ingested enough to be toxic. Also, some rat poisons are not toxic to scavengers.
I wouldn't worry until there is definitely something to worry about.

 

[Beezchickens]

Chickens will kill rats. There is no way to know if the rat was poisoned or not (unless you wanted to have it necropsied). Keep an eye on your chickens and watch for any abnormal behavior.

Even if thr rat was poisoned, its unlikely the chickens ingested enough to be toxic. Also, some rat poisons are not toxic to scavengers.
I wouldn't worry until there is definitely something to worry about.

Thank you so much for your reply it makes me feel a little bit better. She seems so far so good and I will keep an eye on her!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Why oh why are you feeding rats in this day and age? Besides the cost of the feed, they bring in disease, pests like lice and fleas, and they draw in larger predators.

 

[Folly's place]

If you see one rat, or are seeing them under your coop, you need to take action!
Having a wild rat colony is not healthy, and the rats need to be gone ASAP.
This is a problem with raised coops, but whatever your coop design is, rodent proof it before your birds get to eat any more. Invest in hardware cloth and concrete, whatever you can manage to make this situation better.
Having feed available to them is not good, so fix that if possible.
Only poison bait stations will work for this!
Mary

 

[Beezchickens]

Why oh why are you feeding rats in this day and age? Besides the cost of the feed, they bring in disease, pests like lice and fleas, and they draw in larger predators.

Not sure what you mean about feeding the rats? I have a rat prof chicken feeder...

 

[Al Gerhart]

Well, is it working? Rats aren't going to hang around a coop unless there is plenty to eat. Is the spring still installed between the door and the top of the feeder? Counterweight is being used? You have the original narrow treadle step? Are the birds raking feed out onto the ground? Something has to be not right if that rat is hanging around.

Post a picture of the feeder please. Might be able to help.

 

[Folly's place]

Folks in cities will have rats around whether they feed them or not, because there's so much food around anyway. garbage, dropped stuff, outside bird feeders, dear neighbors leaving cat food or scraps out for ferals and raccoons. Having the coop and run as safe as possible, and not having any food outside, is a good plan there, and anywhere.
Seeing rats or their evidence is time to attack the colony!
Mary

 

[Beezchickens]

Well, is it working? Rats aren't going to hang around a coop unless there is plenty to eat. Is the spring still installed between the door and the top of the feeder? Counterweight is being used? You have the original narrow treadle step? Are the birds raking feed out onto the ground? Something has to be not right if that rat is hanging around.

Post a picture of the feeder please. Might be able to help.

 

[Beezchickens]

They don’t seem to begetting at the food. I live in a large city they are every where and I know people use poison so I was worried. The chicken was fine. I’ll try digging under the coop and putting steel wool etc so they can’t borrow u see there at least. I lock coop up at night too