Will Rats Eat Chickens?
WouterIf you keep your chickens outdoors, you need to make sure they are not exposed to the smell of rats. If they are, they may enter the chicken run, where the food is stored. Rats will often eat the eggs, and this may be harmful to the birds. It is important to keep an eye on your flock and collect all of their eggs. Also, do not leave any feed outside in the open. Rats love the smell of leftover food, and this attracts them to them.
Rats are attracted to the smell of chickens and will seek them out. They will find the weaker chickens and attack them. Rats also bring many diseases to the chickens. They will kill both chicks and adults. If you keep your coop secure, rats will not bother your chickens.
Rats are attracted to leftover feed and water, so it is important to remove these items from the chicken coop. If you don’t remove these items, rats are less likely to show any interest in your poultry. You can also keep the area around the chicken coop neat and tidy. If you have a fence around the chicken coop, rats aren’t likely to go through the fence.
Using poisons to control rats may be an option, but the rats can become resistant to these poisons. It may take two to four days for a rat to die from a poison. It may take several days for a rat to eat a decent dose of poison, so make sure the bait is enough to kill the animal in one shot.
