I moved into a house with roommates who had chickens. It wasn’t great. The chickens were cool, but they attract vermin. We had a real rat issue for a while, and they wouldn’t believe me that the rats were going after the chicken feed/poop, as well as the warmth of the coop. Then, they got tired of tending to the birds and rehomed them. Sure enough, the rat problem vanished.
Edit: I appreciate that everyone wants to give me chicken tips, but they birds weren’t ever mine, I didn’t ever want the birds, and we no longer have the birds, so the tips aren’t doing anything for me.
Sounds like the chickens were just severely overfed if they had excess food available for rats to steal. If you feed them only the right amount they need, they are going to kill and eat any rat attempting to steal their food without hesitation. They are predators after all
I have chickens, but no rats because I took precautions against rats, foxes, martens and whatever else roams outside. It’s not even difficult to do this, just make sure there’s no food laying around, and plan for the coop to be vermin proof.
I moved into a house with roommates who had chickens. It wasn’t great. The chickens were cool, but they attract vermin. We had a real rat issue for a while, and they wouldn’t believe me that the rats were going after the chicken feed/poop, as well as the warmth of the coop. Then, they got tired of tending to the birds and rehomed them. Sure enough, the rat problem vanished.
Edit: I appreciate that everyone wants to give me chicken tips, but they birds weren’t ever mine, I didn’t ever want the birds, and we no longer have the birds, so the tips aren’t doing anything for me.
Sounds like the chickens were just severely overfed if they had excess food available for rats to steal. If you feed them only the right amount they need, they are going to kill and eat any rat attempting to steal their food without hesitation. They are predators after all
Chickens like to eat rats and mice
I have chickens, but no rats because I took precautions against rats, foxes, martens and whatever else roams outside. It’s not even difficult to do this, just make sure there’s no food laying around, and plan for the coop to be vermin proof.
Stores that sell chicken supplies often sell vermin resistant metal trash cans with snug fitting lids. Just dump the feed in there.