Keeping Chickens

[Leprechaun]

I would love to keep chickens in my backyard but I have heard that they attract rats. Has anyone experienced this problem ? Any tips for keeping rats out of the backyard and hen house would be greatly appreciated.

[Lenore]

Dear Leprechaun

Any available food source will attract rats, they're highly opportunistic and will take what they can get. So, backyard chickens can be a source of food for rats, and so can vegetable gardens and compost bins.

The trick is to control the food source. You should:
- keep unused food in a rat proof container
- pay attention to the consumption levels of your chickens (which will change throughout the seasons) and try to put out the correct amount of food in the morning so that it's all eaten by the end of the day
- if you find it hard to judge the right quantity, consider getting into the habit of checking for uneaten food before dark and storing it over night where rats can't get it
- think about pen design - if you make the pen from aviary wire, enclose the top, dig the wire into the ground by a foot or so and make the door very tightly fitting, you might be able to exclude rats (as well as making the pen fox proof and ensuring wild birds can't get in to steal food and potentially give lice or diseases to your chickens). But rats can get through the most tiny gaps, so this is unlikely to be foolproof, and it's a fair bit of effort, so not leaving food lying around is easier!

Controlling the food source should prevent the build up of a rat population. Most people who keep a tidy chicken pen seem to find rats are not a serious problem.

However if you still see evidence of rats, you might need to use baits every now and then to control the population BUT make sure baits are contained in an appropriate bait station so wildlife/pets can't pick them up, and ask your local pest controller for advice regarding the best chemical to use which is least likely to have a residual effect on wildlife if a contaminated rat is eaten. You can try traps, but rats are clever and you usually only catch one before the locals figure out what's going on and avoid the trap.

[Shel]

Hi, I have chickens in my backyard and have not seen rats - although get the occassional mouse. But we get mice anyway. The best way to deal with rats and mice is to get a cat. Just get a small one that is smaller than the chickens and you can even have them out at the same time.

[Lenore]

The only problem with the idea of keeping a cat to control rodents is that rats & mice are most active at night, and it's not responsible to allow a cat to stay outdoors overnight - it'll be catching a good deal more native wildlife than rats & mice.

[Leprechaun]

Thanks so much for all this advice. I really appreciate it.

[Gordon in Loomberah]

Chooks tend to spread food around a lot with their feet and beaks, so no matter how well contained it is (we use rodent-proof feeders that rely on the chooks weight to open), food will end up on the ground, and in times of a high rodent population, such as now around here, mice and rats will arrive to take advantage of the free feed.
The good news is that chooks like to eat mice and rats
However, they are unlikely to catch them most of the time, the rodents are just too fast, so you need to trap them. We don't use any toxic baits, no matter how well contained- since if the mice or rats eat then go elsewhere to die, the chooks may well eat them, and die or get very sick. We've had good success with an electronic rodent trap- they go in for a feed, and get electrocuted. I then throw them to the chooks, who chase each other around until one eventually gets to eat the mouse.
Most rats are a bit too big for them to swallow, so they generally get left and become fly-blown (and stink a bit, but they are ~50m from the house, in the cherry orchard), and then the chooks eat the maggots.

[The Chook Chick]

I've spent 8 years developing the perfect backyard chook. These chooks have been selected for a range of beneficial traits. They address the rodent issue by being small eaters and having a high preference for "ranging" (seeking out insects, grasses and seeds). The key to this behaviour is raising them with good mothers who teach them for the first 4 weeks of life (chicks hatched and rasied by incubators and lights are starved of this knowledge and learning).
Essentially you provide them with kitchen scraps in the morning which they consume 100% of in a short time -- then spend the remainder of the day ranging. A handful of maize and flax seed late in the afternoon and they're happy. Then in the morning you're rewarded with an Omega 3 rich egg!

[wandaA]

As long as the area is kept clean, I don't think you will have any problems at all.


_____________________
An advice from an online chemist is well worth it.

[zoeyparker07]

If you've got chickens in your backyard or garden you really don't want rats running about so you need to take some action to avoid attracting them.

The first thing is to keep the area clean. Apart from deterring rats, good hygiene will keep your poultry healthy and avoid unpleasant smells annoying people.

Don't leave food lying around. If you overfeed your hens so that they leave grain and other foods at the end of the day the rats will appear to eat your hen's left overs.

Be careful how you store you poultry feed. You may feel it is safe in a wooden shed but rats and mice can gnaw through wood quite easily to get a meal. Buy a storage bin, a plastic dustbin with a close fitting lid designed for outdoor use is ideal. Not only will it stop the rat from getting to the food, usually, but it will reduce the smell of the food that attracts them in the first place.

[fionadirk]

This is the first time I am hearing this and this is something new to me. Thanks a lot everyone for sharing this with all of us...

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