Rats and Chickens

btt

There are some useful tips to follow;
1. Nest - try not to have piles of junk that would make perfect hide-outs for rats to make a nest. Be as clear of clutter as possible.
2. Keep all feed in sealed bins, eg. good dustbin with close-fitting lids.
3. Lift feeders off the ground, especially at night.
4. clean up any scraps of food, spilt pellets daily.
5. try not to have any feed near the actual coop, keep feeders as faraway as possible...do not tempt the rats into the coop itself!!!
6. There will always be rats, by using poison in special chickenproof baitboxes, or traps etc always baited up, you will stop the 'odd' rat from becoming a large colony.

 
 

Rats need shelter, so don't give them a home,  eg as above, keep the place tidy with no 'rat dens'.  for same reason, raise coop well off the floor so they can't live/hide underneath.

They also need food.  If you can completely remove all food in the evening when the chooks have finished, then you will be doing yourself a big favour.  I take all feeders into our house every evening, and store all food sacks in a store room in our house too.

If you still have a problem, then consider Mk4 Fenn Traps used with a suitable safety box - see domestic wildfowl trust website, and/or a non toxic rat killer, eg Eradibait.

Local council may provide free advice and baited traps, though I believe some councils charge for this service.  Also, ours, when we used them, went for poison bait, and I wasn't comfortable with that.