They can chew through many things, including chicken wire, as well as squeeze through the openings. There is no way to prevent rats from digging, but you can place barriers in their way to keep their digging from reaching your coop. You can either cover this with sod, or staple it into the ground and let the grass grow through it. To keep them from digging under your chicken pen fencing, you can place a skirt of the hardware cloth around the pen, going out a few feet. If your coop has a study floor, you can cover the floor with the same hardware cloth to prevent rats from getting in by chewing through the floor. One way to prevent this problem is to put 10mm galvanized hardware cloth on the ground under your coop. If you place your coop directly on the ground, rats will have an easy time of digging under the wall to get into the coop. ![]() This means they can easily dig under your fencing. They are adept at creating a tunnel system underground to travel safely between their food sources and nests. Rats love to dig and can dig several meters deep. This is another of the reasons to take any sighting of rats or rat droppings around your coop seriously. ![]() Keep in mind, all of these diseases can then be transferred from the chickens, to humans. The fleas also carry nasty diseases, such as bubonic plague. They can also carry mites and fleas into the coop, which can then infest your entire flock. Rats carry many diseases such as salmonellosis and leptospirosis that can be transferred to your chickens. Keep in mind that rat attacks and egg stealing are only the beginning of the damage they can inflict upon your flock. Diseases and pests that rats can transfer to chickens So if you see one rat, you need to get rid of it before you are dealing with the 5-12 babies that will reach their reproductive maturity at 4 or 5 weeks. One reason you need to act quickly to get rid of the rats is that they can reproduce quickly. It only takes 21 days for them to produce a litter, and females will continue to produce another litter, up to 6 litters a year, as long as they have a cozy home and readily available food. (Unless you have chicks out there.) However, you need to take it seriously and start making your coop rat proof to get rid of them to avoid future problems like a rogue rat attack. If you see a rat around your coop, you need not panic, your chickens are probably not in immediate danger. A direct attack on an adult chicken by a rat is rare, but it does happen. They are more likely to eat chicken feed than to attack adult chickens, as that requires more effort and rats are opportunists. Rats will attack and eat baby chickens, and if desperate enough, they will attack adult chickens. ![]() However, that does not mean it is okay to let rats hang around your chicken coop. Do rats attack chickens?Ĭhickens eat small rodents, which includes small wild rats and rat babies although many rats are too large for them to attack. By making it hard for them to get chicken food, or take up residence in the corner of a coop, you will ensure that rats don’t want to come around. They are opportunistic,and will not go to a lot of effort to obtain their food and home. Rats are also attracted to nice, warm, cozy places to live, especially if there is a reliable food source nearby.Ī well-designed coop, good food storage, and rat-proof feeders can all make your chickens home a place that is not attractive to rats. However, they are attracted to chicken feed, and love stealing a freshly laid egg. In addition to those serious problems, they will also eat your chicken feed. ![]() Rats carry diseases that are harmful to chickens, will attack baby chicks, steal eggs, and have even been known to chew on hens’ feet while they are sleeping. Chicken owners need to keep rats out of the coop.
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