ATTACK OF THE RATS (Graphic Photo Warning)

[Lazy Farmer]

If you are squeamish or faint of heart, please do not scroll down and please leave this thread..

Last night rather 3 a.m.-ish, my trusty dog was woofing at our Pole barn garage where my teenager poultry are housed. We have been having a serious rodent problem so I kinda figured that was the deal. Hubby went out with a firearm and flipped on the lights in the barn.
I bunch of rats scattered and scampered off to hide. 2 rats in 1 live trap and 1 rat in another.
We thought it was a small victory until he saw a 3 month old buff hen that had its head yanked thru the wire brooder.
They ate the neck like corn on the cob. Feathers all over the barn and the other 30 or so birds all running in circles in the brooders.



The hen was still warm and rubber chicken limp. I can only assume she was eaten alive.

What a shame. What a beautiful hen. So soft and young.
Hubby shot the 3 rats and reset the traps. We left the dead rats in the barn over night. This morning THEY WERE GONE!
Rats are cannibals. The took their falling comrades and ate them somewhere else. Disgusting creatures. Buried the hen first thing this morning.
I guess now you see why I have a few threads like https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-war.1182970/ and instructions of to build bait houses and such.
All the major rain has chased them into our little oasis in the swamp.
Sorry about the pics if your squeamish, but I warned you. Almost created this post without photos but every picture tells a story.
If you have a Rat problem, I can feel your frustration.
Good bye for now!
F.C.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Never had rats, but I would poison them, too. I assume you moved the pullets?

 

[The Moonshiner]

[QUOTE="Farmer Connie, post: 18683095, member: 462319]
I guess now you see why I have a few threads like https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-war.1182970/ and instructions of to build bait houses and such.
F.C.[/QUOTE]


I have seen a few. It would be easier to follow if you kept everything in one thread though.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Never had rats, but I would poison them, too. I assume you moved the pullets?

[QUOTE="Farmer Connie, post: 18683095, member: 462319]
I guess now you see why I have a few threads like https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-war.1182970/ and instructions of to build bait houses and such.
F.C.

I have seen a few. It would be easier to follow if you kept everything in one thread though.[/QUOTE]
I agree and did think that but the photo warning needed to be added to SUBJECT LINE in the feed. Some might find it horrific if it just popped up later down the line with no warning.. I almost added to the other feed until I decided to post the pics. But I agree with you.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Never had rats, but I would poison them, too. I assume you moved the pullets?

They are more secured now.

 

[centrarchid]

I am having a similar problem with mice that try to eat feet and go after chicks under broody hens. We are making so less spilled feed and working to remove breeding habitat. I may may so mice have a place to breed that I can periodically destroy nest or make so other predators (snakes and adult chickens) have easier access.

 

[Abriana]

I'm sorry for your loss!

 

[animals1981]

i thought hens or roosters would kill rats?

 

[The Moonshiner]

No not likely.
At least not a full grown rat.

 

[Vampstorso]

So sorry about your hen.
I can't imagine how scary it must be for them when predators do this, just like us stuck in a house with a serial killer. Poor girls. I also can't believe a the types of predators you poor US folk have to contend with, it's crazy.



I know rats are much more complicated and learn faster,
But for the poster above that mentioned mice, you can get electric mouse traps that electrocute them (apologies if you've tried them already) Both battery and wall operated.
They were the only thing that got mice out of my cockatoo aviary. Couldn't catch them in anything else, but an electric trap slayed them in days!


You can also get rat versions, I've never tried them, not sure how quickly they outsmart them.