If you've found droppings near the feeder, burrows under the coop or gnawed feed bags, you've got rats, and they're there for the feed and the warmth rather than the chickens. Deal with it by taking feed away overnight and storing it in sealed metal bins, rat proofing the coop and run, and, if you still need to bait, using locked tamper resistant stations placed where your birds absolutely cannot reach them. Never leave loose poison or a dead rat anywhere a chicken could get to it.
It's worth being clear on this, because it shapes everything you do next: chickens don't attract rats, their feed and housing do. A coop offers spilled grain, a warm dry place to nest and often water nearby, which is everything a rat wants in one spot. Get on top of the feed and the shelter and you remove most of the reason they're there.
That also explains why you can't just bait the problem away and forget it. If the feed keeps flowing freely, you'll keep drawing new rats in no matter how much bait you put down. The order of work matters: starve them out first, then deal with what's left.
Rats are mostly nocturnal, so you'll usually spot the signs before the rat. Look for droppings near feeders and along the run edges (dark, around 15 to 20mm), burrow holes roughly 70 to 120mm wide at the base of the coop or under fencing, tunnels dug under the run, gnaw marks on feed bags, coop timber and even fencing, and missing or broken eggs. Jumpy birds, or hens reluctant to go in at night, can be a sign too. Seeing a rat in daylight usually means numbers are already high.
This is the single most effective thing you can do. Stop feeding ad lib and give only what your birds will clear in a day, then lift feeders at dusk and store them somewhere rats can't reach, because rats feed mainly at night. Store all feed in sealed metal bins rather than bags or plastic tubs, which rats chew straight through. Collect eggs daily so there's nothing for them to steal, and clear up spilled feed and scratch before dark. A treadle or weight activated feeder that closes when birds step off is one of the best long term fixes, since it denies rats the feed while leaving your hens to eat normally.
Rats are strong diggers and climbers, so proofing is what stops them coming back. Raise the coop on legs about 15cm off the ground so rats can't nest underneath, or skirt the base. Cover the run floor or dig a buried mesh apron using hardware cloth (around 6 to 10mm), since standard chicken wire won't stop a rat, they gnaw through it and squeeze through anything wider than about a pen. Seal gaps in the coop, fix any holes, and keep the area around the run clear of log piles, rubble and long grass that give rats cover.
If you've cut off the feed and proofed the coop and still have active rats, baiting can finish the job, but it has to be done carefully around birds. The two rules that matter most: bait must be where chickens, pets, wild birds and children cannot physically reach it, and a poisoned rat must never be left where a bird could scavenge it.
In practice that means using only locked, tamper resistant bait stations, never loose bait or open trays, placed along the rat runs and near burrows outside the run rather than inside it, ideally against a wall or fence line where rats travel and birds don't. Check stations daily, and search for and remove any dead or dying rats straight away so nothing in your flock or the local wildlife can eat them. Rodenticides such as Brodifacoum, Bromadiolone and Difenacoum are regulated, and amateur bait must by law be used in lockable stations, so follow the product label closely. You can read the HSE rodenticide guidance for the legal position.
If you can't place stations somewhere completely out of reach of your birds, don't bait, trap instead.
For a typical back garden flock or a single coop, the Rat Killer Poison Kit Small gives you locked stations and bait formats to handle the activity around the coop. For a larger poultry setup, a smallholding or several buildings, the Rat Killer Poison Kit Large gives you eight stations for wider coverage. Either way, the locked stations are what make baiting around poultry workable.
You'll see plenty of advice online to never use poison around chickens, and the concern behind it is real: loose bait, or a poisoned rat left lying around, genuinely can harm a bird, a pet or local wildlife. The honest position is that poison used properly, in locked stations placed out of reach with dead rats cleared promptly, is a legitimate tool, but if you can't do it safely, traps are the better choice. Snap traps sized for rats work well when set on runs inside a box or under cover so birds can't reach them. Live catch traps are an option too, though you then have to dispatch the rat humanely, and releasing it elsewhere just moves the problem to someone else. Glue boards are inhumane and best avoided. Whatever you use, keep it away from your flock.
Mostly rats are after feed and eggs, but they're not harmless. They'll steal and eat eggs, take young chicks, and in bad infestations have been known to injure adult birds at night. They also bring a disease risk: rats can carry leptospirosis and salmonella, and can introduce mites and fleas to the coop. So even though your adult hens aren't usually in danger from a rat or two, it's not something to leave to build, both for the birds' sake and because rat numbers climb fast.
DIY handles most coop rat problems if you act early, cut the feed and proof properly. Consider a professional where there's a large established infestation across the property, where baiting isn't reducing numbers (which can point to local resistance to some baits), or where you simply can't find a way to bait safely around your setup. Anyone keeping poultry commercially will also have biosecurity and record keeping to think about.
Not the chickens themselves, but their feed and housing will. Rats come for spilled grain, stored feed and the warm shelter a coop offers, so managing feed and proofing the coop is what keeps them away.
Yes, but only in locked tamper resistant stations placed where your birds, pets and children cannot reach, with any dead rats removed promptly so nothing scavenges them. If you can't bait safely out of reach of your flock, use traps instead.
Take feed away overnight and store it in sealed metal bins, raise the coop off the ground, and use hardware cloth rather than chicken wire on the run floor or as a buried apron, since rats dig and gnaw through standard wire.
They mainly take feed and eggs, but they will kill young chicks and can injure adult birds in a serious infestation, as well as carrying disease, so it's worth dealing with early.
Start by taking the feed out of the equation: lift feeders at night, store feed in metal bins and collect eggs daily. Proof the coop and run with hardware cloth and raise the coop off the ground. If rats are still active after that, set up locked bait stations safely out of your birds' reach with the Rat Killer Poison Kit Small, or the Rat Killer Poison Kit Large for a bigger setup, and clear away any dead rats as you go.
