Big mystery: How could chickens kill a rat through 1/2" wire mesh?

Posted by Izzy Weird on November 13, 2022, 4:58 pm

I'm still trying to figure out how they did this. In the old coop the bottom floor is 1/2" wire mesh, even on the ground under the coop. Rats burrowed under the coop trying to get in so they could eat the feed. The chickens killed two rats that found a way into the coop itself. But the rats had discovered that if the tunnel was in the right place they could collect feed that was dropped by the hens. Since the feed was then on the floor of the rat tunnel the chickens could no longer reach it through the mesh. I found a dead and dried up rat in this tunnel. Chickens will kill rats, but how did they kill a rat through the wire mesh? The meanest rat hunter in the flock is Frazzle, the brown hen on the lower left-center.

Toxic Chicken Guano?

Posted by Chump Change Shaman on November 15, 2022, 9:10 am, in reply to "Big mystery: How could chickens kill a rat through 1/2" wire mesh?"

Hmmm, toxic poo.

Posted by Izzy Weird on November 16, 2022, 12:29 pm, in reply to "Toxic Chicken Guano?"

Actually, one of my hens is a "Poo Chicken".

Posted by Izzy Weird on November 16, 2022, 2:53 pm, in reply to "Hmmm, toxic poo."

Izzy Weird When I got Squeezie she was a 2-week old only-child, a tiny little chick. She was so skittish you could not catch her. I worked very hard to tame her. She is now probably the tamest hen I have. If you picked her up against her will she would poop on you. But if she jumped into your lap for treats she would not poop on you. So I took some of her poop off the leg of my jeans and rubbed it on her beak. This seems to be working, she's a smart bird and she got the message. I think she was pooping maliciously. Some might think these birds just go anywhere, randomly. But there are places like the nesting boxes where they generally do not poop.