...sometimes a critter will just be ill and expire wherever they happen to be.

We don't set out poison for them, we do set out traps, but that hasn't seemed to have made much of an impact, so at night we're careful about removing the feeder from the coop, storing in a covered bin (rat proofed).. found the dead rat this afternoon, body had not "stiffened" yet. I was wearing garden gloves don't know if it was warm or cold. Wondering if those hens killed it.. you think it worked it's way in the coop just to die off there?

If hens had killed it, I'd expect that some wounds would be evident, pecked out eyes and the like.

Hens can be defensive, it's certainly possible, but why the rat wasn't swift enough to escape from them is as baffling as anything.

I was so grossed out I didn't study the remains too closely, but at a glance I didn't see any evidence of being pecked to death. I bagged it quickly and put in the trash container.. that's when I noticed the body wasn't stiff yet. After disposing it, I tried to figure out how this happened.. Like you said, one would think the rat would escape quite quickly from any attack from the hens. so that's not likely. baffled.

that's probably what happened. slow reaction. died in the coop trying to go after chicken feed but not making it.. The cat is very sick. I think she got into something. I have to take her to the vet tomorrow. I've had wait out the holiday weekend to avoid emergency vet hospital expenses. She's not drinking any water, nor eating at all. she struggled to eat one little kibble.

These aren't even my animals. I'm house-sitting my daughter's family's home, while they're away in Holland on holiday. I hope I don't have to give them bad news about any of the critters on their return..

and I've seen them follow the tractor around the field when we were breaking the ground up chasing down bugs, mice, and small snakes that were stirred up and eating them. They did kill a few mice/small rats that were too big to eat, but they weren't like huge wood rats or anything. So I guess it would sort of depend on how big of a rat it was.

I've seen much bigger rats in my day.. not a field mice. It happens that this is an urban situation. Oakland Ca. The back yard borders on a wooded creek that cuts through parts of the flatland area. Lots of racoons, squirrels, even spotted a couple of hawks and falcons in the area preying on the hens when they were chicks. Oh, and naturally tons of rats. What we need are owls!

The hens have to be penned up to keep from both destroying the vegetable garden, which they are wont to do, and from "flying the coop" ending up in a neighbors frying pan, which has happened with one.

Thanks for sharing your story, I had no idea chickens would even go after mice. The rat found in the coop, seemed to be ignored by the hens in this case. I just went to feed them kitchen scraps which they were impatiently waiting for.

I bet the hens in your friends farm are really healthy critters and good layers!

Oddly enough, we've found several dead rats in our house and we have no idea why...