Do rats & mice like light (heat lamps, lights, etc) when they hunt?

i have a feeling we have some mice in our barn that got in this winter and we get our chickens tomorrow (baby chicks) and i know how they like chicks for supper. i have heard they can see very well and dont like to hunt in light. the light would be the heat lamps. anybody know?Do rats %26amp; mice like light (heat lamps, lights, etc) when they hunt?
Mice are not a problem other than getting into the chick feed. Rats, now, could be a problem if they are hungry enough to go after the chicks. If that happens, they won't care what kind of light is there. You have two choices: get rid of the rats in a few hours or protect the chicks. You will never kill off the rats because they will always be a threat. The present community can be wiped out. As soon as distant rats find out about the vacancy -- population pressure pushes a new group into the vacancy.





The defense is wire, wire, and more wire. I recommend hardware cloth, which is not cloth. The stuff that has half inch squares, welded, galvanized wire. You buy it in rolls and it is the devil to work with. Build a frame large enough to contain your chicks and cover it with this hardware wire -- all sides of the box frame (includes the bottom also). Access openings must be engineered to keep a rat from squeezing through the hatch edges. I would consider the top to be the hatch, hinged on one side, and the hardware wire wrapped around the hatch frame's exterior. Hatch must be secured tight to the cage frame when closed. Keep the hardware wire on the frame's exterior so the rats must first chew through the wire to get to the frame. I've seen rat chewing damage that was astounding, so inspect the cage daily for attempted rat intrusion.