Work's begun to control the rat and wild chicken population in West Auckland.

Locals have recently raised concerns about an infestation of huge rats scurrying about in the Titirangi village centre.

Many believe the problem is  overfeeding of the village chickens which is giving the rats plenty to feast on.

Auckland Council says it's increasing its rodent control activity in local parks and facilities.

It's also commissioned a report on chicken control options and is warning residents not to feed the birds.

Rats are also on the run in leafy east Auckland, with hundreds of households tooled up and hunting the furry vermin.

Today, Kit Parkinson, chairman of the Ōrākei Local Board, which helps fund rat-trapping, told of large numbers of rats plaguing the city's eastern waterfront.

"We've had a huge inundation of rats in Selwyn Reserve at Mission Bay. It's been reported by dozens of constituents plus businesspeople down there. Our contractors are reporting it as well."

Contractors were using bait and traps to control the vermin.

Parkinson has a trap in the backyard of his home, near Kohimarama's Mary Atkin Reserve, which had caught a number of rats, but not as many as the cat.

The aim of the Eastern Bays Songbird Project, funded mainly by Parkinson's board, Auckland Council, Kiwibank, Predator Free NZ Trust and the Department of Conservation, is to have traps in a quarter of east Auckland's 30,000 backyards.

Since it began in late 2017 it had lent out 1083 rat traps and 189 possum traps, said project manager Kerry Lukies.

Most of the rat traps were at people's homes, but there were also many on Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei land.

The predator control group asked trap users to report catches and the tally to date was 687 rats and 267 possums.