question regarding feeding chickens to avoid mice

[Kiki]

Even though they are confined to a closed run and coop?

How small or big is your coop and run?

 

[Scotty from BI]

it is gigantic, run over a hundred feet long about 6-8 feet wide, coop proportionate to run for 8 chickens.

 

[Kiki]

it is gigantic, run over a hundred feet long about 6-8 feet wide, coop proportionate to run for 8 chickens.

The they have plenty of room to keep themselves busy...I wouldn't worry a bit.

 

[Scotty from BI]

thanks, I was curious to hear peoples experience with this method of rodent control. Everything was pretty good until I tried to leave the hanging feeder available in the run. The entire run is covered in 1/4 " hardware cloth top bottom and two feet around the perimeter underground and they still got in. I can not find a hole anywhere big enough for them to breach. I guess where there's a will there will be a way. At least it's only mice at this point and not rats or worse.

 

[Kiki]

thanks, I was curious to hear peoples experience with this method of rodent control. Everything was pretty good until I tried to leave the hanging feeder available in the run. The entire run is covered in 1/4 " hardware cloth top bottom and two feet around the perimeter underground and they still got in. I can not find a hole anywhere big enough for them to breach. I guess where there's a will there will be a way. At least it's only mice at this point and not rats or worse.

Do you have deep bedding in there?
If so rake around the edges of the bedding...dig down some and see if the mice have a secret tunnel.

 

[Scotty from BI]

not deep liter, filled with dirt, sand and mulch. Looked for tunnels without luck already.
found some droppings in my storage area of the coop even though there is no food laying around. All food kept in sealed dog food containers, possibly a few crumbs but I am good about cleaning. Surprised that I have caught three mice in three days in my traps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It doesn't matter when you feed them. I feed mine after work 5-6 pm.

How does that work? If I were to try and do that, half the year they'd already be on the roost by the time they were fed.

I guess where there's a will there will be a way. At least it's only mice at this point and not rats or worse.

Pretty much, when it comes to rodents. Thankfully the local mice stay out of my run but I used to get rats coming after the feed, and they're so much more clever and hard to trap.

 

[Scotty from BI]

Thankfully the local mice stay out of my run but I used to get rats coming after the feed, and they're so much more clever and hard to trap.

Did you have food out or food in the soil that the chickens scattered out of the feeder?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Did you have food out or food in the soil that the chickens scattered out of the feeder?

I had the feeder out all night. Due to the way my old coop was built, there was no good way to remove it at night since the feeder was PVC and sort of built into the coop.

 

[Gray Farms]

How does that work? If I were to try and do that, half the year they'd already be on the roost by the time they were fed.






Lights in the barn. Plus its never totally dark here at 5 pm. They are sometimes roosting but not asleep yet.