Can I Mix baking soda with chicken feed to kill mice?

[Mpotter72]

Your wrong it does kill mice and rats! Been using it for years and I’m willing to try it in my chicken coop because of the high cost of chicken feed,

How do I use it in my feed without hurting my ladies?

 

[The Moonshiner]

I tried the cornmeal, powdered sugar, baking soda mix for rats before.
The cornmeal kept them fed. The sugar hopped them up so they bred faster and the baking soda didn't seem to do anything.
Messing with that stuff caused me to use twice as much poison in the end.
Good luck

 

[Mpotter72]

Your wrong it does kill mice and rats! Been using it for years and I’m willing to try it in my chicken coop because of the high cost of chicken feed,

How precisely do you use the baking soda method without hurting the chickens.
My apologies if this has already been covered in this thread.

 

[Dragonssyn]

How do I use it in my feed without hurting my ladies?

I REALY have no idea how to use it in my chicken coop but I do use it in my home, and I don’t have to worry about my cats or dogs

 

[Al Gerhart]

I am highly skeptical of this approach actually working. Here is a link where the issue is discussed at length in a balanced manner.http://www.ratpoisonfacts.org/baking-soda/

And instead of dealing with the problem deal with the root cause of the rodents being there in the first place. This topic has been beat to death here on BYC, hundreds of threads each year yet people simply refuse to do a forum search and read the wealth of information.

By far the best source here on BYC is Howard E.'s posts on rodent control.


Here is Howard E.'s past post and some comment from me:

"To the OP (and others like them), if you will spend the time, everything you need to know about rats and how to get ride of them will be found in the links below......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

This last one is a review of a rat proof chicken feeder built and sold by a BYC member, who is a staunch advocate for the plan of getting rid of rats by starving them out. Remove all sources of feed and they will be forced to move on or starve to death. If you are firmly against the use of poison bait blocks......for whatever reason.......then this is one of the best actions you can take. Bulk food in metal trash cans.....chicken feed in metal rat proof feeders. Can't get to the feed and birds do not spill and waste feed that the rats can survive on."

And the short version of Howard's post? Sanitation, exclusion, elimination.

Sanitation, bulk feed in metal cans or barrels with tight fitting lids, a treadle feeder, clean up the avenues of movement so the rodents have no cover to protect them from their natural predators. In my opinion and experience this is the quickest, surest, and cheapest way to solve a rodent problem.

Exclusion, plugging the holes and building a Fort Knox chicken coop and not leaving an opening for free range. Tough to do and expensive but it could work for rats.

Elimination, poison and traps. Problem is that rats are smart and will quickly learn to avoid both traps and poison bait. Were you to clean them out, the lack of sanitation would mean a new population of rodents would move right in. And there is risk and no end to the process, keeping fresh bait out. However, if you have done your sanitation using poison becomes effective as the rats are starving and will likely try the poison bait. Not needed though, they will leave in a few days as long as you are not feeding the rodents with a compost pile or other animal feed. Not all will leave, your area will have a natural carrying capacity for rodents, natural feed, but that natural ability to sustain rodents is quite small and the natural predators keep them in check and under cover as the rodents hustle to find this natural food.

Do a forum search on "rats chickens" and you will find most of the old wives tales exposed and read of long epic battles against the rodents. Sanitation, exclusion, or elimination all have associated costs but you are already paying for the feed and will recover the initial costs quickly with the first method.

Good luck and remember, it isn't just the stolen feed, disease and predators come with rodents.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I am highly skeptical of this approach actually working. Here is a link where the issue is discussed at length in a balanced manner.http://www.ratpoisonfacts.org/baking-soda/

And instead of dealing with the problem deal with the root cause of the rodents being there in the first place. This topic has been beat to death here on BYC, hundreds of threads each year yet people simply refuse to do a forum search and read the wealth of information.

By far the best source here on BYC is Howard E.'s posts on rodent control.


Here is Howard E.'s past post and some comment from me:

"To the OP (and others like them), if you will spend the time, everything you need to know about rats and how to get ride of them will be found in the links below......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285

This last one is a review of a rat proof chicken feeder built and sold by a BYC member, who is a staunch advocate for the plan of getting rid of rats by starving them out. Remove all sources of feed and they will be forced to move on or starve to death. If you are firmly against the use of poison bait blocks......for whatever reason.......then this is one of the best actions you can take. Bulk food in metal trash cans.....chicken feed in metal rat proof feeders. Can't get to the feed and birds do not spill and waste feed that the rats can survive on."

And the short version of Howard's post? Sanitation, exclusion, elimination.

Sanitation, bulk feed in metal cans or barrels with tight fitting lids, a treadle feeder, clean up the avenues of movement so the rodents have no cover to protect them from their natural predators. In my opinion and experience this is the quickest, surest, and cheapest way to solve a rodent problem.

Exclusion, plugging the holes and building a Fort Knox chicken coop and not leaving an opening for free range. Tough to do and expensive but it could work for rats.

Elimination, poison and traps. Problem is that rats are smart and will quickly learn to avoid both traps and poison bait. Were you to clean them out, the lack of sanitation would mean a new population of rodents would move right in. And there is risk and no end to the process, keeping fresh bait out. However, if you have done your sanitation using poison becomes effective as the rats are starving and will likely try the poison bait. Not needed though, they will leave in a few days as long as you are not feeding the rodents with a compost pile or other animal feed. Not all will leave, your area will have a natural carrying capacity for rodents, natural feed, but that natural ability to sustain rodents is quite small and the natural predators keep them in check and under cover as the rodents hustle to find this natural food.

Do a forum search on "rats chickens" and you will find most of the old wives tales exposed and read of long epic battles against the rodents. Sanitation, exclusion, or elimination all have associated costs but you are already paying for the feed and will recover the initial costs quickly with the first method.

Good luck and remember, it isn't just the stolen feed, disease and predators come with rodents.

Welcome Back, friend

 

[Al Gerhart]

Been covered up with work and travel. Watch our those frozen children and space pirates.

 

[Motherfisch]

Don't do it!

Baking soda neutralizes stomach acid and could result in digestive problems if your chickens get in it. Besides I don't see any way it would kill a mouse unless perhaps you ran the mouse down and forced a large dose of citric or other acids down the mouse's throat, followed up before the mouse regurgitates the acid with a baking soda bolus. In that case the tiny Carbon Dioxide bubbles just may, and I repeat just may kill a mouse. But it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just to off a mouse or even to make it burp.

I'm not trying to upset anyone. Just wanted to share this information. Baking soda is safe to use around chickens. Here is just one example of many that I have found while checking out this topic for another pest control method hack that we heard about for ants.
https://www.chickenpoultry.net/some...ortant-role-of-baking-soda-in-poultry-farming

 

[McChooky]

Galvanized hardware cloth prorated over the life of your coop costs only pennies a day . Not only will your feed not be wasted you'll sleep better at night if your chickens are safe