Cat/Kitten for Mouse Control

[SandyRiverChick]

You don't have to be much of a cat person to adopt a feral barn cat (adult instead of a kitten.) You would provide a cat house/shelter next to your coop and feed them daily. There are 3 levels of Feral. You don't have to worry about cats getting to chicks as they would not be inside your coop. I built a cat shelter that is a "bump out," of my coop and it works great. Look up your local Feral Cat society and fill out the barn cat form. I got rid of my rat problem, predator proofed my coop and then adopted 2 feral cats. They for sure do the job of keeping rodents away (they are the control point of the getting rid of rodents project.)

 

[Kimberjo2]

I have a mouse issue. I am trapping them and catching every evening but I don't think I am getting ahead of it. While my run is surrounded in 1/2 inch hardware cloth with aprons, the mice can actually tunnel from 18-inches away to get in.

I am not a cat person, so I know nothing about cats, and of course nothing about cats with chickens.

If I got a kitten, could the kitten "live" with the chickens? What about any disease risks? When the kitten grows up, will it be a predator to the chickens? And anything else I need to know. Thank you.

We’re experiencing mice problems as well! Can’t use poison the chickens may eat the dead mice. So I’m experimenting with some advice given…50/50 peanut butter and baking soda. Mice can’t regurgitate. Put it out at night after putting chickens to bed then…picking up all chicken food first…leave it and in morning take it out before letting chickens out cuz you don’t want them to eat any of it!
Two nights now the mice are eating on the peanut butter mixture will keep doing this for 5 more days to see if their population has diminished! Can’t hurt!

 

[crystalinflorida]

I have a mouse issue. I am trapping them and catching every evening but I don't think I am getting ahead of it. While my run is surrounded in 1/2 inch hardware cloth with aprons, the mice can actually tunnel from 18-inches away to get in.

I am not a cat person, so I know nothing about cats, and of course nothing about cats with chickens.

If I got a kitten, could the kitten "live" with the chickens? What about any disease risks? When the kitten grows up, will it be a predator to the chickens? And anything else I need to know. Thank you.

As long there is a food source, more rodents will appear as quickly as you can blink. we secure our food every evening at sunset and open it in the morning. that has helped a lot, but still they eat the neighbors cat food so I know they're still around. we had a professional pest control company secure our home perimeter with wire mesh so they can't intrude. My experience is every cat has it's own personality. the more feral, likely could catch the mice, but could also be tempted to attack the chickens. the more domesticated, the less they care about hunting.

 

[Love Donkeys]

Our feed is stored in metal trash cans with tight lids. The chickens are only fed in the coop. NO feed is left in feeders overnight.
We have barn cats (all fixed) I feed them in the mornings. They come to the front door and I put their kibble in the hall. The reason I feed them in the hall is because our chickens steal the cats kibble. Every day the cats will bring us dead rodents, I think they are trying to feed us.
Really our chickens are better Mouse catchers than the cats. Once the chickens zero in on the rodent, it's history.

 

[Penny_01]

I have a mouse issue. I am trapping them and catching every evening but I don't think I am getting ahead of it. While my run is surrounded in 1/2 inch hardware cloth with aprons, the mice can actually tunnel from 18-inches away to get in.

I am not a cat person, so I know nothing about cats, and of course nothing about cats with chickens.

If I got a kitten, could the kitten "live" with the chickens? What about any disease risks? When the kitten grows up, will it be a predator to the chickens? And anything else I need to know. Thank you.

Hi! I have a cat for mice control and she does amazing! I’m not a cat person either but she stays in the garage and rarely comes inside. I give her tick medicine once every month and she doesn’t have any diseases. She isn’t a predator to the chickens because she grew up around them. I would recommend getting a cat if you have a mice or rodent problem.

 

[triciayoung]

Where is the tunnel(s)?

They go from outside under the apron into the coop.

 

[triciayoung]

My four barn kitties didn't really start effectively hunting until about 7-8 months old ... Anything that moves is fair "game" ... They will catch and play, and eventually eat ... Bugs, moths, snakes, mice, moles, birds, rabbits, and who knows what else I haven't seen ...

But they like to "play with their food"!

I don't think a cat is your best choice ... While I really like my cats, if you're not a cat person, or willing to become one, traps and exclusion are probably a better solution for you.

How big is your run and coop?

I'm not sure if you have mice or rats ... Mice don't usually "tunnel", but rats will dig there own tunnel ...

I definitely have mice. We know this from what we catch, and we are using mice/rat catchers. My run is 45x60 feet.

 

[triciayoung]

I have some trapping tips below, but if your only interested in the cat solution, skip to the end.

How many traps do you have set? If you are catching 1or2 mice a day then you don't have enough traps. 30 traps are better. I know it sounds excessive, but that is the recommedation for pest control experts. You want to have more traps out than mice that you are trying to catch. More traps are better anyway, because male mice give off hormones that can make small female mice afraid to approach that area. In other words: if you catch an big male mouse on a trap, you may stop being able to catch small female mice on that trap.

Wear gloves when setting traps to prevent the smell of your hands from transfering.

Mice are more suspicous of new objects and smells than rats. If you are using snap traps give at least a week for the mice to feel comfortable with the traps before setting them (you should still bait them during this time). It would be awful to have a mouse approach a scary trap for the first time and then get spooked by the trap going off. That mouse will not approach that trap again. You want all your mice to be comfortable with the traps, its their fastfood restaurant that they visit daily. Then one day you set all the traps and those mice won't think twice about jumping on them. If using sticky traps, everything I just said doesn't apply.

Also, make sure there are no bushes or hiding spots near the pen. Mice don't like running into open clearings, they prefer to run along walls or under dense bushes. You want them to feel exposed/unsafe. If you have bushes near the pen that you are unwilling to part with, you can raise the skirts 8inches up off the ground to make movement under the bush visible from a distance. This will make them feel unsafe, and will help their predators see them.

I have had cats and chickens, as has my neighbor.
These are my observations about cats and chickens:
Old hens will peck/pick on kittens. If you have territorial chickens, they may be a problem with small kittens that cant get away. However, aggression towards kittens is less likely with docile breeds.
If you have a rooster, cats will generally avoid spooking your chickens for fear of the rooster.

Large cats (especially male cats that haven't been fixed) may kill small chickens. If your cat is prone to killing large animals like rabbits or squirrels, then it may also consider killing a chicken. However, most cats are more likely to go after small twitter birds, lizards, gophers, rats and mice. Most cats would only be a problem around chicks.

Cats that are raised around chickens normally learn to respect their space and leave them alone, and same goes for the chickens.

There are exceptional cats that love spending time with chickens. My neighor's cat, who was raised with chickens, loves to come over to visit my chickens. He will go smell them and roll over and expose his tummy. If they try to peck his nose, he will leave them alone. Some chickens find him very interesting and follow him around. Other find him frightening and run away (he then chases for fun).

Other potential problems to consider:
-Not all cats are good moucers. Cats with tall ears, big tails and long legs appear (in my experience) to be more interested in hunting than those with the reverse.
-Cats are nocturnal (this means that they are active at the same time as coyotes). If you have coyotes in your area you may keep losing your cats to predation. I have noticed that black cats seem to survive better in that situation.
-If you plan to keep your cat and chickens in the same coop then you will have to clean up any dead carcass parts the cat leaves behind/vomits up. Chickens will go after carcasses, and this can spread disease. Also, cats dig holes and bury their poop, so you will not be able to easily remove it. Chickens dig to find food. Though cats are not commonly known to transmit chicken diseases, the potential transmission of pathogens like toxoplasma gondi would be much higher in this situation.

Thank you so much. You should write an article.

 

[triciayoung]

We’re experiencing mice problems as well! Can’t use poison the chickens may eat the dead mice. So I’m experimenting with some advice given…50/50 peanut butter and baking soda. Mice can’t regurgitate. Put it out at night after putting chickens to bed then…picking up all chicken food first…leave it and in morning take it out before letting chickens out cuz you don’t want them to eat any of it!
Two nights now the mice are eating on the peanut butter mixture will keep doing this for 5 more days to see if their population has diminished! Can’t hurt!

How did this turn out for you?

 

[123RedBeard]

That's a good sized run ... I'd get a dozen snap traps, and some glue strips, and put them inside the run at night when the chickens are locked in the coop.

I'm guess they are coming in to clean up some spilled feed ... If so, is there a way to put and additional bigger tray under the feeder to catch any flicked out food?

If you could borrow a cat for a night or two, skip the glue traps, and put the snap traps under a little box .