Field Mice In My Coop

[MichenerFarm]

Hi there! I'm new to BYC, hope I'm doing this right! I've been a chicken Mama for just two months so I'm still learning. With that being said, I just went out to the coop & noticed mice and/or rat droppings. We live in the desert, on an acre, with lots of dirt & rodents. What can I do to keep these mice and/or rats out of the coop? Will they make my chickens sick?

Thank you!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have had success with the Ketch-all repeating mousetrap. It is safe to be in with the chickens. (I wouldn't put it in with very tiny chicks though.)

They carry disease. Don't tolerate them, IMO.

Oh- I also needed to mention that I have to drown the mice in a 5 gal. pail after catching them, as it catches them live.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You'll also have to consider never having feed left in the feeders overnight. Many of us have instituted feeding plans that limit the feed the chickens receive to what they can consume by 4 pm. It is something I simply must do, over I am feeding rodents. There is some great info about it here.

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Rodents.html

 

[GarlicEater]

Fred's Hens :

You'll also have to consider never having feed left in the feeders overnight. Many of us have instituted feeding plans that limit the feed the chickens receive to what they can consume by 4 pm. It is something I simply must do, over I am feeding rodents. There is some great info about it here.

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Rodents.html

That article is amazing - funny!! "Rodent Rodeo" lol.

I'm putting together a feed storage area next to my coop, that will be relatively rodent proof, maybe I'll get in the habit of putting the feeder away at night or measure out feed carefully so they eat it by end of day.​

 

[paddock36]

I agree with Fred's Hens. We never had a problem until we started giving them full feeders all the time. Now we limit their feed and allow them to free range too of course. We put poison out in a contained area and put a light out with it. It seemed to attract the rodents to the poison and after that no more rodents. We always removed the poison in the morning so the squirrels didn't get it. We don't mind the squirrels.

 

[poodlepill]

I was overun with mice not to long ago in my coop. I use those triangle shaped black bait holders ( I forget what they are called) It allows you to put some mouse poison inside and lock it then the mice can come in through the provided holes on the sides but the bait is contained inside. I then put it in a secure area that no chickens can get to.

I see no more mice.

 

[briteday]

If you have feed available to your chickens 24/7 I would start by changing over to a scheduled feeding program, maybe twice per day so that all food is eaten by the time they go to roost. I generally feed my chickens table scraps from the previous day in the morning, they free range during the day, and are fed their ration of layer feed when I get home around 5. By the time it gets dark around 7PM they have cleaned up all of the feed, nothing left to attract rodents. By switching over to this feeding schedule I have cut my feed bill in half, the chickens are encouraged to forage more during the day before they are fed, egg quality has increased due to increased natural foraging as a food source, and my chickens seem healthier. I believe the feed use has been reduced because I am not feeding the rodents and my chickens are getting more food by foraging on their own.

I always keep a few snap traps set in the coop, just in case. I recently found some, a bit pricey though ($4 each?) , that have the snap mechanism enclosed in a plastic housing so the chickens don't get caught in them accidentally. My biggest problem with the conventional snap traps in the past is that the hens would consider the dead mice as easy pickin's and run off carrying the trap, with the mouse, out into the pasture (greatest game of Keep Away besides giving them grapes!) and I would be constantly buying more traps. Since these new plastic housing traps keep the snap mechanism and the resultant dead mouse contained in the housing I can easily check the traps, empty the mouse out (you push down on a lever that releases the snap), and reset it for the next time.

Besides the fact that rodents carry undesirable diseases that neither you or your chickens should be exposed to (hanta virus for humans, too many to mention for animals) I have little tolerance for rodents in my hen house. Also, be careful when cleaning your coop or piles of rodent droppings. Always wear a face mask when creating a dusty environment (such as raking/cleaning out the coop) and wet down any droppings or bedding before cleaning to keep the dust down. The viral particles are generally found in the dust created by the droppings.

That being said, I was just out to check on the chicks in the coop brooder before it got completely dark out tonight and I saw a mouse run across the floor of the coop. OK, rodents are a fact of life when you have livestock, but keep them down to minimal levels.

 

[Burning Beard]

For two years I battled the mice and rats on and off. I had the traps, bait boxes, and pellet gun and would exterminate till they were all gone. Couple weeks to a month later they would be back and the cycle would start over. Last fall a neighbor adopted a barn cat and that cat adopted our property as well. Since then I have not seen a live mouse, rat, vole, or chipmunk. She is the best free exterminator. I myself couldn't adopt a cat to then keep it in the barn so this situation works out perfectly for me. If you or anyone else doesn't mind keeping a cat outdoors I suggest this method.

 

[Bi0s]

we got to barn cats outside they hang around in the coop by the chickens alot no mice here

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

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