Mice in the coop. They have a lot of tunnels but how will I catch them?

[New duck mommy 2021]

Chickens will kill mice during the day, but not at night.
Last year we had an incredible mouse infestation, and use the Victor live traps, metal, from Amazon to get them. Had as many as ten in one trap at once!
I refuse to use sticky traps and drown anyone!!!
Our live traps went traveling, by car, to remote areas, daily. I though we had maybe 30 mice, and stopped counting at 140+!!!
Snap traps work fine, usually, as long as you don't have a colony like we had, and they need to be unavailable to your birds.
Mary

When they are running though your home and your grandkids age 17 months and 1 month are down to visit you do what you need to do
I have caught many my cats were chasing outside and we have drove them out to fields
But this was my home and mice running across my living room floor under my couch with cats trying to take my couch apart was not going to continue !!
I did what I had to
I drown only so they wouldn’t suffer
I cried and asked God for forgiveness
Next time please keep in mind you were not here living in this nightmare with tiny children and do not know it broke my heart to have to kill them

 

[gtaus]

I have had good luck with the tin cat mousetraps. I bait them with bread and peanut butter.

Nothing to hurt the chickens if you put one in the coop. Captures the mice alive so you have to deal with them yourself. Kill them yourself or release them back out in the woods somewhere far from home.

Chickens are omnivores. I have heard that chickens will capture, kill and eat mice.

Maybe some chickens will eat mice. But I caught a few mice in snap traps in my garage and tossed the dead mice into the chicken run. My chickens had no interest in the dead mice. The mice got buried in the chicken run compost litter and just became worm food. Maybe the mice have to be alive for the chickens to get excited about them enough to kill and eat them?

 

[Folly's place]

@gtaus , that's the live trap I've been using, just can't use enough snap traps safely in the coop.
Mary

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus , that's the live trap I've been using, just can't use enough snap traps safely in the coop.
Mary

Yeah, those live traps work pretty well. Especially for situations like in a chicken coop so the chickens cannot get hurt. I actually prefer the snap traps when I can use them. If they catch a mouse, it's dead and easy to dispose of. But I would never put a snap trap in the coop or run where it might hurt a chicken.

Another advantage of the tin cat live traps is that it can catch and hold multiple mice. I think I had 3 or 4 caught in the trap one night. Must have been some good smelling peanut butter!

 

[Folly's place]

I tried peanut butter, and the mice preferred chicken scratch instead.
Mary

 

[Geena]

I use snap traps, and the cats take care of most of them.
I did have one mouse that just got a leg caught, so make sure you have a spade or something to finish it off, and to check them often.

To avoid that set your traps up like this.

I just keep mouse traps set up 24/7/365 and check them every morning when I let the chickens out. The main way to control mice is to keep them in check year round, so they can't get any where near infestation levels to begin with.

 

[Sussex19]

To avoid that set your traps up like this.

I do set them like that. It still managed it though.

 

[gtaus]

I do set them like that. It still managed it though.

I noticed on my new snap traps that there were 2 different setting for touch sensitivity. One was a very light touch setting and the other was the normal setting. If you have that option, you might want to try the light touch setting.

 

[Sussex19]

I noticed on my new snap traps that there were 2 different setting for touch sensitivity. One was a very light touch setting and the other was the normal setting. If you have that option, you might want to try the light touch setting.

Yeah, mine don't have that.
They are fairly old ones, just basic, as the new ones we got fell apart.
All the mice seem to have gone for the moment, when they come back I might look into getting better quality new ones.

 

[Geena]

Yeah, mine don't have that.
They are fairly old ones, just basic, as the new ones we got fell apart.
All the mice seem to have gone for the moment, when they come back I might look into getting better quality new ones.

It seems like the older they get the more pressure it takes to set them off and that's when you get those bad snaps. I guess the spring gets worn out. After having "better" mouse traps I went back to the old standby wood and metal traps, they always have a hair trigger, I've caught my fingers a few times