Mice

[Icie]

Okay, I've read till my head feels like it will explode. Some of you may remember my post about the chicken feeder made from a garbage can with 8 feeder holes. I made it so when I go back to work (12 hr days jan-april, tax season), I won't have to worry about feeding, watering, or letting them in or out- I'll be working M/T/Th/F and home the rest of the days and will let them free range all day then.

My dilemma is this:
1. I discovered the hardware cloth enclosed coop had visitors when I took down my peanut plants I had hung to dry from the ceiling and they were completely stripped of nuts! The little varmints had climbed in via the roof (made of several layers of heavy tarp), and I guess were free to climb around in the plant and take what they wanted.
2. I (and the chickens notice too) am now hearing them moving around up there when I'm in the coop during the day.
3. The first night I used the new garbage can feeder, I was reluctant to leave the feeder holes open over night but I did anyway (This was before I ever actually heard them). The next day feed was scattered all around the garbage can on the coop floor. I refuse to think the chickens were that messy, but instead I believe they saw a mouse (or mice) in the feed and were trying to get to them and extreme seed scattering occurred. What do you think? Anyway, I put the covers on, choosing to wait till they've eaten all the feed on the ground before I feed them again.

So, if I now need to put caps on and off daily, it defeats the purpose of that feeder. I used to feed them daily and all food would be gone by evening so even after the mice are my peanuts, there was none left to lure them in each night.

I REALLY need repellent suggestions asap. Peppermint? I regularly spray that already when I clean the coop. Poisons out of the question. I've been feeding a stray cat for three months that's still scared of me and while its not interested in my girls, it can't live in the coop with them and I can't leave it open overnight. Sorry this is so long but I really need HELP.

 

[azygous]

We're big, smart superior life forms. You'd think we would have been able to conquer these tiny, not-so-smart life forms by this stage in our evolution. But alas, this is not the case. If a chicken keeper says they have no mice, they probably aren't paying attention.

I have made it my priority to keep mice under control because they attract rattlesnakes. I've had three in the run over the years. I keep bucket roller traps set up all the time year round. I use metal live traps in strategic locations, and spring traps occasionally. In spite of this effort, I still have mice.

However, it sounds like you are running a mice high rise with free meals thrown in. Your layered tarps for a roof is likely riddled with mice families, snug and comfy in the layers and folds. But it's likely the easy availability of food that is the clincher. The more food that is available, the more mice litters the rodents will have. That should be your number one priority. Secure the food somehow.

Then you need to think about addressing that roof. Unless it's summer where you are, this is an inconvenient time of year to try to put a new roof on a run. But until you do, I would employ every mouse trap you can find.

I really love the bucket roller traps filled with a couple inches of water and baited with peanut butter. There was a terrific YouTube video I used to post of the bucket catching multiples of mice each night, but someone decided the video was "violent content" so it is no more.

You can buy the rollers on Amazon and easily install them on your own plastic buckets found for a few bucks at any hardware store. It's safe around chickens, no poison, no spring trap to catch a chicken by accident, and you just dump out the drowned mice each morning. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bucket+r...=bucket+roller+traps,aps,486&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

[Nyhillbillies]

I respectfully disagree with the use of roller traps. Its torture, plain & simple.
Instant kill mouse traps are humane.
Bait with peanut butter, which they find irresistible. Cover the trap with a weighed down milk crate or other similar item if your animals will be in the vicinity.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I highly recommend traps in crates and cats. I trapped a bunch of rats in my coop using snap traps and electric traps in crates in my run, but since I got a farm cat, I've had zero problems - this was after rats caused several hundred dollars of damage to my husband's car. I also reinforced any areas they were getting in.

 

[azygous]

@Nyhillbillies I beg to differ. Respectfully. Many, many times, I've discovered a bloody foot left in an "instant kill" trap where the trap only snapped down on a limb. No telling how long the mouse worked on chewing off its own foot to escape.

Twice in the last month, I have found one live mouse in a live trap with gory severed parts of another mouse, most of which had been consumed by the stronger mouse. They apparently have no ethics regarding eating their own kind. Alive.

No trap is going to be kind and convenient to mice. Mice are at the bottom of the food chain. They are destined to have short lives and end up being food. If they choose to live in proximity to my chickens, they are going to become food for my clean-up crew, the crows and ravens and foxes.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I agree that snap traps can be awful. I really like the electric traps, but they are pricey. And cats play with them before they die. Nothing ticks all the boxes.

I will say that I get the occasional drowned mouse in my livestock trough out in the pasture. They just seem determined to drown themselves.

 

[Icie]

We're big, smart superior life forms. You'd think we would have been able to conquer these tiny, not-so-smart life forms by this stage in our evolution. But alas, this is not the case. If a chicken keeper says they have no mice, they probably aren't paying attention.

I have made it my priority to keep mice under control because they attract rattlesnakes. I've had three in the run over the years. I keep bucket roller traps set up all the time year round. I use metal live traps in strategic locations, and spring traps occasionally. In spite of this effort, I still have mice.

However, it sounds like you are running a mice high rise with free meals thrown in. Your layered tarps for a roof is likely riddled with mice families, snug and comfy in the layers and folds. But it's likely the easy availability of food that is the clincher. The more food that is available, the more mice litters the rodents will have. That should be your number one priority. Secure the food somehow.

Then you need to think about addressing that roof. Unless it's summer where you are, this is an inconvenient time of year to try to put a new roof on a run. But until you do, I would employ every mouse trap you can find.

I really love the bucket roller traps filled with a couple inches of water and baited with peanut butter. There was a terrific YouTube video I used to post of the bucket catching multiples of mice each night, but someone decided the video was "violent content" so it is no more.

You can buy the rollers on Amazon and easily install them on your own plastic buckets found for a few bucks at any hardware store. It's safe around chickens, no poison, no spring trap to catch a chicken by accident, and you just dump out the drowned mice each morning. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bucket+roller+traps&crid=2NO2JB4AK97D3&sprefix=bucket+roller+traps,aps,486&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Thank you for the suggestion, I'm placing my order right now. My only questions are whether the chickens will try to get the mice out of the bucket when they see them, try to eat the peanut butter, or should I just put the buckets outside of the coop and hope the mice visit them first?

For point of reference, when hubby built the coop years ago, out of reclaimed and scrap materials, he made the roof out of chain link fencing and overlayed with a tarp. New, stronger, sometimes folded double tarps have been added every couple years as the hot NC sun has deteriorated previous tarps. The only semblance of rafters are boards and pipes used to give it elevation for rain runoff. Inside, 6 ft off the sand floor, it looks like a hot mess but outside it looks like a dome top. It's more of a coop/run combo at 15 x 15, with externally accessed nesting boxes and 10ft roosting bars. His health, energy, and interest are different now years later and I must actually find a REAL roofer to undo all that and put on a proper, sealed roof. Our main focus had been predator strength and rain proofing, but obviously now there's a 3rd major concern...sigh. I never would've thought of this.

 

[azygous]

No, the chickens won't be interested in the mice floating in the bucket. Yes, they will eat the peanut butter off the roller. I bait the roller each night after the chickens have roosted, and empty the bucket of the night's catch whenever I get to it. That's the beauty of the bucket trap. It keeps on working even with the mice in it. Mice don't make the mental connection, "Oh, my friends have come to a bad end in this thing, maybe I should avoid it." Heck, how many humans do you know who can't make that mental leap about danger?

Of course the peanut butter will last a week if you place the bucket where the chickens can't eat the peanut butter off the roller. That would be the ideal solution. Also, move the trap around each week. But place it where you noticed mice traffic. It's more effective if you place it against a wall and situate the ramp so the bottom is in the traffic lane next to the wall.

Chicken keeping is a learning curve. I can't tell you how many times I've had to undo mistakes in my run and do things over. I think the worst time was when I thought putting 6mil plastic sheeting on my run would suffice for winter. The first 60mph wind proved to be the literal undoing of that roof.

 

[Icie]

No, the chickens won't be interested in the mice floating in the bucket. Yes, they will eat the peanut butter off the roller. I bait the roller each night after the chickens have roosted, and empty the bucket of the night's catch whenever I get to it. That's the beauty of the bucket trap. It keeps on working even with the mice in it. Mice don't make the mental connection, "Oh, my friends have come to a bad end in this thing, maybe I should avoid it." Heck, how many humans do you know who can't make that mental leap about danger?

Of course the peanut butter will last a week if you place the bucket where the chickens can't eat the peanut butter off the roller. That would be the ideal solution. Also, move the trap around each week. But place it where you noticed mice traffic. It's more effective if you place it against a wall and situate the ramp so the bottom is in the traffic lane next to the wall.

Chicken keeping is a learning curve. I can't tell you how many times I've had to undo mistakes in my run and do things over. I think the worst time was when I thought putting 6mil plastic sheeting on my run would suffice for winter. The first 60mph wind proved to be the literal undoing of that roof.

Thanks again for the speedy reply, it all makes perfect sense. I had a good laugh at your comment about the "mental leap"...too funny but so very true. I'll keep ya posted.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Just FYI -

My chickens are interested in mice. Very interested. But only if they can reach them. It's often my ducks who fish them out. Extra protein, I guess?

Oh my goodness. Learning curve is right! Just this morning I was chastising myself for things I did in designing my coop. It's been years, and I'm still effing up. Like putting my run next to a retaining wall so water drains right into it. So smart.