Mice in chicken coop

Ten easy ways to get rid of mice in the coop
1.  keep a cat in the coop,  however,  the cat and the chickens may not like this method.
2. put away food when chickens are done eating, however,  chickens are never done eating.
3. put out mouse traps  with peanut butter as bait,  however, chickens love peanut butter.....
4. put out poison bait.  Seems chickens like that too.
5. Hmmmm,  put poison bait where chickens cant eat it.  No problem,   they'll just eat the mice after the mice eat the poison.
6. use plug in "drives away insects and rodents as seen on tv" device,  LOL,  might as well have  just flushed the $19,99.
7.  Buy expensive battery operated Rat Zapper and  have hubby stick finger inside to test it.   Recycle the remains after hubby smashes it.
8. Set up a chair and wait all night with a broom to smash the little buggers when they show up.
9.  Burn coop to the ground while laughing maniacally and dancing around the coop.
10. Move chickens into the spare bedroom until  the new Fort Knox Coop is built.
   
Arrrrrrghhh!    I hate mice.

chel

That was very enjoyable Chel!


Okay, a couple of possibilities. Can you tell where they are coming in? If it is possible, plug all holes that they may be gaining access through - I read somewhere on BYC that people use steel wool to plug the holes.
Then you could use little mouse hav-a-hart traps to catch whoever is still in the coop (peanut butter one possible bait) and just release them outside, a distance from the coop if you wish. If they can no longer gain access thanks to the plugged holes, you should be okay.

Good luck!

I read that if you put pepermint oil on the steel wool you plug the hole it helps repel them?

chel, that was hilarious!  Were those the steps you took?

In all seriousness, you could get one of those peck bit feeders that dispenses only a few pellets at a time, as and when the chickens peck at it. Food is what is attracting them, so make sure that the bags of feed are in mouse-proof containers, like metal dustbins.

We have our bags of feed in mouse proof containers..... its the chickens who wont keep the mice out of their feeders!  The coop have 25lb feeders  so unfortunately,  there is always feed available for the wee mousies.   If we only had a couple chickens then we could probably put out just enough for them to eat,  but with lots of coops,  lots of birds,  ducks n geese ,  and such,  larger feeders are required.  Otherwise,  the dominant birds would be the only ones that got to eat.


No,  Rob,   I havent gotten thru the whole list yet...... Im only on number 3,  but  planning ahead because the mice arent cooperating.     On the good side though,  I havent had to pry a mouse trap off a chickens head yet....



chel

OK, sounds like I should consider myself lucky so far. I've hidden the bate in areas the birds can't get at just before Winter really gets a toe hold or as soon as I become aware the mice have moved in.

I've found one dead mouse in the coop that the birds never even noticed, the rest seem to die in the burrows because I don't find them anywhere else. Did I mention the smell in summer? Which does lead to believe that most die in the burrows and not out in the open.

Very funny eggchel .

In all seriousness, I bought a "Rat Zapper" for my garage where we have had an ongoing mouse problem since we moved in to this house 3 years ago. Poison scares me as I have 5 dogs and 13 cats - I am always afraid that they will find the poison or eat a mouse that has been poisoned. Also, poison gets to be expensive. The rat zapper was $49.95 but it is a one time expense. Within half an hour of setting it up we had killed our first mouse and had killed 3 within about 2 hours. Since then our "kill rate" has dropped but I am not seeing the nasty buggers in the garage anymore. I am so pleased with it that I am thinking of buying one for the chicken coop and my barn. The one thing I would caution is that it would need to be in an area that was inaccesable to baby chicks - It has a warning on it that it will kill any small animal like a puppy or kitten that can get into it. Baby chicks would definitely fit in the opening!

Jen