Mice in the chicken run! How do I eliminate them?

[PoppasGrill]

We have had issues with mice , even with no access to the chicken feed, due to our donkey feed trough. We can’t eliminate the food source, though we have limited how much feed is left in the trough at night, so the mice started going into the trough in daylight hours and the donkeys will eat beside them.
We tried the peppermint oil spray, it made the barn smell good for a while, but didn’t repel the mice, think they liked it as we could see the mice setting on top of the areas we sprayed.
Then we tried the bucket/ rolling can trap baited with peanut butter. Never caught a single mouse.
Tried baking soda mixed in corn bread mix, with no visible results.
We go have a barn cat that will gift us a dead mouse every other day, well, half a dead mouse…
We don’t want to use poison , as we don’t want the ladies to eat a poisoned mouse, or our cat to eat one.
Next will be commercial traps, but rumor has it, for every one you get in a trap there are 10 others watching it hit the trap so they stay away .
Hope you find a solution that works for you, and let us know.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Surely you can limit the feed to the donkey to one feeding a day plus some quality hay? Or build it a tall trough that no mouse can leap into?

The only sure method of rodent control is to stop feeding them. You have heard right on traps and poisons, they are smart.

Don't make me start building rat proof donkey feeders..... shipping would be enormous.