Ahhh! Mice Invasion!

[77horses]

A couple days ago I was going out to feed the chickens, and when I walked into their coop, there was a small dark brown mouse in the feed dish. He saw me and skittered out and ran in a hole that went under the chicken coop.

Then, just today, we found a dead mouse in our dog's water dish who had gotten in and drowned.

Then one of our hens got a hold of it and ate it.

And also today, my sister went out to the coop in our garage and heard a skittering noise in the food dish...walked in and saw nothing, but then saw a huge rat (yes, a RAT!!!!!) climbing along the rafters above her.

We've always had mice in our garage but they've never really been a problem before. There are also small garden snakes in there, who seem to keep the mouse population down, but right now it's still a bit too cold out for them and so the mice seem to be becoming more and more brave.

And since there's corn and layer pellets for them to eat, it's like a free buffet for them, so I'm really not too surprised that they have been showing up more and more.

We've been putting the feed in big, plastic trash bins so they can't get to them, but they still once and a while find bits of it laying around and there's some in the chicken's feed dishes.

It's not as bad when they are outside in the garage and chicken coops...we don't mind them cleaning up any extra feed laying around and as long as they don't bother the chickens, which they haven't been. But now they are moving into the house, too!

And we can't have that. We do have two cats, whom are only inside cats but I think they still catch a couple mice once and a while. So we took one of our cats and put him out in the garage for today to catch any mice he can. He always loves going out there because he can't go outside that often, since he will run away and get lost, so being in the garage is as close to being outside as he can get. At least it's better than being inside all the time. And he can explore and catch mice for us.

As for the mice in the house, we've tried quite a few things. We've tried scented sticky mouse traps, live traps, snapping traps, and the little beeping thing that has a quite, high-pitched beeping sound that is suppose to drive mice and some insects away. We haven't caught a mouse yet in any of the traps.

So I guess either they are really smart not to go near the traps or not smart enough to find them...Which I wouldn't understand because we used the scented ones, we've used peanut butter, we've used a strong-smelling paste stuff especially made for attracting mice, etc...Nothing seems to be working.

Does anyone know of any way we can get rid of them? (or at least get rid of some of them...it's probable that we will never get rid of ALL of them, but we don't want them in our house our showing up everywhere!!!

)

Thanks!

-77horses

 

[77horses]

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have no words of wisdom for you, but I totally sympathize. I have three cats in the house and one outside and I still am overrun with mice this year. Now that it isn't freexing at night I'm going to try the Bucket of Death to lower the numbers some. (Google mouse trap water bucket or something like that and instructions will pop up. I have no idea if it works. I'll let you know.)

In the house I have tried everything from snap traps to glue traps. Both are pretty horrible and don't work all that great. I finally hired an exterminator to put poison out under the house. That has helped fairly well, although we did have one mouse try to make it through the front bedroom the other day. That one all three cats tormented until I caught it and threw it outside. Sigh.

Good luck. I hate the little beasties.

 

[Luvducks]

Do you know where they are coming in the house? Put steel wool in any holes under kitchen or bathroom sinks or anywhere they can get in.
My chickens are in the barn and we have 4 barn cats so they do not stand a chance. Will be nice when the snakes can handle them. Hope someone can be of more help!

 

[LindseyM12]

We use a mouse trap that u put peanut butter in and when the mice go in to eat it, they get shocked and killed. Thats how we take care of them. We catch tons of them with that thing. We got them @ Lowes. Hopes this helps! Oh btw: put them against the wall cause thats where the mice run around @.

 

[77horses]

Thanks!

Luvducks- I know that they could be coming in through the bulkhead door and into the basement, and then from there to the upstairs. The cats live in the basement mainly because we have Parakeets and a Cockatiel upstairs, so I'm guessing either the cats don't catch the mice as much as they should or the mice have been populating and having to move upstairs away from the cats.

The sighting of the large mouse/small rat in the garage scares me......I've heard that they can be vicious and can even kill baby chicks if they are big enough. We have a possible broody hen right now and I'm scared that something will happen to the chicks if they hatch.

 

[humm-n-cluck ranch]

We live out in the "sticks" and when we first moved in were overrun with mice and NASTY rats!! Then we got our first "drop off" (ppl think that if they dont need their cats any more they can just throw them onto our property ) and that summer ended the mouse parade. These cats are NOT pets, they are killing machines. They leave the birds alone but have efficiently wiped out the mouse, rat and rabbit population on the property

WE have lost a few cats over the years but someone always seems to drop off another one and since we dont feed them in the spring or summer, they find their own food. That seems to be the trick, dont feed them.

 

[Mattemma]

My dogs have taken to killing and eating mice.Ewww but I am happy to have less mice in the yard.Dogs,cats,or T-rex traps.

 

[draggar]

I've used, with some success, a product called "Shake Away" (available on the web). It's crystallized fox / badger / coyote urine (don't worry, it doesn't stink). It gives the mice the impression that the the predators are nearby and then they stay away. It worked great for a few months but then I think they got used to it.

If you want another natural repellent - get some ferrets and use their poo in areas where you know the mice are (and you don't want them). Ferrets are also carnivores and will hunt / eat mice - so mice will avoid them at all costs. (We also had ferrets in the past and didn't have a mouse problem with our garden / chickens but we didn't replace them and after they were gone the mice moved into our patio area).

 

[Chicken0Boy]

I have no idea