baby chicks and mice

[moodusnewchick]

I will be raising a large number of chicks thanks to PurpleChicken and Perfectly_Polish

. After raisng chicks since April I'm really not into having babies in the house again. I have a shed that I think I can fit the babies in until they feather enough for outside with the lamp. I have mice droppings in the shed. Do I need to worry about mice hurting/giving diseases to babies?

 

[redoak]

I don't think mice would harm chicks, especially after a couple weeks, but they probably would eat alot of chick crumbles. Maybe you could make a mouse proof brooder.

 

[moodusnewchick]

good point. i didn't even think of that and i spend so much time mice proofing everything around here!! and now here i am planning to have warm bodies and plentiful spilled food right where the mice likely live! it's purplechicken's fault that i am crazy.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

humm I think I would worry about the mice urine... I was told mice carry lots of funky diseases in their urine.

 

[TexasJoe]

Are they field mice or rats?

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Someone posted once about their chickens getting salmonella from actually eating the mouse poop....I think we can only be as clean as we can be with our pens. I know little gray mice visit my pen, I see the tunnels where they sneak through the foot of chicken wire on the ground around my pen..have tried the confectioner's sugar and plaster of paris mouse entree but mine have more disserning tastes apparently as they ignored it. I found a mouse tail in my pen once too so my chickens must have caught and eaten at least one of them and the other day I nearly had a stroke when one came from god only knows where and ran across the nesting box..OVER my hand and through the chicken wire onthe other side..very small but freaked me out...if you find a way to kill them without endangering our chickens or outside dogs, please share butin the meantime, I guess the salmonella would be the most important disease to read up on. Good luck

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
But it's mostly my fault

I'm starting to think I'm crazier then PC

We are putting our half of the chicks right outside with heat lamps, no way are we having 50-100 chicks in the house

We haven't really had a big problem with mice because of the cats. But before the chicks come maybe you can spray something where they will be to keep the mice away, or set traps. Or we can all come over and build you a new pen

 

[tressiah]

Hello !
We are surrounded by corn oileds and soybeans, so mice in the barn are no big deal. However if you fell you need to get rid of them, try the glue pads. Work well, and you don't have to touch them. My (indoor) cat will catch the little mice in the house, and then brings them to me, like a gift. Yuk! I do have rat bait in the barn stalls that are locked up where the chickens can't get in, and I had a bad time with them eating the mash for the hens. I now have the rubbermaid tubs with tight fitting lids, and NOTHING gets in, not even the goats !