Conversion of "3 sides totally open" aviary to a "good for chickens" coop.

[paneubert]

Someone dropped one on the poop board overnight. Looks about the same color as the first one. It seems to have a couple layers to it and is soft/leaky. Ohh well. Someone is working out their system.

 

[raeleigh26]

Just a thought... I've never had a coop, large or small, that didn't attract nasties like flies, mites, rolly polly, ants, even roaches.....

I wouldn't attach a chicken coop to my house, personally. Jus sayin.

 

[paneubert]

Still finding on average one soft shelled and leaky egg on the poop board every morning. Sometimes two. Trying no to worry! Averaging 3 "good" eggs per day, all in the brown spectrum. Which means my blue/green ladies are taking a break after laying a couple good ones. Also have not seen a super dark brown one since the first example of that color. Like I said, trying to be patient!

In other news, trail camera pointed at my rat/mouse poop piles showed a ton of activity. Have it set to take 30 second videos and in a few I can see at least 3 mice and one massive rat all at the same time in the same place. Nice thing about the video is I know their trails and where they like to take breaks. So I can place my snap traps right where they should be effective. While waiting for some new traps, I tried one of the "drown them in a bucket after they fall off a rotating log" traps. Like this type.

Video evidence three nights in a row shows that even the small mice can keep their back legs on the rim and stretch to the middle to grab some peanut butter, BOSS, bacon fat. Even when I tried to narrow the "band" of food, they still could manage it. So I am going to ditch the store bought type in favor of a homemade version. I put a water bottle on a wire and set it so that the bottle is recessed down into the bucket a bit. This way I am hoping they won't be able to keep their feet on the rim. Also hoping that the larger "log" might get them to jump onto it more often versus trying to stretch out along a more narrow "log".

 

[aart]

So you bought the first one(shown in blue bucket) and had no luck with it?
My gadget habit really wanted to buy one.

I did a DIY with 'no holes made in bucket' too, it worked pretty darn good for awhile, must have caught a couple dozen in 2 locations, then nothing and haven't tried it again since. Not even sure if I still have (or where) the wire and tube is.

I use old fashioned wire snap traps(both mouse and rat sized), tiny pinch of scratch grains as bait, with one piece of grain jammed into trigger. Bait end of trap goes against wall or flat vertical surface (like a box). With these two things my catch rate went way up.

 

[paneubert]

So you bought the first one(shown in blue bucket) and had no luck with it?
My gadget habit really wanted to buy one.

I did a DIY with 'no holes made in bucket' too, it worked pretty darn good for awhile, must have caught a couple dozen in 2 locations, then nothing and haven't tried it again since. Not even sure if I still have (or where) the wire and tube is.

I use old fashioned wire snap traps(both mouse and rat sized), tiny pinch of scratch grains as bait, with one piece of grain jammed into trigger. Bait end of trap goes against wall or flat vertical surface (like a box). With these two things my catch rate went way up.

View attachment 1857712

Yep. I bought the 2 pack of white logs on Amazon. I did not want to ruin a bucket by drilling unless I needed to, and that was one of the few product that hung from the rim instead of needing to be drilled. I laughed when it came since the hangers are clearly just some fence staples that they bent in half to make a "U" for the log to sit in. But whatever works! Creative use of a totally different product. The logs spin really well, but must be just a tiny bit too resistive to spin for a mouse who has not fully committed. I also wonder if the fact that the log is even with the bucket rim contributed to it or not.

I have a box of old fashioned wood snap traps on order, both mouse and rat size, and I think I will see good success with those as well. Right now I have been using the plastic type that only open partially, like gaping jaws of an alligator. Used to catch rats with them, but recently they seem to be super ineffective. Bait gets stolen. I have a feeling the rats learned about them, and the mice can steal the bait without tripping them. Sometimes the old fashioned works best. At least that is my hope.

 

[aart]

Those plastic ones have weaker springs, have had more than a few disappear only to be found later nearby with half dead, or fully desiccated, mouse in it. But they do work sometimes, again better with bait crammed tight into trigger.
Good Luck!

Have you seen the 'mouse trap monday' guy on youtube?

 

[paneubert]

Those plastic ones have weaker springs, have had more than a few disappear only to be found later nearby with half dead, or fully desiccated, mouse in it. But they do work sometimes, again better with bait crammed tight into trigger.
Good Luck!

Have you seen the 'mouse trap monday' guy on youtube?

I have also experienced the traps that "walk away". Found a mummy rat crammed into a burrow after we cleared some ivy. Guess he couldn't make it home with the trap stuck on him. So I have been tying mine with a bit of twine to a brick or the wire of my run, etc..

Have not seen the mouse trap guy, but I will go look for him.

4 regular/wooden mouse traps are set for tonight. Peanut butter, BOSS stuck in the metal jaws, and a dab of bacon grease on the part where the wire latches onto the pan. Fun fact, bacon grease is nice and creamy in the fridge but melts while you are trying to set a trap in 70-80 degree weather. Ohh well. The trigger mechanism is VERY well lubed up! Not going to hang up or catch on itself at all. I was actually worried it would be so greasy that I would not be able to "set" the trap.

 

[aart]

Scratch grains are the way to go, nice and dry = clean.

 

[paneubert]

Scratch grains are the way to go, nice and dry = clean.

I don't have any of that devil's lettuce in my house! Haha. Just never got around to buying any scratch, nothing really against it. My regular feed is basically rough ground grains, but that is as close as I can get and none of the pieces would be large enough to wedge. I'll see how tonight goes and then maybe clean them off and just go with the BOSS. Or perhaps a bit of peanut butter with a liberal mix in of my normal rough ground feed to make a "dryish" paste.

 

[aart]

Pinch of the ground grain and one piece of BOSS shoved into trigger would work.
I used to use chunky PB, got tired of the greasiness.