four mice in coop help!

[jkm]

I live in the city, these are my second attempt at hens,
dogs and cat telling there was action under the pen,,, today four mice running around eating spilled seed, and darn chicks spill seed,
so what do i do and not poison the dogs and cats?
four means I have at leat ten!

 

[HobbyChickener]

It won't be long and the chickens will take care of the problem for you. They don't like mice any more than you do. Once they are big enough and fast enough they will chase down the mice. It is quite amusing to watch.

 

[jkm]

the girls are are 7-8 weeks old,
mom and I decicded to pull all the feed, give posion, tonight let them die under the bases, then I will pull the bases of the coop apart and clean well. its 104 here today... sigh.....

my black sheltie has been hunting out there all week.
the girls, and one new roo! can't get to them.
we watched all four plus with feild glasses, nice and big and brown and healthy!
explains the sudden smell from coop area.
time to go back to the drawing board on coop design!
we are a bit freaked, since its right on the property line, and who wants mice?

the buggers reach up and spill the feed from the hanging feeder!!!

so if the girls are free ranging our yard 2-5 hours a day, will they keep mice from our bird feeders? at what age do they get really mouse aggreesive?
we have not seen a mouse before, but have lots of cover and four feeders.
I suspect we had them and they just moved in to be closer to the food and water.

all advice welcomne in hot oregon!!!

 

[SpottedCrow]

I've heard you and Washington State are having a heck of a heat wave...blech...
Your birds WILL eat the mice if they catch them...double blech...I've seen my Leghorn Obelisk the Tormentor devour a Pinkie in one gulp!
They'll make a game of it too...each one taking a turn running around with it.
DH says that we have mice because of the chickens...the thing is, if you cut down long grass, disturb woodpiles, build new houses or remodel old ones, then you'll get mice no matter what.
Just make sure that you get to the mousie bodies before the birds or the dog does...they can poison themselves if they eat the carcasses.

 

[mom'sfolly]

104 in Portland. Yow!!!! Here in Texas we expect that, but Portland that's killer. Do you have AC? The malls and movie theaters must be doing great business.

 

[jkm]

Yes it was 104 in my backyard,but oregon is fairly low humidity, yes i did buy a house with central ac ten years ago, I have black out blinds, and planted 15 trees on my small lot and grow clover which stays green with little water. so I am very comfortable, went swimming at 530.
today should be 100 again, I am not a heat/sun person, love those clouds and rain.

the girls and my suspect roo are comfortable in a dog xercise pen, I have shade cloth clipped to the trees, and trimmed the lower branches off the blue spruce, so they can get in and stay cool in the dust, plus I am running the hose for them.

mouse update, pulled feed and water, put out posion, no sign of it being eaten last n ight.
sheltie checked the pen this am and announced no mice!
so they need to come back this afternoon and eat!
I am planning on removing that section of the coop, which was my food and water section,
It will reduce my coops size to 40 by 40 inches, but the girls are very buddy buddy and sleep toghter, just getting on the roost in the am.
I will keep the roo as long as I can, to see if he is helping with the mouse problem.
the crew has feed, in their old baby cup, in the center of the run, where they can defend it!.

so onward i go.....

 

[jjthink]

I am seeing this post WAY late - sorry - but when I had some mice I just did hav-a-hart traps for awhile and was able to relocate them. They are pretty harmless relocated to a field at woods edge location (away from homes..). No poison and therefore no danger of anything eating a poisoned mouse and then getting poisoned too.

 

[jkm]

rest of the story...

lifted up 1/2 bases I had used for the coop, cleaned out a big nest of straw, ( wore a mask) cleaned the soil with a lot of water.
Put the remaining part of the coop up on cinder blocks. three mice running around, had locked dogs up.
let black shelite out and she went crazy! has been trying to tell me mice in the willow trees for a few months.

bought new run wire, put up 50 feet of wire for four chciks! now the girls can get at every inch of the coop and run .
put out posion where the sheltie told me the mice had gone to ground. Will bait for a week and see what kells says.

Flies are much better with two resuce fly traps up, and tree branches trimmed

if I have problems with racoons next, then the whole project is oofff.....this is a lot of work for afew eggs in the city!
girls look cute running around the garden, who ever says chickens are dumb have not meet my two barred rocks.