Houdini found BABY mice - How do I get rid of them.

[conny63malies]

If you find holes in the coop , mix some plaster of paris and crushed glass. Smear it into the hole do discourage the mice/rats from scratching /tunneling.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you find holes in the coop , mix some plaster of paris and crushed glass. Smear it into the hole do discourage the mice/rats from scratching /tunneling.

Jut make sure it is where the chickens can't eat it.

 

[The Lazy L]

...BABY MICE. how do I get rid of the little buggers???....

Let your chickens find and eat them.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Thanks everyone. Especially runner, a very helpful comprehensive post

.

These rats are not killing chicks, eating vast amounts of feed, pooping EVERYWHERE it's just really the fact that they are there that irritates me.
Like there are thousands of them out in the world, why do they have to be with me

!!!
I have tried snap traps before with peanut butter but every day I'd come down and they'd be set off but no mice. After a while they did go, so perhaps I will start them up again. I got over them because of so many sore figures.lol.

The only problem I suppose they are causing it leaving their excrement about ( only in the nest shed though ), it's not a lot but it just means extra cleaning up.
I have got chicks and broody's in the nest shed at the moment and it's real hard to keep them from flinging their food to every corner of the shed so that has brought the rats in a little more. The chicks are getting big quick so soon they will be able to go outside more and I can clean the shed out properly.

Also I have heard humans can get very sick from a rats urination entering an open wounds and that has got me paranoid. I spray disinfectant down every day and clean the poop up.

I had a go at trying to follow the hole but it wasn't a hole at all. The baby mice just seemed to be in the earth with a little bit of dry leaves. I dug a large hole around the area of the initial mice sighting and found no open tunnels, no other mice, nothing. So I just poured some flammable liquid around and had a little fire

.lol. I also removed the sectioned off area and the chickens got right into it, so hopefully if there are any rats/ mice in there they will get up and move home.

 

[GD91]

Why are the mice there? Because momma mouse has found it a good place to raise a family. They can find shelter about anywhere but there is food there. Even if you store chicken feed in a mouse-proof container like a metal garbage can and take the feeders up every night, they are still finding food there. Chickens will eat mice so they have to be careful, but they will come out and eat during the day. Plus when your chickens are feeding, they spill some feed on the coop or run floor. That will attract mice. It is extremely difficult to get rid of mice or keep them away.

I also consider poison the last resort, but you have been given some bad information. A chicken will not die from eating one poisoned mouse. It’s about dosage. A mouse weights somewhere around one ounce. A chicken big enough to eat a mouse weighs a few pounds, many times bigger than a mouse. The amount of poison that kills one mouse won’t kill a healthy chicken. I still don’t like poison. It’s possible a chicken can eat more than one poisoned mouse and the effects can be cumulative. Poison is an indiscriminate killer. It’s possible your chickens or other pets can get to it. A rat might carry it out of the secure area to an open area. I had a rat move the block of poison once, but that was far from my chickens and still secure from my pets. Still, it can happen. I don’t recommend poison unless you are really desperate, and I don’t see anything in your post that sounds desperate.

Without using poison I don’t think you will ever totally get rid of them, plus even if you do, more will just move in. It’s not about totally absolutely getting rid of every mouse forever but you should try to keep the numbers under control. They are nasty creatures, pooping everywhere they go. They can spread some diseases, especially when the numbers get out of control. They can do a lot of damage with their tunneling and chewing. Mice will attract snakes. Some of us don’t mind snakes around, especially non-poisonous ones, but some people do. Snakes can also eat eggs and small chickens, how small depends on the size of the snake. I think there are lots of good reasons to not want mice around.

So what can you do? Try to keep the area cleaned up, don’t pile up trash and keep weeds cleared. That will reduce the number of safe places for them but they can still hide a lot of places. Still it will help. Cats or some dogs can possibly be real good at reducing the mouse population.

I recommend you start a trapping program. There are a lot of different traps out there designed with mice in mind, sticky traps, live traps, snap traps, and some homemade ones. Which one works best for you depends on your unique circumstances. You don’t want your chickens to get to them. Pets could be another problem. You don’t want them injured or for them to spring the trap. If I use a snap trap, I wire it to something solid so a raccoon, possum, or cat can’t carry it away and I try to put it where a larger animal can’t get to it anyway, for example. How are you going to dispose of the mice you catch? I like to feed mine to the chickens. The mice need to be dead for that and not poisoned.

I don’t know the best way for you to approach it, that will depend on what you are willing to do and your unique circumstances, but I do recommend you try to keep the mice numbers down. Good luck!

This depends on the amount of poison consumed & whether or not the poison is fast or slow acting. Using a slow acting poison causes the vermin to consume much more poison than if it had died quickly. We have had foxes, cats, dogs & badgers in our vet clinic that have been poisoned by the spreading of certain poisons for killing vermin, mainly slow acting rat poison. The predators don't need to consume more than one if the rodent kept eating & has a full stomach of poisoned pellets. Rats & mice, as most of us know, will consume a lot of feed due to their extremely fast metabolisms, enough to kill a much larger animal or make it very sick.
If you know of a specific poison that you are positive will kill the mice after it has only consumed enough to kill itself quickly, maybe use it, but never assume poisons are safe based on bodyweight.

 

[Chickens R Us]

I use the touchless traps and put them along the walls they don't like to run in the open much. I have also used a 5 gal. bucket put a board leading up to the top of the bucket. Fill bucket 1/2 way with water put a soup can on a wire that runs across the bucket, put peanut butter on the soup can. The idea is the mouse runs across the wire to the soup can to eat the peanut butter the can spins and the mouse falls in the water and drowns. It works.

 

[mrmole]

if it was me, I would of cleared all the grass around the hole and then taken a road flare and ignited it and shoved it in the hole. if the hole was deep enough you could shove the flare in as far as possible and covered it with dirt.yes it would of been pretty smokey for a bit, but I think it would of solved the problem. I dont think I would place broken glass in the hole fearing my dog would dig and hurt himselt. Just my 2 cents

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I use the touchless traps and put them along the walls they don't like to run in the open much. I have also used a 5 gal. bucket put a board leading up to the top of the bucket. Fill bucket 1/2 way with water put a soup can on a wire that runs across the bucket, put peanut butter on the soup can. The idea is the mouse runs across the wire to the soup can to eat the peanut butter the can spins and the mouse falls in the water and drowns. It works.

Ahh, yes I have heard this plan before. I will give it ago.
Since I have placed some snap traps they haven't been around and haven't set the traps off.
What are touch less traps?

 

[Theda's Mom]

Mice and barns are a given. Have you tried a cat? They're the age-old response to rodent infestations. Also, be sure that whatever you do does not make your barn/coop are inhospitable to friendly snakes. King snakes, for instance, prey almost exclusively on rodents.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Mice and barns are a given. Have you tried a cat? They're the age-old response to rodent infestations. Also, be sure that whatever you do does not make your barn/coop are inhospitable to friendly snakes. King snakes, for instance, prey almost exclusively on rodents.

I have 2 cats. One is to old and the other to young, as in loves baby chicks just as much as mice.lol.
Here is Aus, snakes are also a no go.lol.