How do I keep rodents away?

[tvett62]

Question what do you all do to keep mice and rats at bay? I can't use poison because of cats and chickens, so how do I keep them away from coops, pole barns and houses? So what do you all do? I don't want to use anything that will make my girls sick if they get a mouse..

 

[Mtnboomer]

I use blacksnakes. When i come across them i catch tgem and release them in my garage and well house. We had an infestation when we first bought our house 3 yrs ago. I have yet to catch a mouse this winter and we are surrounded by fields and woods.
If you have a lot of rodents and don't like the snake idea, dont scoff it works, google bucket and rod mouse trap. Its simple and deadly.
Snap traps only work for 1 kill at a time ifthey get them at all. Glue traps could get chickens too making a sticky feathery mess, and poison is potentially dangerous to non target animals.

First things first though. Always look at prevention. Eliminate points of entry, keep feed in sealed containers, and clean up feed spills etc.

 

[TMorrissey]

You could try what we did. My son informed me that chickens are direct descendants from dinosaurs (raptors), therefore they are excellent hunters. We set a few traps then tossed the mice we caught to the girls. Now our hens activity hunt the mice. No more mouse problems.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Sanitation before poison, always. Secure the bulk feed, get a proper treadle feeder with a countertweight, a spring loaded door, and a narrow and distant treadle. Problem solved if you have mostly normal sized birds. This isn't rocket science but you will see people chatter on the forum for weeks on poisons and traps when all they have to do is secure the feed that brought the problem to the coop.

 

[Chicken101-07]

Question what do you all do to keep mice and rats at bay? I can't use poison because of cats and chickens, so how do I keep them away from coops, pole barns and houses? So what do you all do? I don't want to use anything that will make my girls sick if they get a mouse..

If you not a fan of the snake idea because you afraid of them or they are gonna eat your chicks,this is what I do in the winter,in the coop,the chicken wire stops anything that might hurt a chicken,I put down concrete around the perimeter of the coop,stops mice and predators from digging into it,I'm not sure what you have in your pole barn but I'm guessing it's the place where you keep the food for your chickens,you have the option of keeping the feed bags in metal trash cans,I dont do that myself,I just make sure not to have any small pieces of corn or food in the floor,this encourages mice to go in,I would also check for holes where mice could go in through once a week,for the house,I would say the same,as long as you promote hygiene no reason for them to come in.