How do you deal with MICE?!?!?!

Date sort Score sort
Wild Rats and Mice carry Hanta (sp?) virus as well as others and parasites. Not all of em but it takes only one. Plus if you let the population multiply they are physically destructive. Chewing on everything. A single mouse can have a hundred babies in a year same for rats. Each baby can have babies within a few weeks. So the muliplication can be geometric.

I had rats eat the wiring of my truck they like to get in the engine compartment when its cool out to warm up and if the vehicle is parked very long they will make a nest in there. Just in feed alone they could double your cost. Even if you keep the feed locked up they eat it out of the feeders. If you leave them out at night.

The best solution is to keep the population down you cant get rid of em all. The wire I am putting up around the coop has 1/2 x 3 inch openings (left over from aviaries I used to keep) and anything that can get through that wire will be edible by the chickens. My place is in the desert so I have wild species coming in as well as the ones you regularly identify.... Like Cangaroo rats and teeeeny desert mice. I can kill the desert so my best defense is locking em out.

deb



NightsInWhiteSilkies said:
Im curious to ask and please dont pounce on me for asking .....lol....nbut other than the mice eating the chicken feed is there another reason to get rid of the mice?
I used to have them and rats as pets so they dont really bother me nor would they if they get into my chickens run and coop unless they were hurting or infecting the chickens in some way of their diseases?
Do the mice go after the chickens and try to eat them or are they just in the food/pellets and its annoying to see them there?
Click to expand...
 
Wow I just looked that stuff up and its like Warfarin on Steroids. Warfarin destroys the coagulation capabilities of the blood and causes the mouse or rat to bleed to death and it only takes a little bit to do the job. The dosage on Bromadiolone is probably smaller.

Somewhere I bought some mouse bait that was all organic..... at a feed store. This was for in the house where my dog resided. Who is a mouser when she can get a hold of them. The package said the poison was not trasferable and safe for wildlife..... Hmmm I am going to try to find it online.

deb

flockwatcher said:
We found mouse-chewed wiring when remodeling a house.

I just use poison, but only bromadiolone. It's relatively safe if your chicken or other animal east a mouse who was poisoned. Relatively. I haven't had a dog, cat or chicken act like they were sick from it, and I know for sure that at least the dogs and chickens do eat the mice.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/57525/rats-rats-and-more-rats/20#post_606272

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/57525/rats-rats-and-more-rats
Click to expand...
 
Try to limit food available for mice when they are out foraging. You can limit feed fed to birds so all is consumed before dark. You can also set up feeding station in elevated location so that chickens can flutter up to it but mice can not climb or jump up as well. Make certain chicken do not knock food down for mice to pickup after dark.


Another negative with mice is they cause structural damage to building and sometimes its foundation as well as insulation. They can sometimes also play hell on your feed storage facilites.
 
Last edited:
Lucky you have mice and not rats!!! Use poison as a last resort. Rodents usually come out at night, but poisoned ones come out at any time and are very easy for dogs or cats to get. If they would eat one, they could die too. However, if you have a severe problem use it, but be careful. Rats will commune together and kill a chicken or rabbit. I stuff steel wool in any hole I find and they can not eat thru it. I also will soak a piece in bacon grease or peanut butter and when the rodents eat it, the tiny metal particles will kill them. The bucket idea works great too. Once the problem is under control the cat should take care of the rest.
 
I use traps!

I do NOT use poison anywhere near chickens. Chickens will eat mice that they can catch, and a sluggish, dying mouse will be easy to catch. My chickens love to eat mice.

I've used standard snap traps before, but now I use the T-Rex style snap trap that you set by pushing on the back end (leaving your fingers safe from any mishaps). For areas where chickens have access, I put the trap INSIDE of a Protect-A-Mouse Bait Station. It prevents the chickens from activating and/or getting hurt in the traps.

I now bait primarily with the Provoke mouse attractant. It works, and is easier than the way I used to do it, baiting with my homemade peanut butter and beef fat bird suet.
 
Had problems with sewer rats and rats that was descended from pet rats (yes, the calico and paint colored ones) and put down a few rat poisons under my coop and never had a problem.

got most of the rats dead or dying and others went elsewhere to die.
 
mice/rats spread diseases as well as flea/ticks and their feces can cause severe intestinal sickness. I would not risk it. and eventually they will make their way into your home why risk it?
 

Similar threads

puckpuck1
    • Like
Rats here and there
Replies
6
Views
389
McChooky
McChooky
Delphene
Mice in the coop!
4 5 6
Replies
57
Views
46K
Delphene
Delphene
PoppasGrill
    • Sad
Problems I created by not following good advice with our chickens.. Part 1
Replies
7
Views
709
PoppasGrill
PoppasGrill
L
    • Like
Mice and Rats
Replies
7
Views
657
SandyRiverChick
SandyRiverChick
C
    • Love
Rodent Problem - Please help & give advice
Replies
6
Views
553
Birnenhof
B

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom