How do you deal with mice?

[jenifry]

Also, I know cats are awesome mousers, but be sure that you don't introduce an unfamiliar cat, especially a barn cat, unless you are prepared for the possibility of losing a chicken. My cat is not an issue, she's not hungry for chicken dinner. She is more than welcome to hunt mice, and does. I am lucky to have my dog however, because we live in a town with a TERRIBLE cat problem (most days you see 20-30 cats sitting in front of a local business that feeds them). Stray cats are always after my chickens, especially when I have chicks. My dog believes that her chickens are her pack; she defends them fiercely. More than once she has killed a stray cat attempting to get to "her" babies.

 

[FrozenWings]

We actually had a family of mice living close to our pumpkin patch. They had a made a trail going back and forth to the chicken run. I often would witness them making a quick grab and go of some corn in the chicken scratch when everyone was nesting. One day I was changing the food in the coop and spreading some crack on the ground. My Brahma jumped in and the before I knew it she was running out of the coop with a mouse in her beak. All the birds gave chase and made certain it was dead. The next day the cat got another one, and I haven't seen any since. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 6 chickens, everyone gets along.

-Frozen Wings

 

[MMGerlinger]

I have a few feral cats that I've gotten from the shelter. Generally, cats will leave chickens alone because chickens will defend themselves. My cats have not caused an issue at all with my chickens. Also, I have no mice that I see either - but I encourage the cats to stay near the house with food/treats. Spoiled feral kitties.

 

[LTygress]

Typically, cats won't bother LARGE FOWL chickens, but mine used to go after my bantam hens. As soon as one of them went broody though, that was the end of it.

The only issue with cats, is that they often play with the creatures enough to kill them, but don't always eat them. My problem this year is with voles (very small version of a mole - about field-mouse size). They don't bother my chickens, but they are popping up everywhere INSIDE of my house. They're always dead, but they are also always in plain sight because some kitty was playing and got bored when it stopped moving.

Thankfully, if I catch them before Rigor sets in, the chickens still happily gobble it up! But if you find it icky picking up a dead animal (that may also be HALF mutilated) then I'd stick with live traps and letting the chickens do the dirty work.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I have rats that eat my feed. The chickens chase them but they are determined to get at the feed. My compost bin is next to the coop and their lair is under that or at least a few of their tunnels are.

On nice days in late fall I sit on the deck with my pellet gun. Wait patiently for them to put head out of hole and take one out. My coop is rodent proof so it's only feed and they amuse the chickens who try to eat them.

 

[aldarita]

I also have a problem with mice. DH installed an infrared camera in the run and I can see them running around at night, fortunately I only see one or two, however I know they multiply "exponentially" Lol. I started removing the feeders at night (after the girls go to roost) since they are eating layer pellets, I pick up the pellets left around the feeders so the mice won't have anything to eat. I have placed several mouse traps around in places where I know the chickens cannot reach. Also I read some time ago in one of the forums that you can use a plastic container with a lid, drill a one inch hole and place a mouse trap inside. This way the chickens cannot be hurt and the mice get in and get killed. I have one of these boxes in the run all the time, just keep on bating the traps and I have caught some. This is an ongoing battle that will never end, so I have resigned myself to be diligent in removing the feeders every night and rebating the traps. I have caught about seven mice since I started doing this few weeks ago. I still see them running at night so I am just waiting for them to get trapped.

 

[centrarchid]

Feed storage containers that are rodent proof. Clean up feed spills. Where practical, have feeders empty when light levels are low, chickens do not eat then anyway. Deny nesting habitat / runway cover which means the following; minimize flat boards on ground, no double walls and sometimes that means no insulation, and gravel floor where practical to deny underground burrows. Cats can be helpful as well. When storing hay, try to have it well away from where mice might be able to get to feed or grain as they will take one resource to the other. Use traps, even the live-trap types, do keep you on top of their abundance as sometimes they will become abundant when you think you have everything correctly making so you know to make adjustments.

Some of the apparent reproduction is from immigrants come from surrounding landscape with is a seasonal thing. I am seeing an uptick in mice now but very little of that is due to reproduction around keep.

 

[aart]

Getting cold out so they are moving in and looking for food...I've caught 3 in the past 2 days.
I use snap traps baited with pnut butter, putting the bait end of trap against a solid vertical surface increases catch rate.
No mice in coop itself as it's completely 1/2" hardware cloth, but sheds and garage for sure.