I must have kicked up 10 mice out of my pen last night. - Ratproof Feeder reccommendations needed.

[Sublight]

I know where they are getting in, and secured it. Three was a edge on the pen that somehow was not screwed down, so it was very loose.
I screwed down the loose edge. Then I got a 5 gallon bucket and a PVC Street 90, and made the spill proof feeder. I feed inside the coop, and we lock it up at night. That should stop the feed from getting on the ground.
I made something to catch all the chicken crap also.

So I feel like I stopped how the rats are getting in, and I cut off their supply of food, and crap. Hopefully this does the trick.

 

[TeeMom]

Good luck! We have a large coop and it is by no means air tight. Our chickens free range, so there is a door open all day and plenty of little spaces for rodents to squeeze in. This past winter we had an awful time with mice. They were everywhere and no matter what I did (traps, removing food at night) they didn't waver. I'm hesitant to use poison because I have young kids and dogs roaming the property. We finally broke down and got a kitten who is living in the coop. I've only seen him with a mouse once, but I think just his presence has scared them off. I haven't seen a mouse for weeks now and am anxious to see how well it works this fall when they start moving in more again.

 

[Sublight]

The poison is not really a threat to your dogs. My dog ate a block of poison, and the vet prescribed Vitamin K. That is all. It works by making them bleed internally. I believe it is painless, because my dog almost died from it, and he was never in pain. Just a severe lack of energy. He would not even eat, I had to feed him with a big plastic syrange (the one with no needle). He recovered fine.
I asked the vet if him eating a rat that was poisoned would have harmed him, and the vet said no. The rat cant eat enough of it to hurt the dog even if eaten. My dog got into a couple full blocks and ate them.
Even if it does eat the poison, the dog will just get lethargic, and you will know something is wrong. My dog also had bruises all over his skin that the Vet saw. The treatment was cheap, it was just vitamin K. (That helped his blood to clot, and stopped him from bleeding out internally").
Im ok with poison, just make sure to be mindful of your dogs behavior.

 

[TeeMom]

The poison is not really a threat to your dogs. My dog ate a block of poison, and the vet prescribed Vitamin K. That is all. It works by making them bleed internally. I believe it is painless, because my dog almost died from it, and he was never in pain. Just a severe lack of energy. He would not even eat, I had to feed him with a big plastic syrange (the one with no needle). He recovered fine.
I asked the vet if him eating a rat that was poisoned would have harmed him, and the vet said no. The rat cant eat enough of it to hurt the dog even if eaten. My dog got into a couple full blocks and ate them.
Even if it does eat the poison, the dog will just get lethargic, and you will know something is wrong. My dog also had bruises all over his skin that the Vet saw. The treatment was cheap, it was just vitamin K. (That helped his blood to clot, and stopped him from bleeding out internally").
Im ok with poison, just make sure to be mindful of your dogs behavior.

You're lucky! I was a vet tech before I was mom, so I have seen rat poison kill...it's not always such an easy fix. The risk of complications from eating a dead rat or mouse is extremely slim because the poison has moved out of their system by the time they actually die from it...generally. But the hawk or cat that may catch a very healthy appearing rodent right after consuming the poison may not be so lucky. It's just not a risk I want to take on my farm.

 

[Howard E]

To the OP:

This is the feeder I purchased and use........and for the same reason as you. I found a large nest of mice living in the litter:

http://ratproofchickenfeeder.com/Medium-Ratproof-Chicken-Feeder_p_1.html

Builder is an occasional poster to BYC, which is where I learned about it.

It does work as advertised. Not only does it block feed access to rodents, but it eliminates spilt feed. Shortly after this went in, mouse problem went away.

There can be problems with birds learning to use it IF you do not install it correctly. Once I got that straightened out, all birds started using it with no problems.

 

[Emojikitten]

I don't think ratproof feeders matter, as I read this I was wondering "How the heck could a rat fit in a coop?" First off, you should make sure there are no doors open, so make sure you lock them. Then check the wires on it. If they are bigopenings, then you should get a new coop. If they are small openings, then you're good. Hope this helps!