Mtnboomer
Crowing
I have a section of old rain gutter nailed to the wall of the run in my juvenile bird set up and a cat feeder in the coop of my free range birds. No mouse or rat problems at all because I use nature's mouse traps; the snake.
I routinely capture and release harmless black snakes up to 6ft long in my out buildings. We had a mouse infestation, to say the least, when we bought the place 3 yrs ago. That 1st winter I caught 26 mice from inside our house plus whatever the cat was catching. The following spring i began using snakes like i have all my life. We have not caught a mouse, other than the occasional one by the outdoor cat, from either the house garage or any out building sonce last September.
Again, the snake is our friend. Let him do his job. Protect your chicks and eggs, but if a snake has poached an egg from the coop without me knowing it so be it. A small price to pay for its services (although I have never seen a snake actually in the coop).
I routinely capture and release harmless black snakes up to 6ft long in my out buildings. We had a mouse infestation, to say the least, when we bought the place 3 yrs ago. That 1st winter I caught 26 mice from inside our house plus whatever the cat was catching. The following spring i began using snakes like i have all my life. We have not caught a mouse, other than the occasional one by the outdoor cat, from either the house garage or any out building sonce last September.
Again, the snake is our friend. Let him do his job. Protect your chicks and eggs, but if a snake has poached an egg from the coop without me knowing it so be it. A small price to pay for its services (although I have never seen a snake actually in the coop).
