Mice are ruining my chicken raising experience!!!!!!

[mbpalmtree]

I am soooo frustrated w/ mice invading my chicken coop & run... I tried to humanely trap & release these creepy lil' boogers, hose their burrowing holes etc. etc. I have 4 mice cubes, one kness tip trap, one smart house trap, & 2 victor tin cats.. NOTHING! I have caught NOTHING!! Cayenne pepper on chicken feed seemed to help, but not enough.. I want them gone. They scare the living bejesus out of me!!! So here is the set up, I have 4 hens in a 10 by 10 by 6 ft. high dog kennel that is very predator proofed by hardware cloth around all bottom , w/ one small coop for laying & a 3 by 3 coop for roosting ( both open ).. My feed is hung about 1 foot off the gound in a pvc gravity feeder for less spillage. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY TIPS OR SUGGESTIONS TO GET RID OF THESE VERMIN????? I love my sweet fuzzy butts, but these mice are stressing me & them out!

 

[arcy liger]

watch for diseases they spread many ......take out any type of feed from coop and mice/rats are awared of anything new in their area..look for the place from which they come ....they can also try to eat your chickens if found nothing

my last flock died because of a disease spreaded from rats/mice.

GOOD LUCK

 

[chfite]

Trap and release of mice is a losing proposition. Take a look for shelter that they may have; stacks of boards, firewood, brush; and eliminate that. Check for other sources of food; dog food bowls, trash cans, and such.

Chris

 

[Eggsoteric]

Snap traps. I keep several snap traps in a plastic, shoe-box sized container that looks like this:

I drilled a hole in one end; put some shavings in the bottom of the box; bait the traps with a little peanut butter; place the traps on top of the shavings; snap the lid on and the whole box goes into the coop with the hole side against one wall. Works out well and the chickens cannot access the traps. I use the traps that look similar to this one:

Not as "sensitive" as your standard snap traps; easy to set without risk of catching your finger and easy to empty.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Or, you could try a bucket trap. Fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/3 full with water, then cover the surface of the water with sunflower seeds (in the shell, they float), provide an access ramp. They jump in, and don't jump out. I set it at night and remove it in the morning before I let the birds out (chickens like sunflower seeds too). It worked really well for me, and you don't have to buy a bunch of traps and keep resetting them. Good luck!

 

[SD Bird Lady]

A good farm cat is an amazing assett...get a cat they are a dime a dozen!

ETA: If you only have 4 hens I would also recommend just feeding them twice a day and keeping the rest of the feed in a rubbermaid container.

 

[arcy liger]

just try leaving feed in front of the trap for two days and observe that they eat ..after it leave it in the trap and they will be caught

 

[mbpalmtree]

Yay this method finally help me catch one.. But just one.. I think there maybe 2-3 more.. And after the catch, It is RATS & not mice. So all the $$$$$ spent for mouse size traps was a waste.. I bought one for rat size w/ your idea in a clear box w/ shavings, lured him w/ bacon bits stuck in some peanut butter. I heard tuna works well too.. Anyways thank for this idea, it has been the ONLY thing that worked & I barely had to look at the thing while disposing it too! THX

 

[happybooker1]

My son & I cleaned out the garage this weekend. We have open sacks of chick starter, scratch, and deer corn sitting out. Son mentioned: "Mom I never see any mice/rats around".

I said you never will. We have 7 indoor/outdoor cats that keep the pests clear. Now I don't know if they actively HUNT them or not -- but maybe just the SMELL of the cats keeps the mice away.

There's a reason farmers have 'barn cats'.

 

[mbpalmtree]

I have 3 indoor cats, but don't think that I want an outdoor one. My neighbor has 2 outside tom cats, but they stay away because of my 2 large black labs. Which I think would probably scare any cat away.. IDK I might eventually have to get a "barn cat"..