Mice chewing off chicken's feathers overnight?!

[blondie34]

I have a mouse problem in my bantam coop and have noticed an increase in mouse droppings as well as two of my chickens missing feathers around their necks... these two chickens refuse to roost and sleep on the floor, they are healthy minus the missing feathers that appear to have been chewed off

A neighbor of mine told me about how mice in a coop can chew off feathers while chickens are sleeping...

Is this true? Could the mice be feasting on feathers overnight?

it just sounds so strange!

 

[blondie34]

the chickens have also all been checked for mites and are clean, as well as the coop!

 

[sumi]

I can't say if the mouse were responsible for the hen's lost/damaged feathers, but I know mice can be a real problem in chicken coops. They steal eggs, harm chicks, spread parasites, steal chicken food and once they found a good home with food on tap, they multiply like mad. I think you should set some traps.

 

[jak2002003]

You should get rid of the mice asap.

They are not really harmful to the chickens - like rats are, but they will reproduce like mad and you will have a plague of them - for real!! They will then stink the place out with their smelly urine, and so many will spread disease to you chickens by pooping and urinating in the chickens food.

 

[blondie34]

YUCK! that's not good at all.. I have set multiple traps in the coop (out of the chickens' reach) but haven't caught any yet, the traps will be unset but no mice inside

I wouldn't mine doing the bucket trap but it's inside our silkie coop which isn't very big -- I don't think I could fit a bucket in and still have enough room for them to be comfortable.. does anyone know of any other stealthy ways to kill mice that won't take up a lot of room?

 

[aart]

When you set a snap trap place the baited end against a wall or other flat vertical surface, you'll catch more mice.

In a chicken coop you can put snap traps inside a shoe box sized container to keep the chickens away from it.

The chickens will enjoy eating the dead mice if pretty fresh, good source of free protein and recovery of the chicken feed the mice ate. ;-)

 

[browning6]

the mice only come in at night. The reason is the hens will chase them down and eat them! I saw my BO hen chase one down one day. It was awesome. keep trapping the devils.

 

[blondie34]

Interesting, thank you!

Is putting decon in the coop above the nesting boxes out of the chickens' reach a possibility? Or is that too risky?

 

[aart]

I wouldn't risk using poison...... too big a chance of another animal eating a poisoned mouse..... but some folks do.

 

[blondie34]

I wouldn't risk using poison...... too big a chance of another animal eating a poisoned mouse..... but some folks do.

okay great, thank you!