Mice eating feed and getting into coops

[Al Gerhart]

This guy is a regular joe but he did some real life testing using cameras. If you believe that baking soda will kill rats with normal eating portions after reading this I know some politicians that are trustworthy..... https://bobseyes.net/baking-soda-doesnt-kill-rats-2/

 

[Al Gerhart]

I did some more research using Gemini which is becoming a lot more accurate. They pointed out that other studies found that less than 20% might cause problems for a rodent but that none of the studies considered baking soda an effective rodentcide. The average amount of rodentcide to kill a mouse is around .2milligrams per kilogram and Gemini quoted approximately 21,000 times more pure baking soda would be needed. Now that is pure, not mixed 50/50 with bait food.

Who knows if those rats were killed by the baking soda or not? Apparently the baking soda doesn't react violently with stomach acid as the old wives tales claim and any gas build up goes right out the politician end of the rodent very easily. I have no doubt you found dead rats and thanks for mentioning it.

 

[GardenDmpls]

About ten years ago I began noticing that we were using twice the feed. Went out one night with a light and found plenty of mice. Got a large Grandpa treadle feeder and then a second one. Removed all other feeders. Next I got metal garbage cans with very secure lids to store feed in. These two things put an end to the mouse problems. Chickens themselves are pretty good mouse hunters and fight over them, tearing them apart. Unfortunately, the mice come out at night when the chickens turn into zombies, so you can't take advantage of their hunting abilities unless you give them a mouse in the daytime. Pretty grusome to watch, anyway.

 

[GLASSBACK]

Hello again,
I am having problems with mice. The other night I went out to lock up my chickens and saw this tiny thing run by. Well, I couldn't just let it be, I wanted to know what it is. Sure enough, I start moving stuff around ( such as the feed and objects by the coop) and more come out. Today I cleaned my dove coop ( which hasn't been used for a couple months) and I found two more under a piece of roof plastic. What can I use to keep them away? Should I try to trap them? They are mainly going after the dove seed and chicken feed. I did find a dead one in the waterer.


I also have a raccoon coming and would like to know how to keep him from wanting my chickens. My chickens are in a locked coop and I've put extra hardware cloth around and electric fencing. not sure if I should do anything else? Here is a picture of my coops and of the mice I found.

I do free range during the day only when I'm outside.
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I’m in the same situation!
So I have put out traps but covered them in the run where it’s dry with a cardboard box and a hole for the entrance so the rats/mice can enter! But the chickens couldn’t eat the trap food!!
I removed the chicken feeder for a couple of hours! I did the same thing around the outside of the run ! It proved very effective!!