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.
View attachment 4253119View attachment 4253126
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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!!

 

[ebs80215]

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.
View attachment 4253119View attachment 4253126
View attachment 4253136

We have been using a half and half mixture of Jiffy corn muffin mix and Baking Soda. Non toxic and rats/mice can't burp or pass gas so if it doesn't kill them it will give them a belly ache to convince them that the coop isn't a good place to look for food.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I'm overseas right now and away from my handy file of links showing the science behind this but baking soda has never killed a rat and it won't kill a rat unless you bag the rodent with vinegar and baking soda to produce enough carbon dioxide to smother it.

This baking soda cure is an old wives tale that is just silly.

First, rats can pass gas just fine, google that if you want.

Second, baking soda reacts slowly with their stomach contents to the point that any gas produced is easily expelled out the politician end of the rat.

Third, if it were even possible, the amount of baking soda needed to kill by reacting with stomach acid is huge, between 20% of their body weight and 5% depending on which scientific source you go with. Now, people recommend adding other products to the baking soda, in the case of the well intentioned but totally wrong advice above it is 50%.

Would you eat 40% of your body weight in baking soda and cornmeal mix?

Would you eat 10% of your body weight in baking soda and cornmeal mix?

I challenge all of you that believe this to mix up a 50% batch of baking soda and eat it and see if you like it. Rodents are so picky anyway, no way the would unless there was no other food available. I've posted links to the guy that tested this, feeding rats nothing but this mix of baking soda and the rodents did fine.

Then there is the use of baking soda as lavage in scientific studies including rodentcide studies done by reputable scientists in peer reviewed scientific studies. They poison the rodents, checking blood levels until they are at a particular point, then flood the rodent's digestive system with a baking soda solution to stop the absorption of the poison so they can measure the efficiency of the poison at particular levels.

The rodents do not explode. They survive and the study continues.

Posting well meaning but inaccurate old wives tales doesn't help anyone deal with their rodent problems. The best intentions don't excuse giving bad advice. At least google the advice and check the science behind it before blindly following the crowd of people online posting junk for clicks.

If you want to deal with rodents, you either stop feeding them using good feeders and other sanitation methods, build a Fort Knox coop so they can't get to the feed, or you poison, trap, or physically kill the vermin and good luck with the last set of methods.

 

[Bawkbok]

If you want to deal with rodents, you either stop feeding them using good feeders and other sanitation methods, build a Fort Knox coop so they can't get to the feed, or you poison, trap, or physically kill the vermin and good luck with the last set of methods.

I enjoy reading your posts and I'm convinced you are the resident BYC mouse/rat expert.

Killing does work and is permanent, however, not before he's told all his friends for miles around about the free meal and where it can be found, so the problem persists unless the first two methods mentioned above are employed.

Safe travels.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You are 100% correct about that, a dead rat doesn't re offend. LOL The part about telling their friends is why the third method doesn't work long term.

Most animals are territorial by nature. The existing rat colony deals with scouts from other rat colonies on a regular basis so as soon as the existing colony is wiped out a neighboring colony splits once it outgrows the existing food supply and in come a new batch.