Mice in chicken coop- help?

[Al Gerhart]

You can try to mouse proof a coop but that is nearly impossible if there is a run and rats and mice can chew through wood and even concrete. You can poison till you are blue in the face, the rats and mice will simply stop taking the poison as long as their is another food source.

What does work is a good metal treadle feeder that is actually rat and mouse proof. That means a spring loaded door and a heavy counter weight. Anything else, the mice and rats can just lift the lid or push the door open.

Once you control the feed the rodents will leave quickly and be forced to forage for natural foods and be exposed to their natural predators.

 

[KCasey]

I had so many mice 2 winters ago that when I open the chicken coop door mice would stream out. Tried using traps but there were just too many. I used a pest control company starting last fall and haven’t seen a single mouse since. They service many private and commercial coops with no ill effects to the chickens. Mice DO NOT get accustomed to the poison as a previous poster said as the mice die too quickly after eating the poison. Now that my infestation is under control I will begin buying my own bait as it is cost prohibitive to pay a pest control company.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I have seen hundreds of people saying otherwise and in my own experience in my coop before I built my first rat proof feeder. Rats and mice quickly learn to associate poison with the bait and nearly always will stop eating the poison until they are at starvation's door. And it doesn't matter if they would eat the bait and all die, new rodents would quickly move right back in. Poisons and traps are continual costs if you don't take the time to practice good sanitation by securing the feed in a treadle feeder.

 

[KCasey]

I have been using bait for 9 months successfully. Went from hundreds of mice to none. Not sure why it works 100% for me and others say the mice won’t eat it. When I used a professional pest control they initially put out 3 different types of bait and on their second visit they checked to see which bait the mice were eating and then switched to just that one and it’s been working. If mice aren’t eating your bait try a different one. I still had mice even with using a hanging feeder. I think they come in for the warmth and maybe the water fount as I live in Colorado with long cold winters plus my chickens spill some food on floor so it’s impossible to eliminate all food and mice only need a few pieces.

 

[aart]

We built a feeder out of a rubbermaid tote with four 45 degree 4" elbows and it holds 50 lbs of feed

Get pipe caps to cover the openings at night.

Won't the chickens hurt themselves on the traps?

I have a wire basket that mice can get thru but chickens can't.
I put traps under that at night.
Remove it all during the day, but chickens get up before I do.

 

[Callender Girl]

If you want a trap that won't harm your chickens, Kness Mfg., based in Albia, IA (my hometown), makes a baitless metal trap, the Ketch-All, that has openings to allow mice in but keep birds out.

I have used these in my coops and in my house (where my cats and dog live). Ketch-Alls are supposed to live trap the mice, then you -- as I did just this morning -- can relocate the mouse far away from your property by opening the lid and letting them scamper away

However, the larger Ketch-Alls seem to often kill the mice, something that I've never had happen with the smaller traps. I have read that the mechanism that traps them within the metal box sometimes snaps their necks.

Good luck with your battle!

 

[aart]

However, the larger Ketch-Alls seem to often kill the mice, something that I've never had happen with the smaller traps. I have read that the mechanism that traps them within the metal box sometimes snaps their necks.

Here's a video showing that problem:

 

[Folly's place]

Snap traps, the old wood ones with metal parts, work very well for mice, and you can set them up like @aart does, or figures something similar, so the nice have access, but not the birds.
If you have tiny chicks, that's not possible, but any birds larger can be kept out of the trap sites.
Eliminate places where they are nesting in the coop! We had them in an insulated wall, along with rats, a few years ago, and the rats took poison in bait stations to be eliminated, along with removing the double wall with the insulation.
Mary

 

[RojoMarz]

We have some mice, but our main rodent is chipmunks. I don't have feed in the coop and have to remove all feed at night (due to bears).

I got the ratproof feeder and really like it. It will stop the rodent buffet. I previously was using the diy "five gallon bucket with elbows" feeder. Unfortunately the chipmunk had no issue getting inside the feeder. They are not getting in the ratproof feeder.

 

[M Brennen]

Rats and mice are horrible! I echo what all the others have said, concentrate on building a rodent proof coop. We thought we had it under control with a layer of floor, chicken wire, and another layer of floor. For the walls we had plywood on either side of studs. The problem was rats and mice chew through wood. The coop was open underneath and it was no problem for the rodents to chew through the floor and up in between the walls. I was constantly covering holes inside my coop with hardware cloth. I have since closed off underneath the coop and reinforced the sides. We have also added airtight doors and a secure run. Knock on wood, so far so good.