Mice in chicken coop

[Nardo]

Hi Texas: Well, now I'm second guessing myself. I'm in North Texas, too and I have been crunching acorns up for my three girls (they won't break through the shell on their own but they like the insides). So now I'm wondering if the recent mouse droppings I am seeing are partly because there is a ready supply of nicely shelled acorns in the chicken run....hmmm. LOL

 

[micheleag2010]

I have a coop here in West Texas (Lubbock) and it seems I have at least one huge mouse (but I think it's a rat) and this evening when I went to pick up the feed and put it on the counter inside the half of the coop meant for storage I saw a little mouse shimying down the chicken wire headed toward the feed on the chicken side of the coop. I've seen a couple of holes in the inside of the coop but nothing on the outside. I'm pretty sure they are coming in the coop during the day when the coop door is open. I can't change that though because I have some older birds that prefer to stay in the coop all day because they don't like the rooster. I was thinking about trapping and giving the mice to a friend who has a snake. I just don't want chickens messing with the traps. Oh what a pain..

 

[losttexan]

My BSL, Danerys the Black Death, will dispatch any mouse she sees faster than you can blink.

 

[BustersMom]

We recently noticed the larger rodents too! We have a large field and woods behind the church adjacent to the neighborhood. They have been cutting trees and haying off the field. The rodents ended up under my coop...we can see the holes in the ground. My husband has shot 2 with a pellet gun. We have tried the snap traps too, in the outdoor pen at night, and caught a couple that way. I refuse to use poison and the glue strips are a nuisance. We are going to be diligent in killing them one at a time! Unfortunately food is abundant in our yard as we have berry bushes, fruit trees, and a large garden... plus the chickens and their feed and scratch grains.

 

[DAYDRINKER]

Wee sleekit cowrin tim'rous beastie, my chickens catch you in their beaksies!
My Delawares love to catch and eat mice!

 

[NapaChicknGal]

so it sounds like no easy task to rid mice from snatching chicken feed from what I've read. My tenant who lets birds out of coop in AM released a mouse who was strangling on bird netting where I placed feeders last night since I've been noticing how much feed is gone vs amount of birds. I chewed her out of course, but any suggestions other than taking feeders out at night?
Also, can they be culprits breaking some eggs? I thought I had some "egg-eaters" when I got my first 3 end of March but that has pretty much stopped; except I've had the eaten one today and a few last week that had a small hole.
thnx everyone

 

[animalgrl]

I live in an urban area. Saw a mouse in my yard last night (a big mouse - thought it was a rat at first). I have two chickens but I bring there food inside at night, all food is stored in the house, and I pick up any treat remnants from the run before going to bed at night, but I have seen a couple rodent droppings in my run. I know the mice aren't there because of the chickens, I've seen some droppings in my shed before, but didn't ever have a problem because of the feral cat living in the back part of my yard. We had to trap her and her sick kittens last summer and take them to a rescue, and now there are no feral cats killing the mice, I guess. I think the mouse may be living under the pallet I have my straw stored on, so I'm going to try raising that up on cinder blocks so it isn't as inviting. I have four indoor cats and was considering spreading some of their urinated on litter around that area, but don't know if that would help deter the mouse. Has anyone tried this? I don't know if it would work. I'd like to prevent a mouse explosion, though. I hate to trap them because I love animals and would feel horrible killing them, but from what I've read here, it sounds like traps are the best way to go.

 

[NapaChicknGal]

don't chickens get them? I had droppings until I locked up food at nite--had a few dead mice in wtr bucket--shda fed them to birds I was told but alas, didn't.

 

[animalgrl]

don't chickens get them? I had droppings until I locked up food at nite--had a few dead mice in wtr bucket--shda fed them to birds I was told but alas, didn't.

Apparently mine haven't gotten him, but it could be he got into the run at night when the chickens were in the coop. I had hoped that since I take the food in at night and don't leave any scraps out that I could avoid mice . . . To be fair, I saw the occaissional droppings in the shed before we ever got chickens, but I guess it wasn't ever a problem then because of the feral cat.

 

[jennibos]

that made me laugh! thank you!