Mice in coop, help.

[Shanda]

I just went into the coop to tuck my chickens in

and I found a cute little mouse. I brought it in and my husband told me to kill it! I went back out to the coop and found 5 cute little mice running out of one of the laying boxes. I'm concerned about disease. How do I get rid of the mice without hurting my chickens?

 

[Breac]

There's a two-step solution to take care of your mouse problem for good.

Step 1: Get snap-traps and place under a milk crate/ other crate with holes and put something heavy on top of the crate to prevent it from tipping over. Place traps/crate near the walls or in corners, since mice have poor eyesight and run along the walls.

Step 2: When a mouse is caught, remove from trap and feed to chickens. Chickens LOVE fresh mice and will eagerly devour them. Once they are taught that mice=food, they will pick up the slack and start chasing the mice themselves. Mouse problem solved!


Ever since I threw a few freshly caught mice to my chickens over four years ago, I've never had a problem with mice since.

 

[Shanda]

Awesome! I bought some live traps today because I didn't want the mice to ingest poison and then inadvertantly hurt my chickens. So if I catch anything, I will kill it and feed it to the chickens. I will also set up the live traps like you said under a milk crate. Thanks!

 

[Josh45640]

As long as you have chicken feed, youll have mice. I dont care how many traps you set, theyll keep coming. My chickens do there own mouse control. So far, Ive never had a problem with mice as far as diseases go. They dont eat enough to hurt the feed budget and they dont seem to hurt the eggs or chicks. If I catch one in the feed, Ill kill it. But that dosent happen too often. The chickens keep them pretty well thinned out.

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

I bought a live trap that catchs multiples. It will go weeks and not catch any then you catch an adult and 8 young ones in one night. No bait needed just set along a wall. Agree with everything posted. Good luck!

 

[jaimepowell]

Thanks for the info on the mice--we have 3 cats which are excellent mouse hunters but my husband has been warning me that once they find and get into our coop they won't want to leave. I'm hoping they stay out and/or that my girls learn to chase them out!

 

[Shanda]

So I set two of those live traps with the trap doors last night with a little bit of peanut butter in them. I had no mice in them and about 30 poops in each this morning! I went to home depot today to get the old fashioned traps. I'm going with "Breac"'s suggestion as soon as I find a milk crate or something similar.

 

[Stingrayg4]

I can't believe that mice in the chicken house is a real problem for anyone. I see the occasional mouse in and around mine, but only if the chickens don't see it first. In my experience, chickens are far more dedicated at killing mice than cats are.

-S