Mice in my coop!

[cmom]

We use electronic traps that seem like one of the more humane ways to eliminate them. There are several different sizes and types but found that the ones that can collect several before having to empty were troublesome. They are expensive but will last years if you take care of them.

 

[UluLaté]

How to effectively rid my coop of mice?
I know they won’t be completely gone but it seems that they have rapidly reproduced and that they are making my chickens sick!

Chickens luuuv mice. They will fight over them and gobble them up. Extra protein! Delicious. My kids think it’s the teradactyl in them...lol

I also keep goats and chickens in same barn, as a previous commenter said...Because of hay, feed, etc. mice can be attracted. Good containment of feed is helpful, though not always possible.

I use cats in the house, garage and barn. My cats are all excellent mousers. Not every cat is a mouser. I’ve had sweet clean kitties that are good mousers for the home, but my main momma mouser who I got as a kitten outside of Walmart was a feisty kitten. The kids giving the kittens away warned me that she was not a nice kitty. They named her Fiesty Two Times and they had scratches all over them just from her. She bit through my moms finger when she tried to feed her turkey and through my finger when I introduced her to a new puppy. We think she mated with a bobcat, because her theee boys are HUGE and they don’t act like domestic cats. They have tufted ears, their eyes shake, they are messy, don’t bury their scat....Anyway they live in the barn and are always running around with mice in their mouths. Occasionally they will get ground squirrels and rabbits. I sometimes put them in the chicken coop. The chickens peck them until they leave. Point is they don’t bother the chickens.

Her first litter was with a tom in the neighborhood. We gave those kitties to a friend who had a horrible mouse infestation in their barn. She and another friend had a daily competition to see who caught the most mice each night. My daughter said at one point they caught 30? They had a cat but it wasn’t a mouser...more like Garfield. Fluffy and adorable but not helpful. They tried everything but nothing worked. I offered to loan them our kitties. When our kitties arrived, they shut them in the barn. Shortly after they said they heard shrieks and squeals and a lot of thudding. Then mice started pouring out of every creavice of the barn...they were literally climbing over each other to get out. They said it was like a horror film. They decided to keep the kitties. They have never had another mouse problem. My friend tried to befriend the female kitty. It attacked her hand and disappeared back into the barn. Mousers tend not to be the cuddly type of cat. Our momma mouser has tamed out over the years, but two years ago after I picked up one of her kittens she attached herself to my leg, and bit me while using a long back claw and giving me a deep cut horizonatally across the lower calf like she was trying to hamstring me. Ruined a good pair of jeans I was wearing. She definitely has her own opinions and let’s them be known...lol. For me it’s worth it to learn how to appreciate this kind of cat and not have mice.

If you can find a good barn cat...that will be your best bet at eradicating the problem. No poison, no traps to hurt your chickens....

 

[Old Philosopher]

I just "cleaned out" my coop of 32 mice caught over a 2 week period. Best (and cheapest) mouse/rat trap in the world. The bucket roller trap.

 

[Conan]

You could try the dried potato route. I did this last spring when the rats started showing up. They can't get in the coops at night, so we put out pile after pile of dried potatoes. Took a little time, but we started finding bloated, dead rats laying about here and there. It also seemed to make them easier to catch for the kitties. Plus, we've got owls that do more than their fair share.
I haven't had good luck with poison, but I also haven't tried many out. I may have to give the brand @cmom recommends to see if that takes their numbers down a bit.

 

[Michelle29063]

I have several cats - no rodent problem at all. Then again, my chickens will kill any mice, lizard, frog, or small snake that they find. My sweet girls can be vicious murderers.

 

[cmom]

You could try the dried potato route. I did this last spring when the rats started showing up. They can't get in the coops at night, so we put out pile after pile of dried potatoes. Took a little time, but we started finding bloated, dead rats laying about here and there. It also seemed to make them easier to catch for the kitties. Plus, we've got owls that do more than their fair share.
I haven't had good luck with poison, but I also haven't tried many out. I may have to give the brand @cmom recommends to see if that takes their numbers down a bit.

When I started renovating the rat infested coop, I couldn't believe the number of rats of all sizes that came pouring out since I was destroying their nests. There were dozens and I'm not exaggerating. I wish I would have taken my camera down to the coop. They had to go somewhere and I had see a few in the barn which is behind the coops. I had to get rid of them. For what ever reason my birds don't bother with mice. They will look at them but aren't interested in eating them.

 

[2hotchicks]

Just through the mouse away in the garbage, or you could kill it first of you don't want it to suffer. You can't reuse glue traps because the mice let out an alarm idea that will warn other nice away from that specific glue trap.

I vote you get cats! They don't have to be indoor cats, they don't even have to be tame! Just get a couple of fixed strays from an animal shelter and let them run around your house, if you live in the country you don't even have to feed them. We use to have mice problems until we got a pair of cats a couple of years ago, and I have only seen one live mouse since!

Those poor cats. "You don't even have to feed them." Wonder if that's the kind of home the animal shelter wanted for the cats, which were quite possibly fixed using taxpayer dollars. Shelters shoud not perpetuate cruelty & suffering.

 

[Conan]

Those poor cats. "You don't even have to feed them." Wonder if that's the kind of home the animal shelter wanted for the cats, which were quite possibly fixed using taxpayer dollars. Shelters shoud not perpetuate cruelty & suffering.

I believe that this is in reference to the Barn Cat Program. Most shelters take in feral cats, spay/neuter them, then adopt them out as barn cats. They are not pets, and prefer to be away from humans. These programs actually help keep a good number of cats from being euthanized. They ask that you provide shelter, and kibble, but most of the cats prefer hunting. It's a win/win for folks with rodent problems.

 

[ajackalope]

We put poison under the coop and have it meshed off so the chickens can't get under. We don't usually see any critters. We dont try to get rid of the snakes (never see them near the coop or run) and my neighbors indoor/outdoor cats patrol my wood line for critters. Also no problem with the girls. Hawks are my big issue.

 

[cmom]

I had a problem with hawks until I covered my pens with netting. My pens are 60 feet X 200 feet. I covered them several years ago when the trees in the pens were small.