Mice in the coop!

[Chickenmomof6]

Thank you! This information will be useful. Were getting some hardwire cloth today.

Good luck!!

 

[Al Gerhart]

That is 1/4 inch hardwire cloth. Mice cannot get through that.

You know, you are likely 100% correct. But I spent a few years working with Phd level scientists and learned it is better to accept someone's statement at face value but gently question it so they either back it up or disappear from the conversation because sometimes they might turn out to be right as incredible as it seems.

That is assuming a reasonable statement from a reasonable person or course. If they are so dumb they are just a waste of air then all bets are off. Might not be mice that small, then again....there might be.

 

[Al Gerhart]

All of that is so true. I wish I could send back the feeder!!! Really isn’t good. I’m better off taking the feeder inside at night. We have a construction company so we had everything except the hardwire cloth. It took my husband and I a few hours to complete it. With his expertise and my hard labor (lol) we were a good team Homesgly, if it took me a week I world e done it! Anything g to get rid of those nasty rats…

How long ago was it? They brag about a two year guarantee so I would take them up on that.

Personally, in my opinion that an insane guarantee that can only be given because they don't intend on honoring it, have massive loop holes that make it impossible for customers to use it, have a perfect product that can never break or fail, or have so much profit built into the product you can afford to pay for the returned product.

Normal profit margins for companies are usually way less than 10% so one in ten returned feeders means zero profit. For our feeder the end of year profit margin is usually around 5% so one in twenty feeders return would make it impossible to sell feeders. Even if the customer was responsible for the out going shipping and the return shipping assuming you destroyed the used feeder which has to be done for disease reasons. If you repaid the shipping, you would wipe out the profit from the next fifty to sixty feeders. Ain't happening, no company short of a bespoke luxury item with 90% profit margins can offer that long of a warranty on such a complicated product assembled by customers and put in one of the most inhospitable places on earth; aka a chicken coop.

What a two year guarantee does do is lull customers into a sense of security, more confidence when buying, more likely to keep a product that has had some shipping damage that might reduce its life span, gives you a leg up on a competitor that only costs you way down the road assuming they actually honored the warranty. It gets the product past the short Amazon return date, now the customer feels bad about returning a product that they have to prop open and take the time twice a day to place a rock on it in order to use it.

But hey, if it hasn't been two years, write or email Grandpa feeders and see if they will accept the return. You no longer need it, it doesn't work as advertised, no fault of your own, go for it. If they don't honor the warranty post their response on BYC and send them the link. LOL

 

[Altairsky]

That is 1/4 inch hardwire cloth. Mice cannot get through that.

In my country we have small species of mice that can squeeze trough that. "mice" is not just a single species, worldwide.

 

[Al Gerhart]

And that is why we always should give the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Debbie292d]

We live in the boonies and have too many mice so killing them isn't worth even trying. We found using those scent packets to keep them out of the coop, garage, and camper, so the cats could do their job works. We've been doing that for years.

I wrote an article how to make them yourself as they need to be replaced about every three months and that was getting too expensive. When we let them go longer, we had mice issues again.

 

[BDutch]

In my country we have small species of mice that can squeeze trough that. "mice" is not just a single species, worldwide.

The dwarf mouse (Micromys minutus) is the smallest rodent in Europe with a head-body length of 50-80 mm. The dwarf mouse has a yellow to orange-brown coat with a white belly. Adult animals weigh five to eleven grams (pregnant females are heavier, up to 15 grams).
So far I couldn’t find info about the hwc needed to keep them out.

I have used 10 and 12.5 mm hwc and no problems with mice or rats in the coop. Neighbour cats take care of them too. But long time ago I had rats and read about solutions. More hwc was a good solution for me.

General advice : make it impossible for the mice to eat the food.
A good tradle feeder or a hanging system where the mice cant climb in could be a solution. The edge to grab/get in, should be at least 24 cm from the floor (3 x the size of the mice). And really far away from any wall or object.
In the barn where I keep the food I use sturdy plastic and airtight containers (old paint buckets). The mice eat through any soft plastic.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Oh, mice can jump very long distances. 3x the body length isn't going to stop them. Hanging systems never work.

Great info on the tiny mice. I'd think they wouldn't eat enough to be a problem other than bringing in disease and pests.

 

[Altairsky]

I have a good tradle feeder that should work, but I'm afraid my chickens don't know how to use it, last time they was afraid of the noise. But it's probably time to seriously train my chickens how to use it.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I have a good tradle feeder that should work, but I'm afraid my chickens don't know how to use it, last time they was afraid of the noise. But it's probably time to seriously train my chickens how to use it.

I might can help with that. Would you be kind enough to post a picture of the feeder? From a few feet away so we can see how it is mounted? It might not be the noise that is scaring them.