Mice in the coop!

[BDutch]

I have been looking into hwc to keep mice out. The 10 mm hwc seems fine to deter them. Only baby mice could go through.

Ive been reading people start with a brick on the treadle so its open to start with. They learn the food is in there that way within a few days.
Second step is lower the weight, for easy opening.
After that the chickens know how to use it.

 

[Al Gerhart]

That approach was started by the Grandpa feeder and it is very, very bad advice. Much repeated, but very bad advice. However they were forced to ask customers to try this approach because the overhead lid scared the bejesus out of the hens. Their goal is to get the customer past the Amazon return date so fewer feeders got returned. So their advice was to take weeks to train the birds, three steps or bolt holes, so by week four you had the feeder moving freely. Then you will wait a few more weeks, it must be your own fault or your silly stupid chickens, right? Nope, ain't the chickens, ain't you.

It was a horrible design from day one but the only one out there for a good ten years. They got away with it due to no competition or a wooden contraption of the same general design as their only competition.

Why is it bad to block off a treadle feeder for training?

First, you teach the hens that neither the treadle nor the id is supposed to move when they use the feeder. Then they learn, well it does move a bit, make up your mind, right? Then it moves a lot. The change keeps them confused and afraid.

Second major reason is why an overhead lid is a very bad idea in the first place. If you have some chicks, wave your hand over them either in the heated box you are starting them out in or even out in the yard. Maybe hold something large like a cardboard box lid or a paint bucket lid so a shadow goes across the chicks. They go ape sh*t, right? Predator knowledge is partially instinctive, evolution has it wired into their very DNA. Even adult chickens will freak out when a shadow goes over them, most will squat and call out. Overhead lid or shadow = potential predator.

Third huge reason why blocking open a treadle feeder is a bad idea. It also teaches the vermin that you are spending big bucks on to try to stop them from stealing feed. Here it is boys. So while you are training the chickens you are also training the rats and wild birds. Getting your bluff in on them so to speak is a huge help in stopping feed theft butt cold. They smell it, they can't see it, people have posted videos online of our feeders with mice circling the feeder at night, not understanding how to get to the feed. Once they know they can use the feeder they are far more likely to just push up the lid and eat all the feed they want as plenty of Amazon reviews have shown on the grandpa feeder.

The lid has to be super lightweight and carefully balanced for the safety of the flock, it is a guillotine style feeder. That means a ground squirrel of a few ounces can just push the lid open or a medium size rat, there is one video on Youtube showing two tiny one ounce ground squirrels bouncing a lid up and down together until they got it high enough to wiggle into the feed tray.

A guillotine style feeder like the grandpa feeder is impossible to preload with springs, meaning there is some resistance to the lid being lifted from below. Springs would mean more dead chickens if the lid wasn't both super light and offered no resistance. Even on some of the competing inward swinging door feeders the manufacturers refuse to spring load the doors, rats and mice just push the door open at the bottom.

So never, ever, block open a treadle feeder. Start it off the way it needs to be used. Have it solidly mounted, plenty of room in front to approach the treadle easily, and remove all other feed so that the hens get hungry. A few hours will do in most cases IF you have the feeder installed correctly and the spring adjusted to just enough to close the door and maybe a few ounces of back pressure to prevent mice from pushing the door open. I've sold way over 10,000 feeders since 2012, never saw a flock refuse to use our treadle feeder IF the customer followed the directions.

 

[BDutch]

That approach was started by the Grandpa feeder and it is very, very bad advice. Much repeated, but very bad advice. However they were forced to ask customers to try this approach because the overhead lid scared the bejesus out of the hens. Their goal is to get the customer past the Amazon return date so fewer feeders got returned. So their advice was to take weeks to train the birds, three steps or bolt holes, so by week four you had the feeder moving freely. Then you will wait a few more weeks, it must be your own fault or your silly stupid chickens, right? Nope, ain't the chickens, ain't you.

It was a horrible design from day one but the only one out there for a good ten years. They got away with it due to no competition or a wooden contraption of the same general design as their only competition.

Why is it bad to block off a treadle feeder for training?

First, you teach the hens that neither the treadle nor the id is supposed to move when they use the feeder. Then they learn, well it does move a bit, make up your mind, right? Then it moves a lot. The change keeps them confused and afraid.

Second major reason is why an overhead lid is a very bad idea in the first place. If you have some chicks, wave your hand over them either in the heated box you are starting them out in or even out in the yard. Maybe hold something large like a cardboard box lid or a paint bucket lid so a shadow goes across the chicks. They go ape sh*t, right? Predator knowledge is partially instinctive, evolution has it wired into their very DNA. Even adult chickens will freak out when a shadow goes over them, most will squat and call out. Overhead lid or shadow = potential predator.

Third huge reason why blocking open a treadle feeder is a bad idea. It also teaches the vermin that you are spending big bucks on to try to stop them from stealing feed. Here it is boys. So while you are training the chickens you are also training the rats and wild birds. Getting your bluff in on them so to speak is a huge help in stopping feed theft butt cold. They smell it, they can't see it, people have posted videos online of our feeders with mice circling the feeder at night, not understanding how to get to the feed. Once they know they can use the feeder they are far more likely to just push up the lid and eat all the feed they want as plenty of Amazon reviews have shown on the grandpa feeder.

The lid has to be super lightweight and carefully balanced for the safety of the flock, it is a guillotine style feeder. That means a ground squirrel of a few ounces can just push the lid open or a medium size rat, there is one video on Youtube showing two tiny one ounce ground squirrels bouncing a lid up and down together until they got it high enough to wiggle into the feed tray.

A guillotine style feeder like the grandpa feeder is impossible to preload with springs, meaning there is some resistance to the lid being lifted from below. Springs would mean more dead chickens if the lid wasn't both super light and offered no resistance. Even on some of the competing inward swinging door feeders the manufacturers refuse to spring load the doors, rats and mice just push the door open at the bottom.

So never, ever, block open a treadle feeder. Start it off the way it needs to be used. Have it solidly mounted, plenty of room in front to approach the treadle easily, and remove all other feed so that the hens get hungry. A few hours will do in most cases IF you have the feeder installed correctly and the spring adjusted to just enough to close the door and maybe a few ounces of back pressure to prevent mice from pushing the door open. I've sold way over 10,000 feeders since 2012, never saw a flock refuse to use our treadle feeder IF the customer followed the directions.

Maybe you are right , I dont have any experience with a treadle feeder.

But I was saying: a few days (2x) . Not weeks. Chickens are fast learners when food is involved. They can learn new things within a week.

I trained mine to come home for scratch. They learned my scratch call amazingly fast.

 

[Chickenmomof6]

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

Ha! Not necessarily. “The smallest mouse in NORTH AMERICA is the Pacific pocket mouse, which weighs about the same as three pennies.”

 

[gimmie birdies]

I got those metal tin cats. If you put the whole part up against a wall with food inside you can catch them.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Maybe you are right , I dont have any experience with a treadle feeder.

But I was saying: a few days (2x) . Not weeks. Chickens are fast learners when food is involved. They can learn new things within a week.

I trained mine to come home for scratch. They learned my scratch call amazingly fast.

You are correct of course, when it comes to food, chickens are fast learners. Most chickens will learn to use a well installed, well designed, treadle feeder in a day or enough of them will learn to teach the others quickly. Being prey animals, they don't like to have their vision obscured so it takes longer for the poor design feeders where the chicken has to crouch and reach up way inside. Those designs are better for weather but suck as chicken feeders. Or the pvc elbow and bucket feeders. Better than nothing but barely. Sometimes though poor people have to have poor ways till they can afford better. Been there, done that.

 

[bcooper4]

I don't remember where I read this and it sounds crazy but it seems to have worked for me. Instant dry mashed potato flakes apparently swell up when eaten and kills the rodent. I just put a bowl under a folding chair or a pallet where the chickens will leave it alone and the rodents will enjoy. No guarantees but an easy fix if it works for you.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Dealt with mice, Usually I flood the mouse holes with water so the mice have to come out of the holes and leave the rest of the job to the chickens, Very effective and they get fed.

 

[PachanPeeps]

Dealt with mice, Usually I flood the mouse holes with water so the mice have to come out of the holes and leave the rest of the job to the chickens, Very effective and they get fed.

I thought I was twisted, but I do this too! Hahaha!! The chickens and my new kittens have been enjoying their mice snacks.

 

[samiam4863]

We ended up with mice in our coop a few years back because we left doors open for free-ranging. They got into our foam board insulation in the roof and everywhere else. We cleaned everything out thoroughly, removed everything they could chew on, scrubbed the coop, added bars of Irish Spring soap and cotton balls with orange oil and peppermint oil where the girls couldn't get to it and kept it closed from that point forward. No more mice. We have 1/4" welded wire on the entire coop and even underneath it. We cleaned the feeders and changed feed as well. Brought it in at night for a week or so. We haven't had an issue since then.