Mice problem - solutions?

[Karen reck]

Keep the area around the chickens' coop tidy. Make sure to cut the grass around your coop is always cut neatly. Throw away empty feed bags.
Repair doors and floors to help restrict access to the coop. Total exclusion might not be practical for larger operations, but backyard chicken keepers will find benefits to it. Mice can squeeze through an opening the size of a person’s little finger. If possible, line the corners of small, elevated coops and chicken tractors, especially where walls and floors meet, with sheet metal or 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth. It’s best if this is done from the outside to prevent rodents from chewing an entry point through the wood.
You can also set colony traps which will hold more than one mice at a time. The small metal boxes have an entrance hole on either end that contains a one-way door, meaning mice enter and can’t get out. The nice part about them is they’re on duty 24/7 without maintenance, except removing trapped mice. Again, no bait is needed if placed against the wall in the normal travel route. All mice caught in a colony trap will be alive if you check them frequently, so you will need a plan for dealing with them. Mice are not at all wary of these devices and will enter them readily.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I was in the garden this last week and watched all my hens give chase to a gal that made a good catch.

Eventually she ate it.

Mine have also had squirrel as it went in to snatch an egg.

Can you check with the pest control people and find out what the active ingredient is in the poison?

 

[The Moonshiner]

We have been using poison for rats and mice for a few months now. I don't believe any of what you were told.
Pretty common knowledge that chickens do eat mice and smaller rats. I don't believe there is any baits that taste so good that they only eat it on the spot. They will take it back to the nests to feed their young and to stash it. We used the biggest chunk kind with the holes and nailed it down and wired it down. We also used bait boxes trying to keep it put. I saw small pieces in different locations so I know they carried some off. I know the first few days we put out 3 or 4 pounds of it a night to have it completely gone by morning. After a couple days and lasting about the first week I found dead rats and mice everywhere. I was stunned by the numbers of carcasses I found and some as far as 100 foot from where the poison was.
We used three different brands. And we have about every type of poultry and dogs. I saw our dogs chewing on dead rats and chickens pecking and gutting carcasses. Nothing died from it though so maybe some truth to the talk about the new poisons not doing the secondary killing.
Also my friend told me his boxer ate 1 lb of just one bite rat poison and had no effects of poisoning.
Never thought about eating the eggs not being safe. I have been hatching eggs not eating any so idk but it didn't effect hatching or the chicks that have hatched.

 

[Chickassan]

If you want them out of their hidey holes mint will definitely do it. What you do with them once they are out is up to you. I've been sticking mint leaves in crevices watching mice run all afternoon. Irma unfortunately made quiet a few mice take up residence in my coop. Nice little rooster has been doing disposal for me.

 

[Polishcreambar]

Terminex guarantees pest control and not very expensive. I had them before looks like I'll be needing them again here.

 

[3riverschick]

www.predatorpee.com
Seriously,
Karen

 

[perchie.girl]

To be honest I only glanced at the contributions... sorry.... but my take on it all.... Dont worry about what your friends are doing. The poison will run its course in a couple of weeks... move your chickens in after that.

Cleaning is essential.... keeping feed picked up and contained in chew proof containers.... Meaning Galvanized cans and keep the lids on. Hardware cloth is your friend.... Remember a mouse can go through anything it gets its head through. And a RAt can chew through brick to get to feed. Yep brick... so fortify your feed room.

I once lived in a house with rats.... No chickens but I had dogs and free fed... When I finally resorted to poison they were the size of bedroom slippers.

I absolutely have no problem setting out poison... Your health is more important... Its true the critters bring the poison back to the nest...

Here in the desert I simply cannot poison the wild life... Here we have Mice Kangaroo rats Church mice Pack rats And finally all the predators that depend on Mousie meals... the poison I have used in the house is Corn based I bought at the feed store.

Literature from outside the US
http://www.hadbaraorganit.co.il/mobile/74455.html
source in the US
http://myhousepests.com/rats/natural-rat-poison.html

Good luck on your decision....

deb

 

[sourland]

Cats and traps work for me.

 

[centrarchid]

Like most locations I think, multiple small rodent species called mice are around my property. Their populations cycle going up and down a lot. Cover for nesting and food are very important things to manage but do not always work when most of what they need is supplied by mother nature in locations you do not manage. My mice can either compensate for removal of nesting habitat by shifting below ground or actually having nesting sites that appear to be at least 50 feet from where their food supply (my chickens) are located. I store feed in barrels and provide restricted rations to chickens to limit feeding options for mice. Mice will then come out during the day making them more vulnerable to some predators.

I have been able to catch mice in mass using buckets but generally the mice still cause trouble at abundances where the mass capture methods do not work. My barn also supports and exceptional mouse eating assemblage of predators in addition to my chickens. A Coopers Hawk almost lived in the barn for nearly 6 months last year hunting mice. A couple large black snakes hunted most of the summer and an American Bullfrog is still after mice. A tom cat was also after mice but seems to be like Red Fox preferring to catch prey away from barn.

All in all, it appears disease is what regulates the mice most.

 

[debid]

If nobody has mentioned it (sorry, didn't read all responses) mouse poison is usually a blood thinner. They die by hemmoraging. A tiny dose that kills a mouse isn't likely to harm a larger animal that then eats said mouse. Rat poison, OTOH, is often arsenic-based. I wouldn't use that anywhere near chickens.

Personally, I prefer to trap so I don't end up with a nest of decaying mice in a shed or something. There are lots of choices in traps and there are models that you can use right in the coop safely.