Mice problem - solutions?

[yellowletters]

We have a flock of 10 chickens we've kept in the city for about 3 years now with no rat or mice as pests. But we are moving to a rental property this week out in the country on some acreage. The owners of the house/property are friends of ours. They have let us know that there is a *big* mice problem. They have tried setting many traps (and have caught many). Just the other day they called to share they figured out the solution - to hire a company to install (& monitor) bait/poison boxes. But then it dawned on me that our chickens could eat the mice (dead or alive) after they ate the poison. Plus, I've since learned that mice can indeed sneak the poison from the bait box and hide it in places that the chickens could get to directly.

So my question is - what would you do? I've told the owners (our friends) that we absolutely cannot move there with the bait boxes out. Even if our chickens didn't die, would we really want to eat the eggs?? Truly, I would imagine the eggs would be toxic to us if we eat them. IS this the case? Plus, we do plan to get two cats when we move there - couldn't the cats find a pile of bait and eat it? And we have a dog - couldn't he do the same?

I understand why my friends are so worried though. There is a beautiful little cottage on the property (that used to be used as a barn many years back) that they have fully renovated. And the mice problem in the cottage is apparently worse than the detached garage or the "big" house on the property. They are hoping to list the home on AirBnB and cannot fathom doing so with a mice problem. I have heard that mice always follow the paths of their ancestors. Since the cottage was once a barn how can we disrupt the "path of the ancestors"?

Growing up we used to have mice come into the house but I haven't experienced this myself as an adult. I'm looking for advice on what to do at this new property (with four children, 10 chickens, 1 dog and 2 forthcoming cats) to deter the mice and keep them at bay without potentially poisoning all the aforementioned animals (& children) in my life. Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!
Callie
in North Carolina

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

With living in the country you will need a rodent maintenance plan. You will never eradicate them. Mice and rats try to come into buildings in the fall to find a place to winter over, so you will see more of them at that time.

Mice are easy, use traps baited with peanut butter. Place them along walls in places chickens can't go. Keep at it until you don't catch anymore. Keep a few traps set after that so you know when you need to get busy at it again.

Keep your feed in metal cans, and only put out what your birds will eat during the day.

We use poison for rats, and traps for mice. The job is never done, but fall is the busy season. Having good working cats can help immensely.

 

[Zoomie]

You can get multi-catch traps at feed stores and maybe even hardware stores. These will hold lots of mice and don't need bait to work, but you need to check them every day. As @oldhenlikesdogs says, you just have to keep after it. No doubt the reason the mouse problem is so bad is because no one is living there and trapping, trapping, trapping. In addition, you can go around the house and seal up any and all holes that you find. Check around the foundation very carefully. If you can put a Bic pen through a space, a mouse can get in there... Just keep after it.

In my barn I keep feed in metal bins, and sweep it up if it spills. Kind of a pain to keep it up but it does help. My chicken coop has a cement floor and plate steel 2' up, I keep the feed in the coop suspended up off the floor.

In my house I ALWAYS have mouse traps set and waiting. Inside the house I use the type that use electricity. This is a fast death. You don't have to wonder if you got one, and the trap blinks if it has caught a mouse so you can tell. Outside I use the multi-catch ones... I've had as many as 20 in one trap, after one night!

I don't know where this is... where I live, we have the deer mouse, and those can carry Hanta virus. Be very careful when you are cleaning. Wear a mask. Don't stir up the dust if you can help it, use a vacuum with a good filter on it, NOT a broom. Use disposable gloves if you are cleaning up a mouse nest or anything like that. Good luck!

 

[yellowletters]

Thank you @oldhenlikesdogs and @Zoomie - this is all really great information! I'm passing it along to the owners of the property. I so appreciate it. I live in North Carolina. Where is it that Hanta virus is a problem?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I thought there was always a risk. Just make sure you have good ventilation or wear a mask when cleaning up mouse poop, that's always what I was told.

 

[Sara Ranch]

The suggestions shared are great!

I also -

* walk the property often
* move stuff around often (helps that I have a LOT to do around here!)
* feed the animals using dishes (not throwing food out on the ground) & I bring in the dishes & wash them daily.
* I bring in all watering stations daily (and wash them)
* I bring in all toys daily (and wash them)
* I try to clean every animal house daily. The poopies go into a closed compost bin OR get dumped far, far, far away from the house and the animal houses
* I use peppermint essential oil and sprinkle it in the garage (on the floor, on the shelves) and put it on cotton balls in closets and behind things. Mice don't like the smell of peppermint. Next year, I will plant peppermint out side around the house. (Didn't have time this year.) Warning - peppermint is prolific. All mints tend to be prolific. At past houses, I have planted it once and not had to do it again.
* I rotate what I use. I rotate the washcloths, the clothes, the dishes, etc. Because I rotate, nothing is one position for very long. Lots of human activity in the closets and the cabinets. Mice tend to avoid high traffic areas.
* I use snap traps in the house. I was told there were no rodents when I bought the place. The day I moved in, I found that the owners had put out mouse & rat poison in quite a few places. In cleaning, I found that mice had made several nests in the house, in outlets, in the walls. I've eradicated them. I check my traps daily. No mice.
* Clean. I deep clean often. There are some areas I just can't get to often or there are items to rotate through, so I will go in and remove everything and clean. Lol.
* Mow. Weed. Keep foliage, including tree branches and shrubs away from the house and the animal buildings. I cut low branches on trees and shrubs so that I have a clear line of sight UNDER the trees and the shrubs. It discourages the mice from making nests in there.
* Walk your property. Clean as you go.
* Use your senses. If you sense something is off, check it out. If you think you saw a shadow dart to the corner, check it out. If you think you heard a scratch scratch sound, go check it out. If you smell something, go check it out. If your chicken starts "baccing" go check it out. Same with the dogs. You may not ever see what they see, but at least you will be alert to an area that needs extra attn.
* Remove eggs regularly.

I live in the country. I am sure there are more mice and rats out "there". I know I have done a good job in clearing out the ones in the house and outside in the buildings. I still work to discourage them from being anywhere close to my animals.

As others have said, keep at it. Don't give up. Don't stop. You can reduce the rodent population. You might be able to totally eradicate it.

I don't use poison on my property. I have to do it the old fashioned way, but I am ok with that. I don't have to worry about a child accidentally getting into poisons or the animals getting into poisons.

*I haven't tried the electronic traps, but I am very interested in finding some to use!

 

[yellowletters]

So the owners of the house/property already signed up for a year long contract with a local pest control company for these bait boxes that attach to the ground outside. After sharing all the fantastic info & advice y'all provided - THANK you! - the owners did their own research and have come to a few conclusions:

This type of poison in the box is the type that "tastes so good" that the mice never take it from the box to hide it elsewhere (thus not posing a risk to other animals eating the poison directly). And they have been told the mice eat the poison, drink some water and go immediately into their nest where they die. They said you will never be able to find the mice dead in the various locations because they always go directly to their nest after eating the poison. And, lastly, they looked up some You Tube videos that showed chickens playing with mice so they are under the impression that chickens do not eat mice but are merely friendly with them.

Can you all please give me your honest feedback about this? Are the things they are saying true? Are my ideas extreme or just not founded in truth? I'm still feeling ill about it and am concerned that my chickens will somehow eat the poison directly or eat dead mice that have been poisoned. And I'm thinking I should not want to eat those eggs.

We move to the property this Friday. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Chickens do eat mice and rats, have seen mine chasing each other all over the yard after the one who had the mouse or rat. Sorry to give bad news. Roo would kill them for his girls to enjoy!

 

[TeeMom]

I have personally observed my chickens eating mice, so that part isn't true. I have read that most poison sold these days has very low incidence of secondary poisoning, meaning that it either already metabolized by the rodent by the time it dies and is eaten by another animal, or the amount of poison it would take to harm a larger animal is so great that the miniscule amount ingested when a dead rodent is eaten doesn't affect it. I think your concerns about the eggs is probably unfounded. That being said, I have not been brave enough to try poison on our property. I'm more worried about animals and small children getting directly into the poison than eating dead rodents, however. The best defense we've used to date is a cat that actually lives in the coop that has harbored our largest mouse population. Just his presence has seemed to keep them away.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We put out poison for the rats in a bait box. I'm sure some mice have a nibble too. I've never found any dead mice laying around, though I have found a dead rat and a chipmunk, picked them up and burned the carcasses.

I get worried too, but we have no choice as traps will not work on our rats, they are too smart.

Make sure the boxes are somewhere that others animals can't get to them, and they are baited with a solid bait that must be chewed, ours are put behind bales of hay or behind boards.

Most rodents do go to their nests when they don't feel well and will die there.