Mice!

[seaneduck]

Now that it's winter, I seem to have a problem with mice in the duck's food. Or maybe the problem was there all along, but now I am noticing it. I keep the duck food in a sealed metal trashcan, but have the food in a hanging feeder in their pen. And the mice seem to really enjoy it, as I've seen droppings in the feeder the past few mornings. So I decided to put out some poison for the mice, well away from the duck pen, but in a place I've seen the mice occasionally. I put out these bright green candy-bar looking mice poison bars, and what do I find this morning?.....bright green droppings in the hanging duck feeders! Who knows if the ducks had eaten the "poison dropppings" that were in with their feed! AAAAAARGH!
Now I"ll have to watch them closely to see if they get sick.

Long story to get to my question, but here goes: Do you think those plug in rodent repellant boxes that emit a high frequency noise would also bother the ducks? Or do birds and rodents not hear the same sounds? Any ideas would be welcome!

 

[Going Quackers]

Frankly, i'd just remove the feeder at night, an extra chose? yes but i move my chicken feeder in the house to keep it clean and dry, i would use the garage but same problem mice think it's a buffet so in the house it comes.

I cannot help on the plug in rodent things as i know next to nothing about them, but would worry whether the birds would be upset by it.

 

[Amiga]

There are high frequency noise makers that run on batteries, some on solar rechargeable batteries. I put them out at night after the ducks go into their night shelter, so they don't have to be exposed to the sound.

The noisemakers are somewhat helpful at keeping rodents away, but they can get used to the sound, so I put them out some nights, not all the time.

Try putting a few traps out deep inside 5 or 6 inch diameter pipes (four or five feet long) or metal tubes that are too long for a duck or cat to reach into and see if that reduces the rodent population. Be sure to place the trap waaaaaay into the pipe or tube.