Mouse in Brooder Coop

[Smuvers Farm]

DH went to do a last check in on our emo chick, Xena, tonight and said their was a little mouse that scurried across the floor, fairly close to our girl. Now, I'm freaked out.

She is the only one in the BHC (Brooder Hospital Coop). It's pretty small with only 2 nests and no roost bars, plus she is setting on 9 eggs.

DH said it was small, a field mouse, and that we don't have rats here..... well, why was it IN HER COOP?!?

She had a small container of food in her coop that has been removed, as she should be hatching eggs within the next 36-96 hours, and we're prepping fermented starter feed for the new nuggets. She had a water dish in the minor run however, we removed that as well. We put a nipple waterer inside the coop and added some electrolyte powder to it.

Is this concerning? Weirdly, I fear it eating her eggs while under her.... or even eating HER while she is in the *broody daze*.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally if you have chickens you have rodents. You may have rats too, you just haven't noticed yet. All chicken keepers need a rodent maintenance plan to keep from being overrun.

Mice generally don't bother chickens, but are after the feed and water.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Chickens will eat mice! My Wynadottes cornered a rat in their enclosure, got in for a door left open. They had it cornered, didn't want a mess to got them out & got the shovel

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s pretty much like OHLD said, they are after the food and water. Even if you remove the food at night it’s highly likely enough spilled into the bedding to attract them. If you see one there are more. The way they multiply there may soon be a lot more. There are usually a lot of places around a coop they can hide and raise a family. The best time to start removing them is before they start having babies.

Mice are highly unlikely to bother your emu, his eggs, or the chicks when they hatch. Rats are a bit more of a risk but even rats aren’t that likely to be a direct threat. It’s pretty unlikely that they will bring any kind of disease or parasite that will hurt your birds. Most parasites and diseases are pretty species specific. Not many things will transfer between mammals and birds.

One big problem is that very few people like having vermin like mice around, I sure don’t. They can eat a lot of their food and their droppings can foul it. They are also magnets for snakes and other things that eat mice. Where you are you are not going to get a snake that’s a threat to an emu, eggs, or chicks. But you can get snakes that will eat chicken eggs or chicks. Plus being surprised by a snake in your coop can have a strong effect on your heart rate, even stronger than seeing a mouse.

I don’t know how good a mouser your emu are. My chickens will eat mice if I give the mice to them but they are not very good at catching them. The mice are so quick my chickens don’t even try. Maybe your emu are quicker. I’ll often read on this forum that chickens will catch and eat mice. I’m sure they will when they can but my chickens do not come close to keeping the mice under control. I keep live traps and snap traps set and even then the numbers often get out of control. Occasionally I use poison to get the numbers back down.

 

[Zoomie]

As usual, @Ridgerunner has some great things to say. I'll just add: mice can carry Hanta virus. Your birds might not get that, but YOU can. Trap the mice and other rodents just for that sake, and it's important to keep the numbers down for all the other reasons stated.

 

[User495506]

Was it an emu or an emo chicken? or maybe an emo emu! Mice can be destructive though and will transport mites too plus all the reasons previously mentioned.

If mice get really bad, don't use poison. I like the 5 gallon bucket method for removing multiple mice. Leave a 5 gallon bucket (or smaller/stouter even better sometimes) with about 4 inches of water in it near a wall. you can hang some bait over it, but make sure they can't climb up to get it. Mice don't know there is no surface on top and when they jump up for the food or just out of curiosity, they fall in and drown.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Was it an emu or an emo chicken? or maybe an emo emu! Mice can be destructive though and will transport mites too plus all the reasons previously mentioned.

If mice get really bad, don't use poison. I like the 5 gallon bucket method for removing multiple mice. Leave a 5 gallon bucket (or smaller/stouter even better sometimes) with about 4 inches of water in it near a wall. you can hang some bait over it, but make sure they can't climb up to get it. Mice don't know there is no surface on top and when they jump up for the food or just out of curiosity, they fall in and drown.

Yeah, it's an EMO (broody) pullet. I find it funny to call her my Emo chick since she's *broody*.... I can see the confusion. Sorry @Ridgerunner for the confusion..... although.... an Emu WOULD be cool as heck!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I sure misread that, didn't I? I've never heard of an "emo" chicken. Is that a breed? Do you have a link that describes it?

 

[User495506]

 

[aart]

I sure misread that, didn't I? I've never heard of an "emo" chicken. Is that a breed? Do you have a link that describes it?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...org/wiki/Emo&usg=AOvVaw0x172kN0CoQZjQV-5Suclv