Mouse in the house!

[chickenlips1954]

Does anyone know how to get rid of mice under a coop? My 8 X 12 coop is built on concrete blocks, which leaves emply space under the coop for mice. After the last hen goes in at night the mice come out and party. They climb the sides of the coop, go into the coop through the chicken door and run around the chicken yard. I tried shutting the chicken door and using mice traps outside, but they avoid them completely. I'm afraid to use poison in case a poisoned mouse ends up in the chicken yard. Any suggestions? Oh, and a cat is out of the question since our dog would turn it into a squeak toy and I am not a cat person, anyway.

 

[panner123]

Any good chicken is almost as good as a cat for your mouse problem. You would be surprised with your dog, it might just get along with the right cat. If you have that big of a mouse problem, you also have a snake problem. Myself, I can deal with a cat a lot better than a snake.

 

[Charlene1234]

Yeah, I'd say cats as well. Just make sure they're fixed. We started with just one barn cat and now have at least a dozen that we're now trying to trap and fix. Our dogs chase them too but they 're smart and keep the mice down if you feed them enough so they still want to hunt. An overfed cat is not a mouser!

 

[brandywine]

I've had good luck with a multiple-mouse live trap called the "tin cat." I use it in places where my cats and dogs can't get at 'em, like under the sink or in the garage. It poses no danger to the chickens, and being jostled by other animals doesn't set it off (a problem with the "havahart" style box traps).

Poison, snap traps, glue traps -- all can harm chickens or small pets that get into them. Go with a Tin Cat. Put it along a wall or something that the mice run along, and bait with peanut butter. Once you trap one mouse, more will tend to come in to investigate.

You will have to decide what to do with the mice you trap. If they are voles or field mice, you can release them in the woods far from home (and far from anyone else's home.) If they are house mice, you should humanely kill them. I used to take them to a wildlife rescue center, where they would be fed live to rehabbing raptors and reptiles.

 

[dogzrule5]

brandywine - where did you purchase your tin cat mouse trap?

 

[goldensunriseranch]

Tractor supply has something very similar to the tin cat. The name eludes me at the moment but it is quite effective. Sold in the same section as the snap traps and bait traps. Mice get in and can't get back out until you let them out. No bait needed and captures lots of them at one time.

 

[brandywine]

Quote:
I didn't, a friend gave it to me.

But I've seen them in hardware stores.

Or you can try the googles on the inter-tubes.

Here it is on Amazon, but you have to buy a two-pack:

http://www.amazon.com/Victor-Tin-Cat-Clear-Pack/dp/B000B75ESK

Do buy the one with the window on top. Mine is an older model that doesn't have that, and I frequently have to play a sort of Schroedinger's Mouse guessing game, trying to figure if there's anyone in there.

 

[k9trainer]

go to ratzapper.com.. we use these and they are the greatest and very safe for pets.

 

[brandywine]

Just got a mouse with my tin cat today. He had been getting into the trash under the sink. Very tiny mouse, and was looking poorly when I opened the trap out on the porch. One of my barn kittens grabbed him and ran into the brush. Beats locking the kitten under the sink.

 

[MarylandChick]

When I worked at a zoo that had a rat problem we used vitamin E (or was it A?). We had high doses of the vitamin in feed we left out for them to eat. After a week or two the rodents would become brain damaged to the point where they couldn't walk for forgot to eat and then would die. This was far better than typical poison because there was no fear of what would become of the dead rats. Most larger animals aren't sensitive to poisioning effects of vitamin E (or was it A.) Hence, the offorts to kill the rats wouldn't endager the life of the lions and monkeys, etc.


Or you could just go buy several glue traps and shove them all under the coop at once and get most of them in 1 or 2 days. But that's kind of grosser I think.