Mouse in the pen

[Al Gerhart]

Here is the thing, you don't have to worry about rats until you get them. LOL It is better not to have them than to have to get rid of them though. A cover, if they couldn't get to the feed they would chew through the plastic. Several very pretty treadle feeders came out with plastic parts and ruined their reputation very quickly.

Might check if hantavirus is present in the rodents in your country. No cases until human contact happens or the doctors don't know to look for it.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Here is the thing, you don't have to worry about rats until you get them. LOL It is better not to have them than to have to get rid of them though. A cover, if they couldn't get to the feed they would chew through the plastic. Several very pretty treadle feeders came out with plastic parts and ruined their reputation very quickly.

Might check if hantavirus is present in the rodents in your country. No cases until human contact happens or the doctors don't know to look for it.

Is there a way to tell if I have rats and mice other than the one that I saw? Our area has a lot of foxes and house cats so I can’t imagine there’s too many
Also do you think it was a mouse or a rat, the one that died?
If I find evidence of rats I’ll try a treadle feeder
I looked it up and apparently it’s rare in rodents and no human cases ever is all I could find

 

[Al Gerhart]

The best way to know if you have rats is to monitor your feed use. A quarter pound of commercial feed per hen, ignore roosters unless you have more than one or two. I would weigh the feed when you fill the feeder, weigh what is left over in a set number of days, and do the math. Two mice becomes fifty in what, three to five months? Assuming plenty of human provided food and no predation.

looked like a mouse to me.

You aren't in the U.S. I take it?

 

[Cheekychook12]

The best way to know if you have rats is to monitor your feed use. A quarter pound of commercial feed per hen, ignore roosters unless you have more than one or two. I would weigh the feed when you fill the feeder, weigh what is left over in a set number of days, and do the math. Two mice becomes fifty in what, three to five months? Assuming plenty of human provided food and no predation.

looked like a mouse to me.

You aren't in the U.S. I take it?

Ok I will do the math
No I’m in Australia

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Is there a way to tell if I have rats and mice other than the one that I saw? Our area has a lot of foxes and house cats so I can’t imagine there’s too many
Also do you think it was a mouse or a rat, the one that died?
If I find evidence of rats I’ll try a treadle feeder
I looked it up and apparently it’s rare in rodents and no human cases ever is all I could find

Rat droppings and mice droppings are pretty different.

The deceased critter in your picture is a mouse.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Rat droppings and mice droppings are pretty different.

View attachment 4082359

The deceased critter in your picture is a mouse.

I haven’t seen any such droppings around my place, though they’d be easy to miss

 

[Al Gerhart]

Ok I will do the math
No I’m in Australia

There used to be one or two decent options for inward swinging door treadle feeders in Australia. Haven't seen them in a while. Check locally if you wind up needing a feeder, if no joy I might be able to ship you one disassembled/flat packed from the Philippines. From the U.S. the shipping on an assembled feeder is pretty high.