Mouse Plague!! HELP

[Macy]

I was just wondering if rats/mice could become a problem for laying hens? Could rats/mice be a reason for hens to stop laying? Please forgive me if these questions seem stupid. I'm still pretty new to raising chickens and I want to know all I can to raise them well.

Thanks!

 

[the1much]

anything that disturbs the hen can have a impact on their laying,, and having a bunch of mice around i think would be disturbing,,, not to mention all the diseases they carry into the coop with them.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

I hate to say it, but chances are you've already got them in your house, mice are so good at getting into houses, it's almost impossible to mouse-proof a house. We had them in a 1970s subdivision house! We know for sure we have them here, or had them, but our house also sits over top a cold cellar.

Mousers, cats, are an excellent idea, raise them from kittens, try to get barn kittens all you have to do is give them a nice place to sleep, dry, and remember to spay, and provide them with their rabies shots. We give our barn cats a little bit of food once a week, just enough to supplement them in the winter, and they get rabies shots, and are fixed.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Jealous about your ferals! We had to look for barn kittens for our place. I totally agree that concrete floors help a lot, at the moment it looks like we have one mouse hanging out, she has a few babies, but shes not in the buildings, shes living in.......... a bottle in the compost heap LOL, and we've noticed a rat coming and going from the barn, rats are more of a problem than the mice I find! ...


Now ... to figure out how to tow the big old freezer to the barn for food storage LOL.

 

[purr]

Lynn I would worry more about the 25 feral possibly rabid cats than mice
don't mean to be a witch but a stray cat bit me in 2000 and I had to have the rabies series. not fun trust me

 

[birdnutz]

I caught 6 in 1 hour in the repeating trap. My house is over a basement with a cat down there,my DIL cat. My chicken house is a converted mobile home. No cement floors for me. I went out to close them in and it was kind of freaky. They were running,climbing and screaming all over the place.
But heh they have it good. I provide them with a home,food and water. I'm going to have to get a barn cat. The only problem might be my serama babies in the summer. I'll just have to secure the bottom of the runs with welded wire inside.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Good idea!!!

 

[Macy]

Quote:
That's good to know. I will have to be prepared in the event I should have a problem with rats or mice. Thanks.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

If you use glue traps use the rat ones as they are bigger you can get more than one mouse on it and they have a harder time dragging it off.

One note of caution. If your pet gets caught on one DON"T PULL IT OFF. Get finger nail polish remover and keep pouring it on till it comes off on it's own. If you pull if off you will pull the skin off your pets paw.

Happy hunting.

 

[kellij]

We also have a mouse problem, but have found the electronic trap is working great. It is battery operated. You put a little peanut butter in it, mouse walks in the opening and is electrocuted. Open the top and dispose of mouse, repeat. They are a bit more expensive (around $20), but can be repeatly used. I think the one we use is the Victor Electronic mouse trap. We got 6 the other afternoon in our shop.