Mouse Problem...Solutions?

[chickieshealing]

Hi, for humane treatment of ridding the coop of mice, are sound devices or lights better? Is there a specific device that has been known to work real well? Any advice anyone can give from experience or word on the street?

 

[HEChicken]

I can't give great advice. I tried a humane trap baited with peanut butter. I guess chicken feed tastes better because it didn't catch a single mouse. I tried locking each of my two cats in the coop for a night. They were so terrified of the chooks, they didn't notice there were mice in their desperate attempts to escape. My latest "solution" has been to remove chicken feed from the coop. I now move the feeder all over the yard - different place each day, to try to stay ahead of the mice who never know where it will be. Its a big yard - so far that is working better than the previously tried methods.

 

[Maggie C]

If your chickens are full grown, they should eat the mice. Mine have killed rats. I put their food away at night and make sure that nothing is in the coop with them; the coop is predator proof so they can sleep safely. I don't "get" humanely trapping mice and rats as they are pests that reproduce at an alarming rate. Just my opinion.

 

[Gersbud]

I do not usually have problems with mice, as my cats do hunt and my girls and the roos do like to catch them to. I try not to let them eat the mouse but they really do enjoy the challenge of catching them. Rather fun to watch. and I admittedly have no compassion for the mice, the are vermin and spread disease.

 

[chickieshealing]

Yeah, the chickens and cats are not an option becasue they haven't done much. I plan to mouse proof it after I get the mice out...but wasn't sure about my options for sound or light remedies. I heard the humane traps don't work, so I was thinking of going with some type of device.

 

[HEChicken]

If your chickens are full grown, they should eat the mice. Mine have killed rats. I put their food away at night and make sure that nothing is in the coop with them; the coop is predator proof so they can sleep safely. I don't "get" humanely trapping mice and rats as they are pests that reproduce at an alarming rate. Just my opinion.

Not necessarily. Out of all the chooks I've had over the years, only one was a mouser. After she caught a mouse, the others would chase her around to try to take it from her so I always hoped they would one day get in on the act but they never did. And, unfortunately, she was killed by my neighbor's dog. Since then the mouse population has gone up at an alarming rate, and the rest of the flock happily share their food with their "pets".

As for humanely trapping them....I also keep herps who would happily eat anything I caught - IF the traps actually worked and caught anything. When I bought the trap, I *thought* it was a win-win: I'd have fewer mice eating my chicken food plus I'd save money on feeing my snakes since it would be free source of feed for awhile. Unfortunately it just hasn't worked out that way.

 

[PamelaTX]

Check out the post above (in this section) by "OldGuy43" entitled "Rodent Control in your Run". You could make this easy trap and just leave out the water he suggests in the bottom of the bucket. If you have a deep bucket with steep, slick walls the mice/rats would get trapped and you could feed them to your snakes. I think if it works like he suggests that it would be a great solution for you and it looks very easy to make. See what you think....

 

[HEChicken]

Check out the post above (in this section) by "OldGuy43" entitled "Rodent Control in your Run". You could make this easy trap and just leave out the water he suggests in the bottom of the bucket. If you have a deep bucket with steep, slick walls the mice/rats would get trapped and you could feed them to your snakes. I think if it works like he suggests that it would be a great solution for you and it looks very easy to make. See what you think....

Thanks - saw that post but to be honest, it just doesn't look like something that would work around here. The trap I had was baited with peanut butter but apparently wasn't tempting enough to catch the mice and all they had to do was run into a little hole. In the trap outlined there, they have to run up a steep ramp and then out onto a cylinder supported by wire. I figure if the peanut butter didn't tempt them to go through a hole, its not going to tempt them to go to all that trouble. Now if I could find something that tempts them more than peanut butter, I *might* be able to get the trap I already have to work. Any ideas on what mice like better than peanut butter and chicken feed?

 

[QuiltinChick]

Milk Duds (those chocolate covered carmels). My husband recently left a box of them open in his cabinet shop and the next morning the box was tipped over and all of them were gone.

Personally, I hope the mice all got the carmel stuck in their teeth and died!!! No need for them around here!!!

 

[chickieshealing]

What about just a regular heat lamp? There is all this stuff about LED lights, but does any light work? Do people with heat lamps have mice problems?