Mouse question

[Melodychick]

I know how you feel too serendi, that’s why I trapped and relocated the mice in my coop, but your first responsibility is to yourself and your chickens. Mice can carry disease and parasites that can harm you and your chickens. Mice are a wild animal and have evolved to survive the elements, so don’t feel bad rehoming her, She’ll be fine. Just find a spot far from anyone else’s home, barn or coop!

 

[blackandtan]

seredni, you are so cute! and very kind

I feel the same way - or used to - hm

and I tried to humanely catch and relocate - many died anyway, some got relocated

and now I got venomous snakes that moved in because our run smells like mice so badly even I can smell it

the snakes are hibernating now - and now I got to decide if I want to face off with copper heads and kill them while it is cold - I think they found a hibernaculum in an old ground hog hole next to our basement

better to be aggressive about the mouse problem early on

short of killing them - disturbing them daily may be a good strategy - and I would move that one mouse out! I know it is cold outside and it may not make it, but I would move it out while the problem is small and then check in all spaces for more mice and move them out of disturb them - our mice were/are nesting under the rubber mats I put down in the run to catch the spilled food under the feeders - no perfect solutions! sigh.

maybe you can find a sheltered place for the little mouse, under leaves, or even let it have an old towel out in the woods and some farewell chicken feed - but I would move it far enough away so it would not come back easily - I move ours across a creek into a wooded area that has hiding spaces and water for them to start out a new life, hopefully and I release any mice from our coop there so they can reunite, maybe

OMG venomous snakes!?!!!
So happy I live in the north....I’d rather deal with an egg-hungry bear than a snake any day!!!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined our crazy gang of feather minded folks. Do you have wire on the "floor" of your run? Most will have 1/2 inch hardware cloth under the dirt. As long as it is at least 19 gauge or stronger this should keep the mice out. You don't want to make the little varmint feel welcome or he will be bringing his larger family members along and that is a very bad thing.

 

[Banditschickens]

Welcome

 

[21hens-incharge]

As others have said mice can and will chew wiring, chicken feathers and feet.
They can also do damage to the structure.

Eventually a population left unchecked will make it into the human house.

Let us never forget the Australian mouse invasion.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

As others have said mice can and will chew wiring, chicken feathers and feet.
They can also do damage to the structure.

Eventually a population left unchecked will make it into the human house.

Let us never forget the Australian mouse invasion.

No they are not cute, they are nasty little critters.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Mice and rats WILL chew wire.
Make sure your wiring has an AFCI breaker to help prevent arcing and potential disaster.

I can attest to this. Our home sat vacant for a year before we purchased it. We had to bug bomb twice to kill the mice and redo ALL the electrical wiring. Im certain i still have dead mice in my walls :shiver:

 

[jsr5]

We were mouse free for a long time but suddenly we were over run they seem to be coming out of the woods by our creek

We keep the food in a steel trash can with a lid and the chickens feed is also accessible to the chickens all our chickens will eat mice but I get alot of pleasure watching our buff orpingtons hunt them they are better mousers than any cat I"ve seen. They come up in our garage where our lazy dogs let the mice get their food. My buffies cleared em out. I'd say design your coop to be inhospitable to mice where the chickens can't go and design the chicken space so the mice can't hide from the chickens if they look like they have a foothold anyway then get to trapping. I wouldn' tuse poison as your birds may get the poisoned corpses. If they are being seen often they are too plentiful I will also use a 22 with rat shot if I"m seeing them often. Have seen some awesom traps made from a 5 gallon bucket with 2 gallons of water and a tipsy or round stick with food like peanut butter on it. build it so it resets and get several in a night. leave it till you aren't getting any they just put out a little snap trap and bait it once a week if you catch one set up the bucket again for a while. I have had too much good stuff ruined by mice chewing to have a soft spot for them anymore.

 

[iliamna]

This morning I discovered that a small mouse has built a really cute feather nest under our heated water bowl which is inside our enclosed chicken area. I am not going to hurt the mouse but I would like advice on whether or not this will become a problem and if it will, what non lethal methods should I use to keep mice out? It seems to me like the perfect mouse home--safe from predators (don't think chickens mind but I don't know), warm, easy access to water and grain. We have indoor but not outdoor cats and I'm not going to get an outdoor only cat as it's too cold around here and too many predators (coyotees).

 

[iliamna]

Hi Kris, mice are a problem probably in most chicken areas because we feed them grain. They are rodents and carry disease so I would advise to get rid of them by trapping with live or snap traps. Taking them out of your area doesn't really help because that only propagates them somewhere else. We have traps set all the time in and around our chicken house/yards.