My Friends In The Feed Barrel !

[CityChook]

OMG again. Nightmares!!

 

[newchickmom]

My 3 cats always follow me to the barn to feed the horses. They're hoping I'll stir lose some mice for them when I move the hay.

Most of my chickens are pretty good mousers too, so I don't really worry about mice. I haven't even seen a snake out here.
I've seen rats, those look like regular field mice to me.
I also keep all animal feed in metal trash cans.

 

[RockyPhoenix]

as soon as we put our feed in a metal can and dumped excess feed back in the bin before dark our mouse problem is gone! we havent bought nearly as much feed as we did before the bins and trough feeders!

 

[Chickenaddict]

2 nights in a row I found the same mouse in the scratch grains, poor bugger was soooo full of scratch he couldn't make it out of the bag. I scooped him up and tossed him out for the chickens and they just stood there like "I am NOT touching that thing" The week before that Mama mouse and her pinkies moved into my DH hip waiter boots.

 

[turbodog]

Quote:
It could just be the perspective in the photo, but that was my first thought too.

 

[tammyd57]

Those aren't baby rats. They're just plain old field mice. I get a lot of those in Spring when the guy comes to disc the weeds in my field.

 

[littledel]

actually the feed barrel is similar to a rodent trap we used to use. We would take a 5 gallon bucket, put a little feed in it and supply a ladder of sorts for the rodents to be able to climb up the bucket. they would jump in, eat their fill and not be able to climb out. Worked like a charm and sometimes would have almost a dozen of the little fuzzys in there at a time.

 

[1newchickontheblock]

Quote:
Glue traps are painful and unecessary. Please don't use them. There are plenty of ways to eradicate mice that are more humane.

Ugh - I agree. I've seen some grisly results of glue traps

 

[1newchickontheblock]

Quote:
Trough feeders - are those the long things with the holes in them? Red or galvanized? I was thinking of getting a hanging type, but is this better...?