My way of using cats to keep the mice down.

[chicken farm]

I love my cats but I don’t let them outside because their are too many beneficial little critters that they like to hunt, but I need them to hunt the mice because the mouse traps I have can’t keep up.

The way I have my chickens set up at the moment is they have a shed that they roost and lay in (its also where I keep their feed drums), adjoining the small shed is a fully enclosed yard with a wire netting over the top to keep foxes out.

Every second day I open the door to the shed and let the chickens out into a large fenced yard for the day, but the fenced yard doesn’t have a wire netting cover so i need to keep an eye on them.

I use PVC feeders for the chickens so there is no feed spilt on the ground but I still have mice, so what I plan on doing is making another chicken pen the same way and move my chickens to the new pen and put my cat in the recently vacated chicken enclosure for about a week so he can eat all the mice.

And by the way I need to make more chicken enclosures anyway because I just bought an egg incubator. The system I use at the moment can support up to 12 chickens but thanks to my new incubator I plan I having 200+!
But the idea will always be that I have more chicken enclosures than I have flocks so I can keep rotating the cat(s) and keep the mice population down.




I haven’t done it yet, first i wanted to know what you guys think.

 

[gmendoza]

I love my cats but I don’t let them outside because their are too many beneficial little critters that they like to hunt, but I need them to hunt the mice because the mouse traps I have can’t keep up.

The way I have my chickens set up at the moment is they have a shed that they roost and lay in (its also where I keep their feed drums), adjoining the small shed is a fully enclosed yard with a wire netting over the top to keep foxes out.

Every second day I open the door to the shed and let the chickens out into a large fenced yard for the day, but the fenced yard doesn’t have a wire netting cover so i need to keep an eye on them.

I use PVC feeders for the chickens so there is no feed spilt on the ground but I still have mice, so what I plan on doing is making another chicken pen the same way and move my chickens to the new pen and put my cat in the recently vacated chicken enclosure for about a week so he can eat all the mice.

And by the way I need to make more chicken enclosures anyway because I just bought an egg incubator. The system I use at the moment can support up to 12 chickens but thanks to my new incubator I plan I having 200+!
But the idea will always be that I have more chicken enclosures than I have flocks so I can keep rotating the cat(s) and keep the mice population down.




I haven’t done it yet, first i wanted to know what you guys think.

make a bucket mouse trap.

1. 5 gallon bucket
2. aluminum can
3. flat piece of wood
4. rope
5. peanut butter as bait

drill two holes into 5 gallon bucket at the top across from each other. poke a hole into bottom of empty aluminum can. thread rope thru can. tie off both ends of rope into both holes you made on 5 gallon bucket. place flat piece of wood diagonally on the 5 gallon bucket, one end touching bucket, one end touching ground. place a smidgeon of peanut butter directly in the middle of aluminum can. fill up 5 gallon bucket with water only 1/4 of the way.

when the mice come and try to get the bait, they will fall into the bucket and drown. you might accumulate many mice. mice disposal should be up to your chickens.they will eat the carcasses with no objections about it at all.

 

[4 the Birds]

Cats can catch a lot of mice but strategically placing poison bait is the best for rodent control (ensure that your birds, cats, or dogs can't get to it). We have a cat door on our patio and the cats love to catch mice and bring them in the house alive and play with them. Traps are good but bait will wipe out a population the best. Trapping is an never endless effort.

By the way.... We often find mice dead in water pools. The bait works such that rodents die of dehydration.

 

[gmendoza]

Cats can catch a lot of mice but strategically placing poison bait is the best for rodent control (ensure that your birds, cats, or dogs can't get to it). We have a cat door on our patio and the cats love to catch mice and bring them in the house alive and play with them. Traps are good but bait will wipe out a population the best. Trapping is an never endless effort.

By the way.... We often find mice dead in water pools. The bait works such that rodents die of dehydration.

But what if the mouse ate the bait, snuck into the chicken coop, got gobbled up by a chicken.

Chicken dies because of rat poison.

 

[jak2002003]

You need to find out why you have a lot of mice about the place.

If you can find out what they are eating, and stop them getting to it......their population will naturally go down.

 

[4 the Birds]

But what if the mouse ate the bait, snuck into the chicken coop, got gobbled up by a chicken.

Chicken dies because of rat poison.

Good point! More often than not, mice will only nibble a small portion or take a bit back to their den and share. That is where the bait has huge advantages. I personally have never seen a chicken down a mouse but I suppose it can happen. Bait is the way to go here on the farm with all the nooks and crannies of out buildings and farm equipment. Our dogs will roll on dead mice but instinctively will not eat a dead one. I suppose trapping would be safer if you are worried about a dead mouse poisoning your chicken.