NY chicken lover!!!!

[itsy]

Thank you for the advice!! I'll take photos to show the size of the holes. They are on the side of the house where we keep the garbage cans. I also have holes in the back yard that we noticed when we moved in, so we are closely monitoring how much food the chickens are eating so we don't overfeed and leave any out. We have seen chipmunks, and are constantly catching deer mice, but haven't seen any moles yet. Our neighbor says they are a problem as well.

If I get the poison, do I have to worry about the chickens eating the mice and getting sick? There's also a really awesome cat one house down who is over here frequently. He ALWAYS has a mouse in his mouth. I don't want to get him sick, and I don't want him to stop coming over this way.

I suppose this is what happens when you live in the middle of the woods.

I was thinking to get large snap traps and put them in cardboard boxes with a hole cut in the cardboard box. It would deter a cat, but a rat would go right in and get killed in the snaptrap. I figured I could put out several of those. I'm really PO'd that there are rats. The mice were one thing. The noises of them in the walls actually woke me up twice...... and that's when we adopted the kittens (even though we're both allergic.) The BF said they aren't the largest of rats, which is good to hear.... then again, I worked in the city and in downtown Brooklyn for some time, and the rats that we had in that building were literally dog sized.

It was a pain when they kept setting the motion alarms off and I'd get phone calls to let me know.....

 

[admhotel]

Quote:
No quads just our two girls, 3 and 2 years old.

We have had a rat problem off and on after we got the chickens. I have a bait trap that only the rats can get into. They do like to dig in the foundation and I had to fill a hole with concreate in this fall. Once the cold weather hits it can make the ones in the wild want to move into building for the winter. I have a bigger problem with wild birds getting into the chicken food. They come into the coop when I open the doors up.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
No quads just our two girls, 3 and 2 years old.

We have had a rat problem off and on after we got the chickens. I have a bait trap that only the rats can get into. They do like to dig in the foundation and I had to fill a hole with concreate in this fall. Once the cold weather hits it can make the ones in the wild want to move into building for the winter. I have a bigger problem with wild birds getting into the chicken food. They come into the coop when I open the doors up.

We live near a river and get rats regularly. I don't like them, but hate to kill them They like to tunnel in and out of the horse barn.......then to the chicken coop. AAUUGGHH!

 

[Cass]

Quote:
IF your chickens eat mice, yes, they will get sick eating a poisioned mouse. Don't use poision. There are some wonderful traps out there. I have some that you just squeeze like a clothes pin and it's set. Has poky things that hold the mouse in the trap, so it can't wiggle out, like sometimes happens with regular snap traps.

Yes, this is what happens when you live in the middle of the woods. BUT the good news they are feild rats, not sewer rats the size of dogs. Be sure your feed is in a rodent resistant container. I use large plastic snap on lid garbage cans and just drop the whole 50 pound bag inside the can, that way I don't have little bits in the bottom rotting and attracting insects in the summer.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

We used to have a serious mouse and vole problem but some old fashioned snap traps baited with peanut butter did the trick. I was tired of waking up to a party in my ceiling every night. My dh also rigged up a homemade trap. It is a 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of water in the bottom. Up top is a soda can with a dowel stuck through it and into the holes for the handles. He coated the can in peanut butter and put pieces of wood as a run up to it where the mice were getting in. They run up the wood, down the dowel and onto the can for the goodies. The can spins, into the water they go and and drown. No more parties and no more mice and voles,

 

[happyhensny]

Have any of you made or bought those feeders where the chicken stands on the lever and then it opens? Sealed up unless they are on it eating? Thought about trying to make one to see how it works. We have been lucky and I've only seen some mice turds in the barn so I set some traps. All of the feed is stored in metal trash cans or these huge stainless steel flour storage bins on huge casters. Got two of them at a restaurant liquidation. They each hold almost 200 lbs of layer pellets out of the bags. But, each pen has a bucket feeder = easy access to rodents I suppose.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Please post a pic of this set up. I've been thinking of doing this. In my old age it's a pain to set traps. I do use them but have a harder time doing it. The buckets I have.

I tried to follow back , did someone ask about Del eggs? Lord my mind is going.

Thanks,

Rancher

 

[itsy]

You guys are so much help! Thank you all for the suggestions.

When making the soda can, do you have to cut the top and bottom of the can out so the cylinder rolls easier? I did a google search and found some images, and some dude that makes them with a plastic soda bottle instead of a can.... I think I'll try this out too.

I'm willing to try anything at this point. I want all those suckers outta here!

 

[itsy]

My landlord went to tractor supply today and bought this have a hart trap......

It worked.

Now she wants to "relocate" the rat 2 miles away.

I'm going to buy large snap traps. At this rate.....it's not going to ir-rat-icate them anytime soon. I'm going to try the bucket trick too...perhaps in a large plastic trash can.

Edited to add: That's my canoe on the left. I should probably put it on some sawhorses or the like, just to get it up off the ground. It would be a nice house for a furry family, otherwise.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I have not had good luck with snap rat traps. I will get one in the beginning of the season, then the rest stay away. Rats are smart. Would love to see some pictures of the soda can trap. I also like the idea of water on the bottom. I don't want to kill the rats, nor do I want to unload them on someone else. I