Official BYC Poll: How Do You Keep Rodents Away From Your Coop?

[BYC Project Manager]

Rodents aren't good to have around your chickens as they carry diseases and can really wreck your coop and your chicken's food and water. Given the opportunity, rodents can wreak havoc on a poultry farm especially when they target the small, vulnerable chicks. They also love stealing chicken eggs and if you find an empty eggshell with a smallish hole on the side, chances are it was a rodent's handiwork. It's best to do your best efforts and your coop and run rodent-free.

So we want to find out: How Do You Keep Rodents Away From Your Coop?

Please place your vote above, and elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

Further Reading:

• Keeping your Coop Mite and Rodents Free
• How To Protect Your Chickens From Mice
• How To Protect Your Chickens From Rats

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

 

[BesideStillWaters]

There is a feral cat population nearby who like to take care of this problem for me.

I have had an egg like that before, but I saw wild birds in the house and thought they did it. (Since fixed it so that can't happen.) I didn't realize it may be mice. I have a cat in an enclosed run (similarly built like the chicken's yard), and it's connected to the chicken yard. I may make a door in the wire between the two so I can open it and let him go into the chicken run at night and surprise any rodents the feral cats may have missed. Ode will kill and eat about anything.

 

[Chookchicken]

I don’t keep my chickens feed out in the open, and I also make sure to clean up my chickens food scraps.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I have rat traps, I seal cracks and holes, and I have rat proof feeders.

 

[cmom]

I use bait stations with poison. I put the bait stations in pet carriers so no other critters can get to the bait. I have not found any dead rats or mice laying around. I suspect they go into their tunnels and die.

 

[chickengr]

I am surrounded by fields and my coop is at the corner of my plot. whatever I do I have rats and mice. they don't come for food but they found a perfect place to make nests. the previous owner built a concrete shed (my coop) on top of dirt so rats and mice scratch a bit and go under the floor to make a nest. I leave a dog in chicken's run at night but they still can come from the neighboring plot. unfortunately poison is the only thing that helps. I picked 6 dead rats and another one showed up 2 days ago.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Not much helps. We can’t even keep them out of the house here. Even keeping the food outside and locking it into the shed at night they still use the coop for shelter. It’s farm country around here so every time someone mows or plows a field we end up with them in the house and the coop. We also don’t want to risk poisoning any of our animals or the wild animals so we no longer put out poison.
Edit: forgot to say that my chickens are also voracious mouse hunters. I regularly find... remains

 

[papajoesfarm]

Your best bet for long term rodent control is cats. The old timers I learned from always had a "cat crew" around, and I'm no different. There are three "outside cats", and one inside cat that keeps our home free of any small criterrs, be it mice, roaches, or frogs. With so many cats being abandoned, you can often adopt strays or ferals from shelters for nothing. All they need is a shelter, some water, and a little dry food in case they cannot catch anything. Just be sure to spay or neuter them first, if needed. They won't bother your adult chickens, but keep the chicks and teenagers secure.

A member of the Ground Crew, always alert. "Freddie" has bagged over a dozen rodents in less than a year since enlisting.

I also have an Air Force after a pair of Barred Owls moved in several years ago after the South Woods were thinned out. Now we hae several owls, and the rodent population went down to nothing. What the ground force doesn't get, the feathered flyers do. They hang around the fish pond, which I have covered with wildlife netting to discourage them having a "Seafood Special" instead of rodents.

Sleep well tonight, your Air Force is awake.

 

[K0k0shka]

Please don’t use poison. It goes up the food chain and kills a lot more than the rodent.

 

[Show Sebright]

We have a trap they when a mouse walks over a bucket it falls in and drowns. And the sheep will kick them.