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

[Aunt Angus]

Well, here's what I did to curb a pretty bad infestation:

• Locked up feeders in the coop at night
• Actually lock my cat in the run at night (we can't let our cats roam bc of coyotes, and he enjoys his "field trips")
• Rat traps (we use the kind that electrocute them, then leave the carcasses far away for the woodland critters - no poison!)
• Rat birth control bait (yes, it's a thing)
• Sealing up ratty holes

 

[springvalley123]

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

I saw a video of something like "dunk a rat" and "dunk a mouse". looked effective!

 

[HKG]

I have mouse traps and poison and I put food away at night.

 

[BDutch]

• I have neighbor cat’s. One even comes into the coop and run.
• I don’t use poison because that kills the predators of micr and rats too.
• In the evening there’are only crunbles left , in the morning there still are. My way to check is there are visitors in the night.

 

[BReeder!]

I use a multi trap, which is just a metal box with entries the can get into, but not out of.

My chickens will kill mice if they have the opportunity.

We feed once daily so most if not all fed is consumed before night fall.

The chicken feeder hangs high enough to keep rodents out.
Our duck feeder is on the ground but I'm working on figuring out a way to hang their feed too.

Feed is stored in metal garbage cans with fitted lids.

I'm considering planting mint around the coop and runs. It supposedly deters rodents.

While I don't like the idea of hawks around ducks and chickens, we have a healthy hawk population in our area. They love eating rodents.

 

[DixieCoFLgirl]

My feed is kept locked up and the coop of made with hardware cloth that is sealed into the concrete bottom. So I haven’t had any rodent issues at all. The coop has a wooden trim but no chew marks anywhere. I do have a cat and dogs, but they are inside at night.

 

[chickengr]

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.

View attachment 2781490

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.

View attachment 2781485

Sleep well tonight, your Air Force is awake.

cats here are lazy. they find food everywhere so they don't bother with rodents. they might catch 1 or 2 out of 100.

 

[LaurEliz]

Six, terrible, malicious cats does the job pretty well.
(And no, I don’t actually think my cats are terrible. They’re my lovely babies. Pretty terrible to rodents, and insects, and lizards, and birds though )

 

[Chookchicken]

We had a feral cat where we used to live. We didn’t have a rat or mice problem. But that cat managed to bring us a half eaten rat, and lots of dead birds.

 

[Pippin quail]

We have a 5 month old puppy who kills any rodents (and frogs and birds) she can catch. We also got 2 kittens from a friend's acreage that live in one side of my chicken coop (which is a huge metal shed) they are on the side with the feed, so if any mice happened to get in, I'm sure they'd take care of them.. As they grow I'm hoping they keep any rodents in the area of our chicken coop and house under control! They learned from their mama who was bringing her kittens live mice from a very young age.

Picture of my coop kitties and killer dog.. Just need to train my dog to not chase the chickens so they can free range without having to tie up the dog!