Rats/Mice problem

[Okaythen]

My girls have a light in their coop because of daylight savings and every night I go outside to turn it off. Today I went out and saw 3 rats/mice running along a gutter pipe that connects to my roof and fence, and maybe 1 more hidden behind tools next to my shed. I use traps but can barley use them as I let my girls free range everyday and they always get into the smallest of places. Is there a natural repellent that won’t harm my girls but will also be very effective? (I guess I have no choice but to postpone free ranging and set up the traps if I want this to end!)

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

They are obviously coming there because there's food. You can try figure out where they are getting in and use 1/2" hardware cloth to patch any cracks or holes.

Where we live surrounded by fields and forests, we deter them rather than kill as we'd be killing until we're blue in the face. It's only mice here though. We've got two cats that sure help!

Here's an excellent thread on how to get rid of rats.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

We also used to use the Fresh Cab botanical pouches in the loft and other areas where chickens couldn't get at them. Those work but get expensive, so I learned how to DIY and wrote an article on how to make them. We use those in the motor area of our vehicles in the winter too.

 

[kattabelly]

It's totally possible to use snap traps in areas you have adult chickens in - you just need the traps to be covered in a way that means the chickens can't get to them, and to secure the traps to prevent a rat managing to move one without setting it off. Screwing the trap to a heavy board and then either building a wooden box tunnel over that (long enough that chickens can't poke their heads in deep enough to reach the trap), or setting something like a wire shopping basket over it and weighting it down, are both easy ways to do that.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Mice are easier to deal with than rats but mice attract rats so deal with them ASAP. Mice chew wiring on cars and houses too, any sort of electrical wiring with plastic insulation is at risks.

What attracts them is one of four things, food, water, nesting material that can be shredded for their nest, and safety/peace and quiet.

If you have one of those four attractants there is nothing that has an odor or some sort of chemical is going to deter the mice. If there is a space with nothing the rodents, want, smelly stuff might encourage them to leave.

Traps rarely work long term, they catch the younger and dumber ones, the older breeding age rodents know better than to try something new. Sometimes people bait the traps without setting the traps and get the rodents accustomed to the trap but again, only the young and dumb ones fall for it.

IF it is the feed, you have to stop feeding the mice. Do so and they leave to find other food. Rodents rarely travel more than 100 feet, travel is quite dangerous due to natural predators, they like to live close to their needs. Bulk feed in metal drums with tight lids, clean up any paths they might use to travel in safety, expose them so the natural predators get some of them, and buy a treadle feeder. Watch the negative reviews closely, most treadle feeder are not completely rodent proof. Even the best ones cannot stop a rodent if it enters while the hens are eating but that is usually rats, not mice.

For a feeder to be rodent proof it needs a few things. Narrow and distant treadle, not a wide step close to the feed, prevents swarming.

An inward swinging lid that is held closed with adjustable springs, this prevents the mice and rats from just pushing the door open. You can have ten pounds of force needed on a door axle and due to leverage that translates to only one or one and a half pound at the door or lid. The guillotine style, like the Chinese made Grandpa feeder or the many Chinese clones, those are balanced so light for safety that even mice can push a lid up and get inside. You have to have those heavy springs holding that door closed tight. An inward door also turns the feeder into one heck of a rodent trap, once in, they can't push their way out. Great for squirrels if you live near a forest with tons of squirrels.

Last requirement, no plastic. Easily chewed through.

Stay off Amazon, all you will find there are the Chinese made items with huge markups so they can pay the 35% cost of selling/shipping subsidies. And enough mark up that the returns costs can be absorbed. That doesn't mean you will pay more, there are feeders online at almost half the cost of the Chinese made ones on Amazon if you search. You do need mostly full sized hens and never use a treadle feeder of any kind around chicks. Gotta be a pound or two minimum just to survive around a treadle feeder!

 

[RubelliteRose]

We had mice in our run for a while. To get rid of them, we had to figure out how to keep the chickens from spilling food all over the ground when eating. Our solution was to place their feeders in rubber feed pans to catch the spillage and remove everything from the run every night. We also set out snap traps baited with peanut butter each night after the chickens went into the coop and removed the traps every morning before the chickens came out into the run. We still remove the food every night, but only had to set traps for a few weeks before all the mice were either caught or moved elsewhere. We periodically set up trail cams in the run at night to make sure they have not returned.