storing grain

[picklespickles]

is this right area?

though the cat is a very good mouser, things are starting to heat up this time a year with the mouse olympics. the chewing perfect circles event seems to be a favorite.

it seems like large plastic tubs from the monolithic discount store are a lot more reasonably priced than anything else.

what do you use?

 

[speckledhen]

I use those big metal trash cans. Nothing can chew through those.

 

[picklespickles]

about what do you pay for those? i'm trying to think of what i can get a bunch of.

THANKS!!!!!

 

[picklespickles]

this sounds like a joke but it's true.

i had a fifty pound bag of whole wheat flour. with me, mice tend to be more tempted by whole grains than by like white flour. i guess ther's more fat and nutrients?

anyway.

since i had nothing mouse proof to store it in, i put it next to the cat bed outside and covered it with a blanket to make a warm spot for the cat and also to make sure it was the cats territory, too.

had some other ww flour broken into, but not that.

at least the cat earns her keep. and she was a stray, at that, that came living under the porch when i got the house.

so, uh, maybe i just need fiftymillion cats. okay. probably not.

 

[speckledhen]

pickles, those are about $15 at Home Depot/Lowe's/ACE/Walmart and come in various sizes. I have two on my deck with scratch and layer pellets.

 

[picklespickles]

that's not too bad.

when i had looked a few years ago, well, probably almost ten, they were thrity bucks. maybe it went through a period where htey were out of style, or something. i was horrified and never looked again.

but fifteen is definitely reasonable for the help they will provide. thanks.

 

[speckledhen]

I had some feed in a plastic trashcan and mice or squirrels chewed through the molded handle. I taped it up with duct tape, then rubbed it with a fresh garlic clove and sprinkled it with hot red pepper. Never had anymore problems after that, even though I need to refresh it from time to time. Gotta remember to open it by placing my hands around the lid rather than the handle, though, LOL.

 

[picklespickles]

i was remembering just now that mice hate peppermint. i used to use leaves from the garden at one place i live. i acutally have peppremint extract right now. maybe i could sprinkle some on the packages for the next week or so til i have the money to go get these things.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I spent $15.00 a piece for 3 20 gallon metal trash cnas last week. I have startngrow in one, scratch in another and layena in the third -- mouse proof! Course my coop is not! And that baby mouse I saw last night came through the chicken wire to eat the scratch and feed on the ground, haven't seen it today thank goodness! I like your cat story --he's earning his keep and might get a treat in the meantime!!

 

[silkiechicken]

Just 20 bucks! Our plastic ones up here cost that much. I probably looked in the wrong place. I keep my feed in the house. If you keep it on the porch, how do you tackle the humidity? I had feed in a cup I left on the top of the coop once under the cover, and I found it a week later green as grass. Guss humidity that week was 90-100 though.