Ughhhh…mice!

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

The other night, I went to go check on the hens and watched a mouse slip easily into 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Not super surprised because I know they can fit through TINY holes. I found a dead one in the yard the other day, and then a barely mobile one in our fully enclosed run that I’m amazed the hens didn’t eat. We put it out of its misery and safely disposed.

All that aside, I’m now getting so stressed about someone in the neighborhood baiting traps. We have dogs and obviously the hens that could eat one that’s been poisoned. We just moved here so I don’t know the neighbors well or even really know where the bait could be coming from. We have a long property but a number of people in close proximity.

What I’ve tried: I’ve been keeping the food up at night, might try to put a little cayenne in it as well. Probably laughable but I’ve lined the coop with fresh planted mint and cuttings of mint. I have a couple of non-poison traps with PB under the deck to hopefully deter.

Any other advice? I’m so nervous about one of our animals getting poisoned!

 

[GermanKennhuhn]

mice have a very strong sense of smell, i’ve heard peppermint oil, acv and dryer sheets help deter them.
good luck!

 

[Acre4Me]

First, you don’t know if they were poisoned. Generally a rodent dies very quickly (so not likely enough time to run from neighbor into your coop setup) or goes back to their home to die. All poisons are not the same. I’m no expert, but some are metabolized very quickly by the mouse snd will not poison your animals bc the poison is now in a different form /or broken down by mouse metabolism. A mouse eats very little, so any poison is a small amount in the mouse too.

Once I was walking by a flower bed next to my house. Movement caught my eye. It was a field mouse running in circles, out on the mulch (not hiding). Occasionally it would break the circle and run a half foot then circle again. I was intrigued, and googled it- apparently an ear infection can cause mice to do this. I’ll assume they may also die from this.

Chickens could have pecked or chased the mouse in the run, the mouse may have been exhausted.

So, you may be interested in figuring out why they are dying, but your flock getting poisoned by a poisoned mouse is less likely especially since you are not putting out poison, and would therefore be some distance from any poison source.


Use metal to store feed- we use metal garbage cans in the barn as it is dry and shaded. If needed, you can store filled feed containers in a can too. We put our feeders in the barn at night, on a counter, but we have enough cans that we could stack two filled feeders easily into one can if needed due to rodent presence. We do have a barn cat too- apparently the smell of a cat can help deter rodents.

 

[SilverBirds]

I hate them but I have had great success with bucket traps. Maybe you can try that?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Taking in feeders at night helps a little but the rodents just feed during the day.

So many of these rodent posts are so repetitive I like to post the following post from several years ago by Howard E. and my comments after his post:

Here is Howard E.'s past post:

"To the OP (and others like them), if you will spend the time, everything you need to know about rats and how to get ride of them will be found in the links below......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-101.1283827/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-proof-feeder-review.1180514/#post-18610285




This last one is a review of a rat proof chicken feeder built and sold by a BYC member, who is a staunch advocate for the plan of getting rid of rats by starving them out. Remove all sources of feed and they will be forced to move on or starve to death. If you are firmly against the use of poison bait blocks......for whatever reason.......then this is one of the best actions you can take. Bulk food in metal trash cans.....chicken feed in metal rat proof feeders. Can't get to the feed and birds do not spill and waste feed that the rats can survive on."

And the short version of Howard's post? Sanitation, exclusion, elimination.

Sanitation, bulk feed in metal cans or barrels with tight fitting lids, a treadle feeder, clean up the avenues of movement so the rodents have no cover to protect them from their natural predators. In my opinion and experience this is the quickest, surest, and cheapest way to solve a rodent problem.

Exclusion, plugging the holes and building a Fort Knox chicken coop and not leaving an opening for free range. Tough to do and expensive but it could work for rats.

Elimination, poison and traps. Problem is that rats are smart and will quickly learn to avoid both traps and poison bait. Were you to clean them out, the lack of sanitation would mean a new population of rodents would move right in. And there is risk and no end to the process, keeping fresh bait out. However, if you have done your sanitation using poison becomes effective as the rats are starving and will likely try the poison bait. Not needed though, they will leave in a few days as long as you are not feeding the rodents with a compost pile or other animal feed. Not all will leave, your area will have a natural carrying capacity for rodents, natural feed, but that natural ability to sustain rodents is quite small and the natural predators keep them in check and under cover as the rodents hustle to find this natural food.


Do a forum search on "rats chickens" and you will find most of the old wives tales exposed and read of long epic battles against the rodents. Sanitation, exclusion, or elimination all have associated costs but you are already paying for the feed and will recover the initial costs quickly with the first method.

Good luck and remember, it isn't just the stolen feed, disease and predators come with rodents.