What a Horrible coop owner... So GROSSED out...

[HobbyChickener]

My chickens make good mousers and it is quite amusing to watch. Once or twice a year I will drag the garden hose to the coop and shove it in a mouse hole (they have caught on to what is going to happen as the birds start running around). I turn it on full and then just wait. Usually with in 2-3 min all the underground is filled and the little buggers start running. The birds will run around like mad chasing and catching them and pecking them. They generally will keep chasing other and dont pay to much attention to the ones they have killed so I pick them up and put them in a bucket and later dump it in the burn pile after I am sure they are done. I dont let them eat them but they get some good exercise chasing them.

 

[mistyfeather]

Quote:
we cant do that here

my town has a leash law FOR CATS !!!!!!! the dumbest thing ive ever heard of. i didnt even know about it untill this year when my neighbor complained about my cat being out the animal controll left a not on my door saying to keep him on a leash! i got him to bee an out door mouser, and he's fixed and microchiped aswell . how the hell can a cat catch a mouse while on a leash?

 

[MakNat]

Ok. My bucket trap worked for 5 mice. I don't want anymore cats, I have 3. I cleaned all the hay out, which I need for insulation. It is still cold here and will be a while... There are still mice. Are they going to make my chickens sick? I might try stuffing a little poison in the holes I see and watch for dead mice like a hawk.. Really I'm at my wits end...

 

[vtfarma]

I have put poison under the buildings where the mice and rats are that the chickens can't get to. I am not happy at the prospect but I have apparently started to get really smart mice. They avoid all of my offerings and frankly I have had enough. THey were scurrying about with my bearded bantam silkies. That was the end of the rope. They are in a separate small building and I think I may move the birds to the house for a week or two and put the poison in there and leave it closed off to the rest of the birds. THe mice and rats keep chewing through everything to get in there. It is so gross. This means war. My dogs have been after the things with no luck for the past week. Now with this last huge storm we are in the critters are moving in tighter with them,
Laurie

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Quote:
#1 Drill 2 holes approx 1/8 in at the top of a 5 gal bucket across from each other
#2 Get a soda or beer can and drill the same size hole in each end. Approx 1/8 in hole.
#3 String a wire through one hole in the bucket next through the can and out the other side of the bucket. Bend the wire at the ends.At the bucket making it so the can spins around the center of the bucket.
#4 Add a little peanut butter on the can.
#5 Fill the bucket 1/2 way with water or NON TOXIC! antifreeze. I use non toxic antifreeze in case a dog or cat gets into it.
It might be a little cruel but it works like a charm.
Then again I can't think of a killing trap that isn't a little cruel. Good luck. Oh ya when the bucket is full, And it will be. Just empty and reuse.

I tried the floating sunflower seed bucket trap & didn't catch 1 mouse. I'll try the spinning can trick. Thanks

I've now had the spinning can bucket baited with peanutbutter in the barn 4 days now, NO MICE!!! I think it's camo & 12 ga. time!

 

[ducks4you]

PLEASE don't use poison around your animals. My kiddie-corner neighbor inadvertantly killed 2 of my cats this winter because the neighbors next to THEM, and across the street from us, were throwing their weekly waste in a dumpster, that they kept for 6 months in the driveway.

They were allergic to cats, so they put out poisoned bait. Now, I have to keep my kitties' bodies in cold storage until I can give them a proper burial in our pet cemetary. They were really GREAT cats, too, good mousers, very affectionate!!! Tomkins loved us so much that he crawled under the basement stairs and died there, rather than wander off.

Artemus, aka "Mr. Kitty", RIP, November, 2009
Tomkins, RIP, February, 2010

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

I only saw a mouse once--not in my coop it was the tiniest mammal I have ever seen I was more fascinated then grossed out (mother and sister where thoroughly grossed out).
rats are really gross we had a problem once and my father used a glue trap and a regular trap to catch it, it was about 8 inches long.

ETA: we tried the bucket thing and it didn't work.

 

[vtfarma]

oh, we have cats and dogs and have had to do this before. Thats why the secure building. Our dogs can't go to where the barn that has the poison is unless their collars are off and the cats won't get let out during that time but they don't go to the barn - they mouse in the wood pile. Sorry the neighbors were jerks and you lost your babies. How awful.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

You mentioned an area in your coop that your chickens can't currently get to. Put conventional traps there. Ordinary every day snap traps. Mice are clever, keep changing your tactics. In a couple weeks you can go back to the old bucket trap and it will work again. Fresh bait every night and bait they have not had before is key too. You did well getting so many doing the same thing, now mix it up.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
I'm sorry to hear you lost your kitties, but unless you are committed on keeping them on your own property, thats the risk you take. It could be poison, a car accident, or lead poisioning by a frustrated neighbor.