What Do You Do?

[lalaland]

nah, you don't have to throw out the wood chips, you aren't eating them! Everyday life has lots of germs and bacteria - so don't panic!

I see you have little kids from your pic - there are studies that show that kids who are exposed to "normal" dirt have better immune systems than kids who grow up in households where they use lots of bleach, antibacterial soaps, etc- kids with astham are more likely to have had the "clean" environment as well. just thinking that if you were worried about mice in your wood chips, you might also be worried about a little dirt/germs in normal life.....if I am way off track, sorry!

 

[annie3001]

your not off track at all!! i am a crazy neat freak germofibia!! (dont know the correct spelling)
i am crazy about the mess of the chicken coop. i tell ya! the girls(Hens) should be pooping in one certain spot (andtheydont)
i wish i could train them like ive trained my house rabbit to use a litterboX!! (ahh)

but of course the chickens enjoy me steping onto their poop and then cleaning their home!!
they tell me so.
now come summertime its crazy so far,, my lil kids want to sometimes walk around bare foot!

which i cant allow because the girls (HENS) seem to pooop everywhere while out free ranging in the yard.
anyways! i did go to home depot i picked up 3 heavy made (bit pricey but thats okay

) and anyways i filled up all 3 .
the first one i put the wood chips(yeah i bought another big bag it was only 5.99) then i put the hay in the next one and the chickens feed in the last one...
i am happy !! now just to figure out where to put them!

thanks for everyones feedback! hope this all made sense

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
Me too-makes a great feed bin.

 

[Akane]

Up until recent years our wood chips didn't even come in bags. We got a grain wagon full and dumped them out of there. Frequently there were dead bugs that either were in the tree as it got cut or swept up with the shavings. One year rats moved in. That was annoying. They are highly destructive. Mice are just normal. We try to keep them out of the feed but there is always mice in the coop and stable. They are part of having a farm. The chickens will make off with any that appear during the day but at night it's a free for all. Even if you keep your shavings away from mice while storing them as soon as you spread them in the coop they'll have mice running over them. Your eggs probably have the occasional mouse run over them while in the nest boxes. Mice love straw.

That's what attracted our rats in the first place. Now since we have fewer large livestock we get a couple pallets of bagged shavings and pine pellets every year. We stack them in the corner. By the time we get to the last bag it's been chewed open by mice. We sweep up what's spilled and dump it in the stall. Rodents really don't carry all those diseases you hear about anywhere near as frequently as you think. I'd be shocked to find a sick mouse or rat on my property. If they do get sick they get eaten quickly. Disease only spreads when there is an overabundance of critters for some reason or humans practice poor hygiene and then the rodents actually get the illnesses from humans and spread them back to humans.

Letting kids run around barefoot and occasionally step in chicken poop is good for them.

There is a well studied medical case of a child kept in a perfectly clean home, not allowed to get dirty outside, rarely played with other kids, etc... Then started kindergarten. She died a few months later because she had no immune system and caught every single illness around. Allergies and asthma are also increased because they are caused by the body over responding to normal irritants. Being exposed to these things builds up antibodies to kill germs and increases the tolerance of the immune system so it doesn't over react. In my opinion antibacterial soap = bad. Always being clean = bad. Kids should go get dirty sometimes. Make mud slides using a hose on the side of a hill (we got so yelled at for killing the grass). Hike through the creek, usually barefoot, with who knows what in it and end up with a load of laundry that smells like pond water (we learned to avoid being yelled at by doing our own laundry after such excursions). My sister and I don't really get sick with anything. Years go by between colds and flus and bacterial infections are unheard of in my family.

 

[OpheliaChick]

I wish I saw this thread a little earlier...

you can get used 55 gallon drums for about $3.00 at a scrapyard (at least you can here in CT).
Also, if you don't like mice you can always get a cat... I have three and the only mice I ever see are dead ones!

 

[SandraChick]

My feed is in an old plastic kitchen garbage can...inside a metal garbage can with metal lid...why the double layer? My can will "sweat" --especially in winter....the plastic can keeps the moisture out of the feed....the metal keeps the rodents out. The kitchen can keeps 1.25 bags of feed.....

I keep the bird feed (corn/sunflower) in the car port where the temps don't cause the sweating...so the seed goes directly into the metal cans.



To keep control of rats and mice (besides the cats)....RAT ZAPPER....~$50...worth EVERY PENNY.

I keep two in our 30X40 Shop.....They're on 24/7... We got rid of the initial POPULATION...and then when a new one wants to set up shop...he gets zapped right away..... I even had one in the coop for a couple of weeks, as we had mice getting in there.

GOOD LUCK!
Sandra

 

[aalbury]

Feed mice to chickens....they love them. Metal cans for feed.

 

[aushepherd]

The mice will take a while to get through the plastic, but a squirrel will get through in a few hours, followed by the mice. Chest freezers are a good idea, but if you don't have the room for all that storage, metal cans work great, too. TSC has the cheap cans. They rust very quickly, even when inside a building. You may have to go online. Or you can do what the big eggs producers do. Put cyanide out for the mice. No chance of that getting into your eggs, huh?

 

[FarmerChick]

we buy loose pellets by the ton.
55 gallon metal barrels is our storage.


get metal. plastic is chewable. I know

tight lid

 

[spartacus_63]

I'm with aalbury. My girls love mice...especially the babies.