The Poultry Keeper

Sparklepeeps · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1950 Location: Cheshire

Heck, the inevitable has happened. The cheeky little bugger just walked past me as well! Cyril the kitten is about as much use as soggy paper bag it has suddenly come to light! (my last cat was a superb mouser...and spiderer, but that's another story).

I have just invested in some reusable plastic mouse traps, Ill buy a drain pipe and cut reasonable lengths to house the traps in, to save pedigree paws from testing the traps out.

There were a lot of droppings in my feed and bedding shed, but all the feed is in a galvanized bin, so I dont think they can get to it Confused

, perhaps they are after the nice dry bedding for their nests Question

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The chickens are messy and VERY VERY wasteful eaters, so I have moved their feeder inside the chicken house now instead of on the floor, but I suspect the mice were feasting on what the girls were chucking out of their pram.

What I would like to know is if anyone can remember a thread about how to trick the mice into drowning themselves in a bucket of water.. it was a guy with a rat or mouse problem and he kept his chickens on an allotment...does anyone remember it because I cant find it?

My neighbours are gonna have a fit if they get wind of this! Sad

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1360 Location: Leicestershire

Use something like peanut butter in the traps, or margarine, butter or chocolate. Failing that use poison in your drainpipes (- very effective). They maybe getting into your galvanised bin depending on how well the lids fit! cos mice can squeeze themselves into incredibly tiny places, but also they may have just confined themselves to scavenging what has been scattered around.

Itsybitsy

mcleod-girls · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 8:56 am Post subject:

I had a frined who had a mouse squeeze into her fridge whilst she was on holiday Shocked

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2133 Location: North Cornwall

Sparklepeeps · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1950 Location: Cheshire

Thanks for that tip Jan (dont know where I got the man and the allotment thing from!!!). I havent tried it yet, Im giving the traps a go first.

Well, I bought this product to do the nasty deed... and its fantastic!

I caught two the first time I used them... and a slug in another one!!! Used a raisin as bait. If anyone was thinking of using a trap I would seriously recommend them, I didnt know what to expect but to my surprise there was no blood, no mess and I didnt even need to touch the mouse at all to get rid and re-set the trap. Its a shame they do so much damage and breed like buggery because they looked so pretty Crying or Very sad

. There were no droppings in the chick feed bag like there normally is so I might just have caught all the current culprits, having said that, I have set twice as many traps tonight, just in case!

Lisa · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject:

We've gone over to plastic traps too... after having to deal with an injured live mouse in the other style of traps (the wood and wire ones) 2 mornings running Sad

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2133 Location: North Cornwall

Sparklepeeps · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1950 Location: Cheshire

Lisa · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject:

The plastic ones we got have always done a clean kill - so hopefully you won't have any problems with them either.

The other type that didn't work? Erm... well people say dislocation is the kindest for chooks, so we tried to do the same with mr mousey with what we had in the garden ie something hard over the neck Confused