Mice!

[digitS']

The neighbor's tomcat is aaalllwaays in the yard!

Before I can get out there in the dark of a Winter morning to shovel snow, he has already been there! He travels out from under the pickup; trips off to get under the deck; exits out from under the back steps; makes his way down the path to the chicken coop; circles that and wanders into the carport past the pile of garden stakes. I have not followed him from there - don't want to disturb his morning nap behind the stack of coolers .

If that cat does more than leave tracks & pee on things - I've yet to notice. I'd trust the females to be more useful but they don't seem to travel quite as far & now that the neighbor over the fence sent her calico off to live with her ex-husband, all I get is 1 tomcat or another, depending on the roads . . .

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Knock on wood, I've not seen any signs of mice in the coop. I know they were in the garden shed, but I brought all the feed and seed into the coop and put it in containers. Easier to to the feeding and more secure. Since then I've not noticed any vermin - other than a mosquito flying around the coop last Friday. Imagine flying insects in the dead of winter in Wisconsin. Of course it was 49 degrees (F) that day.

When I built the coop I added 1/4 inch fencing under the floor and up the walls. Hopefully that will keep them out. I've heard that Buckeyes make better mousers than cats, but haven't seen mine go after anything larger than a cricket. . . yet.

Living in the country we always found a field mouse or two seeking a warm winter home in our house. Once DH added the deck, the number of mice went down drastically. It's not that I hate sharing, but I don't like mice!

With the cost of feed, I understand your reluctance to share as well.

Love, Smart Red

 

[curly_kate]

Our mice are all in the house. Drives me crazy! We just recently decided to keep the stray that was hanging around here, so we'll see if she does the job.

 

[Carol Dee]

I had the most beautiful Himalayan cat. A mouser he was NOT! I once picked him up and dropped him ON a mouse, he looks at me like *What did you do that for?* The next three cats where short hair and long hair domestic barn cats. Lived on mice until I brought them home. Hmmmm must have feed them too well. They never did catch any.

 

[secuono]

The best common Meow-cers are half Maine Coon Cat and half Abyssinian or approximations thereof, but don't tell that to any cat that is a mouser! They'll prove otherwise. But if it's a british shorthair, he'll just say, oh yea? I'll watch how ya do that. After, he'll say, I better watch that again. After that, the british shorthair will say, you do that best while i watch. Keep catching those mice. I'll keep watching you do that!

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/9018_100_3732.jpg

British shorthairs make better watchcats!

Aww, he looks a little, um...derpderp in that pic! Haha.
My cat hunts, but she rather wander all over than hunt where I need her to...
I use black reusable mouse traps. I also make sure all food is eaten and stored food is kept closed.

 

[Just-Moxie]

We get mice inside after it rains. Then I spend a week or two catching them and feeding their little dead mouse bodies to the chickens. Who promptly play chicken football with them.

I have noticed that I have mice in the coop now. We are keeping the feed bags in a childs wading pool, as it had been keeping them out pretty good. Then DH had stacked some wood by the pool, and the mice got in. So, back to trapping the little buggers.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have never had mice here, but the new neighbors this fall said the house has mice and they moved in with 2 dogs and 3 cats, now I have mice. Either they moved out when the cats moved in over there or I am attracting them here with food from the rabbits or the compost bins, or all 3 are causing a problem. I noticed the neighbor cat sitting in the compost bin in the alley and then my cat hanging out there. The bin is too big and did not compost down. I saw my cat with a dead mouse after sitting on top of that bin. I have not seen him out there for a month or so and went out to see what it looks like. There is snow on top and no mouse tracks or droppings anywhere around, so I told my husband the cat must have wiped out the mouse problem. He is an inside/outside cat and he went out and later my son saw him outside with a mouse. I am going to have to make sure next year we do a better job with the rabbits and dropping food and do a better job with the compost bins. Here is the mouse catcher. His name is Mister. He has always been a bird killer because we did not have mice. He runs everything off. No cat is allowed near our yard, but he did allow RABBITS to get in the yard.

 

[digitS']

He is a very pretty cat, Gardening'. But, he looks like nuthin' gets past him . . . including his kitty food !

I am really not happy that so many people leave dog food outdoors. Starlings will get in it and every 4-legged vermin that prowl overnight!

Yes, I have seen a mouse in broad daylight in my compost pile . . . eating a piece of carrot. I put not one thing that is cooked in the compost, except coffee & tea, if they count. Also, there is NO meat. My theory, since my compost is so often on other people's property, it should NOT attract dogs with old bread, leftovers & such. It doesn't! Dogs never dig in my compost piles. Mice can probably make meals out of it but I doubt if they are very interested in frozen carrot peels during the Winter. Still, one never knows.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

He is a very pretty cat, Gardening'. But, he looks like nuthin' gets past him . . . including his kitty food !

I am really not happy that so many people leave dog food outdoors. Starlings will get in it and every 4-legged vermin that prowl overnight!

Yes, I have seen a mouse in broad daylight in my compost pile . . . eating a piece of carrot. I put not one thing that is cooked in the compost, except coffee & tea, if they count. Also, there is NO meat. My theory, since my compost is so often on other people's property, it should NOT attract dogs with old bread, leftovers & such. It doesn't! Dogs never dig in my compost piles. Mice can probably make meals out of it but I doubt if they are very interested in frozen carrot peels during the Winter. Still, one never knows.

Steve

He never misses his kitty food. lol I do not put anything in that has been cooked. Coffee grounds and tea bags, but I read they will get in the bin if it is not kept wet. I don't know. It has some old apples and tomatoes, but they should be pretty mushy by now. I worried they got in the shed because the bin is next to the shed and I had a sack of Calf Manna in there that I was not going to use for the rabbits and put it on the compost bin. I went out to get the sack and checked to see if it was chewed on and no signs of mice in the shed so far.

 

[ducks4you]

I keep 5 cats for just this reason. I'm surprised that your chickens aren't mousing. Mine fight over any baby mice that are stupid enough to get within reach. They're omnivores, you know.
Try peanut butter in the traps. It's non toxic and the mice love it. Warfin in rat poisin could find it's way into your other critters. Somebody I know killed all of their peacocks that way.