# Keeping mice/rats out of chicken feeders at night



## sheryl

Hello,

We have the usual winter problem with rats and mice.

We have baits set away from everything so only rats and mice can get to it, except there is other food available from the grain feeders at night.

Does anyone have any ideas to prvent the mice and rats geting in to the feeders, ours are the hanging type.
Besides taking the feeders down everynight and locking them in a sealed container I can't think of anything else to do.

Great site I look forward toi many chats with the chicken families

the Millers of Macgreor Canberra Act


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## Sundancers

We have a few cats that live in the feed room, plus one heck of a jack russell mix dog. She is tough on mice & rats ... plus a mole or two ... if you don't mind the holes. lol


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## rob

i bring the feed in every night and put it in a sealed container.


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## Sundancers

Do you keep the feeder full at all times? Maybe Think "food for the day" ... My hanging type feeder holds about 5 gallons but I only fill it about half because I now know that is about how much they will eat, within that day.

Take away the food and you take away the problem ... 

I check for eggs 2 or 3 times per day, so if I see they are getting low I can add a little more.

Just a thought ...


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## ziggiejones

I always gave them just enough for the day. I fed them in the morning and let them free range the rest of the day. I still noticed I had mice no matter what. It is a little more work but putting up the food is about the only way to keep them out of it. 
Good Luck


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## sheryl

*thanks for your replies*

Hello,

Thanks for your thoughts!
We have done the above.

But they might be eating the leftover bits on the ground.
We just have to be patient I guess!

Thanks
sheryl


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## TopTop

sheryl said:


> Hello,
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas to prvent the mice and rats geting in to the feeders, ours are the hanging type.


I placed a pic of my mother-in-law near the feeder, that worked pretty well. My wife replaced it with a pic of me, worked even better. A lovely woman, she is.

Actually I really hadn't noticed a mice problem. Wild birds are another story. Sometimes we just let the feeder go empty & hand feed several/day until the wild birds give up & move on. Usually only takes a day. My feed is stored in a stainless steel drum, btw. They can't chew through that & it won't rust, so there is no paint to contaminate the feed. If your feeder is hanging from a thin wire it should be safe from mice, unless they are getting above then just jumping down onto it. In that case you might try suspending a piece of plywood above the feeder. If the plywood is large enough the mice will land on the ground, not in the feeder when they jump.


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## JackAubrey

ziggiejones said:


> I always gave them just enough for the day. I fed them in the morning and let them free range the rest of the day. I still noticed I had mice no matter what. It is a little more work but putting up the food is about the only way to keep them out of it.
> Good Luck


That's what I do as well.I've also put a cat in the run. JA


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## machinist

*Concrete and Metal*

I fought the rodents most of my life and was tired of it. When we built our present hen house, I covered it with metal siding, inside and out. Then, I poured a concrete floor. There is a hen-size door with a ramp for the girls to go outside and that too, is covered with metal.

The windows are recycled from a mobile home and have metal frames and storm windows. I screened the windows and built a screen door with 1/2" hardware cloth. For winter, there is a steel covered house door to seal it all up, and a galvanized steel threshold I made, 6" tall. That keeps the litter inside and the mice outside.

I leave feed in the feeders all the time. No problem. I put an old stainless steel bowl upside down on the hanging feeder to keep the hens from setting up there and getting droppings in the feeder, so it stays clean.

I occassionally catch a mouse in the adjacent barn if they fall into a feed bucket. Chickens will catch and eat mice if they see them. I toss them into the henhouse in the daytime to watch the fun! It's better than football!


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## WVCHICKEN

Just dont give the mice poison, because chicken will eat mice..then the chickens will get sick and possibly die


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## rob

try a trap like this its burried in ground and baited, mouse gets in but cant get out and chickens cant get to them.


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## WVCHICKEN

Thats a cool trap RON, thanks for the info...


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## Jennibobs

My cats are very quick to oblige with any rodent problem. I do also take any feed in at night.


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## Energyvet

Yeah, that's my best suggestion. Good sealed storage containers, adopt a cat or two, hope for an obliging garden snake who doesn't like chicks. Trap seems very cool though.


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## sheryl

Thanks so much for all your comments!
I am not really a cat person we have cats that live next door to us and we have a fox trap to catch any stray/feral cats and foxes.
I really like the idea of the bottle trap I guess the mice die in there so it could get quite smelly and full.

Happy chooking!
sheryl miller


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## briannasellars

These are some pics of them


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## Apyl

1) We have a cat, 2) all feed it kept in a sealed container, 3) I only feed in the morning so no feed out all night.


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## cherrypie2181

We keep ours in one of those trash cans with a lid and it does keep them out! It's in our shed and we did have a mice problem but now any longer!!!


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## Algerhart

Old thread I know, but here is a solution for rats in the chicken coop. Works like a charm, pays for itself quickly if you have any rats. ratproofchickenfeeder.net


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## seminole wind

Algerhart said:


> Old thread I know, but here is a solution for rats in the chicken coop. Works like a charm, pays for itself quickly if you have any rats. ratproofchickenfeeder.net


I have one and it works but I had to use some washers to get the weights right.


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## Algerhart

The spring will have more effect on the closing pressure than the counterweight. Just carefully stretch it a small amount using two pairs of pliers and re try it. If you go too far put a small kink in the straight portion of the spring to effectively shorten it.


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## seminole wind

thankyou! Now you can tell us who you are, about your chickens , etc!


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## seminole wind

The best free way I know is to buy one of those 5 gallon home depot buckets. remove handle and drill a small hole in the bottom. put twine or rope thru hole and make a few knots to keep it there. if you can, place feeder on an 18" cement block. if your chickens are messy, make a 2x2 foot square, 3 1/2 inches tall and nail together. close in with plywood on one side and hardware cloth on the other. stand feeder on it. close with bucket them at night.

the whole and rope is something I use as a pulley so I can cover the feeders out the pens. 

to keep mice and rats to a minimum, you have to lock and clean up all the feed. adding a bait station works great with that.


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## Algerhart

Hi Karen,

I have five Rhode Island Reds including one rooster. Getting the chickens meant I was overrun with rats about a year later to the point they were killing feathered out chicks faster than I was hatching them out. Couldn't afford the Grandpa feeder which was over $200 at the time so I made some prototypes out of plywood and that evolved into this feeder.


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## Algerhart

That bucket system is very clever but usually the rats and mice will just start raiding the feed in daylight and the birds can still rake the feed out onto the ground. Plus going away for the weekend or for vacation means someone having to come by to feed the birds.

Like you said, going with closing the feed off at night and safeguarding the feed stores keeps rats to a minimum but a good treadle feeder will cause the mice and rats to go elsewhere.


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## seminole wind

Treadle feeders are great. My silkies were fast learners.
I did have a few rats that did start at 5pm, so I close up early. And then the bait stations work great because all other feed is gone.

I had a shed that was a holy mess, and full of rat $**** thanks to my neighbor's sloppy feed habits. I could see the rats running into the shed. I spent a few days cleaning out all the stuff that was not being used, stacked things, hung a lot, and used Rubbermaid tubs. I put a bait station in there and problem resolved. neighbor had no more chickens. I find no more poop.

before and after


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## chickenqueen

Rodent control is an ongoing job.I remove the feed from the coop in the spring time and the food source moves to the front yard.I haven't seen any rats/poop this year but it has been very mild winter and I have poison all over,inside and out.Every fall I start to see them in the house,too,and now do new poison every August.Saw 2 rats earlier in the fall and haven't seen any other rodents except dead ones.I've encouraged feral cats to hunt in my yard and(I'm a sucker!!!)started feeding a really sweet one during the cold snap.Now I've come to the conclusion it is a pregnant female and I'll probably have kittens soon,it has moved into my grow-out pen.I'm going to trade dog houses out there and put the smaller more insulated one out there w/ new bedding.All in the name of rodent control...I don't really do cats but they are useful.


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## seminole wind

it's definitely ongoing. Algerhart how long have you had chickens?

CQ, I don't do cats. For 19 years I had a horse or horses and never had a rat. I guess it just was not a rat area. I did have mice. they liked the house. so that was maintenance problem.


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## Valentine

sheryl said:


> Thanks so much for all your comments!
> I am not really a cat person we have cats that live next door to us and we have a fox trap to catch any stray/feral cats and foxes.
> I really like the idea of the bottle trap I guess the mice die in there so it could get quite smelly and full.
> 
> Happy chooking!
> sheryl miller


I bought a grandpa feeder, its steel and is covered no rats or mice can get in. I'm from Sydney Australia and they make these in New Zealand about $85 AUD. "Grandpafeeder" check it out online they deliver worldwide. You may have similar ones in the U.S.


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## seminole wind

Valentine said:


> I bought a grandpa feeder, its steel and is covered no rats or mice can get in. I'm from Sydney Australia and they make these in New Zealand about $85 AUD. "Grandpafeeder" check it out online they deliver worldwide. You may have similar ones in the U.S.


I will check it out


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## Algerhart

seminolewind said:


> it's definitely ongoing. Algerhart how long have you had chickens?
> 
> CQ, I don't do cats. For 19 years I had a horse or horses and never had a rat. I guess it just was not a rat area. I did have mice. they liked the house. so that was maintenance problem.


Since 2009 this time around but I was raised a farm boy so really since I was about six years old. Off and on, move into the city and not have any for a while, move back out to a property and pick right back up again where I left off. Of course now city birds are a bit easier to have in a lot of towns.


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## seminole wind

That movement was a good thing. It sort of gave a chicken a worthy life, and is changing how chickens are treated.


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## Algerhart

That is so true, more humane for the birds, and it creates a little more freedom in this world as people are less dependent on the big corporations. Thomas Jefferson would love this movement taking root as his view of America was the independent artisan and small farmer.


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## Valentine

seminolewind said:


> The best free way I know is to buy one of those 5 gallon home depot buckets. remove handle and drill a small hole in the bottom. put twine or rope thru hole and make a few knots to keep it there. if you can, place feeder on an 18" cement block. if your chickens are messy, make a 2x2 foot square, 3 1/2 inches tall and nail together. close in with plywood on one side and hardware cloth on the other. stand feeder on it. close with bucket them at night.
> 
> the whole and rope is something I use as a pulley so I can cover the feeders out the pens.
> 
> to keep mice and rats to a minimum, you have to lock and clean up all the feed. adding a bait station works great with that.


Your coop is spotless. I love this idea.


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