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miss_thenorth
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Reged: 10/17/07
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Loc: SW Ontario, Canada
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rats/mice in the barn
12/07/07 10:55 AM
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I'm sure evryone has this problem, but is it safe to use poison? I've heard that chickens can eat mice--what if they eat a mouse that has previously consumed poison?
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lynxpilot
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Reged: 10/14/04
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Loc: Ava, MO
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Just my own philosophy (fetish maybe), don't use poison. If nothing else, get a cat or two from the local animal shelter, have them spayed or neutered, and give them a few treats once in a while to keep them around. You don't have to let them in your house. They work wonders on rodents. In my case, I keep the snakes (and our cat). If I see snakes along the road, I'll often bring them home and cut them loose in the barn. That's just me though
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Bird
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Loc: Corinth, TX, USA
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The old fashioned Victor traps, baited with a small piece of raw bacon tied on with thread, will take care of a rat or mouse problem fast than anything I've ever found.
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JazzDad
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: Bird]
12/20/07 08:07 AM
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No creature should have to die by the method of rat/mouse poison.
I like the idea Bird gave by attaching the bait to the trap. The mice at our place are attracted by the peanut butter we use on our traps. They lick them clean most nights! 
Not funny is the $100 bill from the car dealership to remove the deceased rodent from our auto's heater box.
All kids are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others.-Michael Carr
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miss_thenorth
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Loc: SW Ontario, Canada
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: JazzDad]
12/20/07 08:47 AM
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Thanks guys! We have two barn cats, while they are very active and good at their job-- we still had our rat problemin the barn. We tried the victor traps--both the mouse traps and rat traps. All that did was feed them more than what they were stealing from the horses, and chickens.--chicken and horse feed, and eggs. We even tried a live trap--no go...so we did poison. Not my first choice--obviously--and not my dh's choice either. But we decided to get one of those tomcat traps where you put the bait in, and we only had to put it out once.
Rodent problem is now taken care of.
Even when we lived in the city, we had mice in the house and dealt with mice with just victor traps, and we had the problem for the whole four years we lived there. then when we moved out here, we had the mice rat problem in the barn, and we had mice in the house. At that point, I was not willing to share my home with mice for another 4+ years, so we opted for the poison. Definitely not our first choice, but at least it worked. And now, although I still don't like poison, I will use it again.
thankfully, all the animals I want to keep here are fine
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Bird
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: JazzDad]
12/20/07 09:00 AM
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I used to think peanut butter was best, and it's very good, but I've actually had them lick it off without tripping the trap. But with small pieces of bacon tied on with thread, I've never lost the bait without catching the culprit.
Incidentally, on the 11th of this month, my wife said she thought we had a mouse in the garage, that she thought she'd seen mouse droppings in the detergent tray of her washing machine. Now how could a mouse get into that front loading Maytag and up to the detergent tray at the upper left corner? So I sure had my doubts, but I went to Home Depot and bought a package of 4 Victor mouse traps. These Easy Set traps have a big wide yellow plastic imitation cheese bait gadget instead of the old fashioned metal one. It was the only kind Home Depot had and it "looked" like a good idea. After considerabl time and effort, I finally got 2 of them to set; never could get the other two to set and finally threw them in the trash.
Well, 4 hours later (about 2 p.m.) I had a dead mouse in one of those two. Then I could never get it to reset again, and finally threw it in the trash. Apparently we only had one mouse because the other trap is still set and hasn't been disturbed.
Then I went to Victor's website and sent them a message with my opinion of their "new and improved" traps. They promptly offered a refund or replacement, but the 4 traps only cost $2.13, including sales tax, so I just thanked them and declined. But in the process, I learned that they do still make the old fashioned kind (our local Walmart has them, but Home Depot did not) and they say they intend to continue the old fashioned ones.
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miss_thenorth
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Loc: SW Ontario, Canada
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: Bird]
12/20/07 09:18 AM
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That is so funny that you mentioned mice rice in the washing machine!! I too have a frontloader and ALWAYS found droppings in the soap dispenser. But like I said, we set traps for 4 years--often had to replace the bait but also caught alot of mice, - but always had more. Even though I don't like poison--at least the problem is done with now
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hudr
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are you feeding the cats? If so, I bet they would rather chase kitty vittles than mice/rats.
Of course, I have seen some rats that looked like they could give a cat a fair fight. You don't reckon it could be something a little larger like a 'coon or 'possum getting into the feed?
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miss_thenorth
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Loc: SW Ontario, Canada
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: hudr]
12/20/07 09:14 PM
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The cats get a bit of food--we try not to give them too much wo that they will hunt. We did find a dead rat in the barn--obvious it was killed by poison, and have not seen sign of rats since. We considered it might be something larger--smelled skunk a few times around the barn area--would they eat eggs? Haven't seen any coons or possum around, which doesn't mean there aren't any, but not even our garbage is disturbed--so I'm thinking it's not racoons. Whatever it was was diggin tunnels all over the place (we have dirt floor in our barn) Since we found the dead rat--there have been no more tunnels dug. Like I said--I'm not a fan of poison, but we used it as a last resort. And now we have no more problems.
As far as the cats go, we fill up their food bowl about once a week. Seems they like the taste of fresh kill--it takes a week for them to empty the bowl. And they certainly are not starving--they're getting quite large.
Funny thing happened today with one of the cats--it cought a bird, and our rottie was trying to get the bird away from the cat. Picture a little cat with a bird in its mouth chasing a big rottweiler away. the rottie eventually backed off. quite funny to watch.
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RichZ
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I feed all 12 of my barn cats, and feed them well, with Iams dry cat food daily. Most cats hunt for the sport of it, and not just for food. In addition, most rodents carry worms and other parasites, so it's really better for the cats if they don't eat them.
My cats have several places where they leave me their "presents", and some of the cats love giving my wife and me their "presents" in person. We greatly praise them whenever they do that, and they seem to really enjoy being praised. Being a livestock farm, we have lots of feed around to feed rodents, and we had quite a rodent problem until we had all of the barn cats. Now it's under control.
All of our cats have names, and are pets as well. They're all neutered, and really very affectionate. And without them, our farm would be overrun by rodents.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
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Bird
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: RichZ]
12/21/07 10:02 AM
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It's been 20 years or so since we stayed in the Island RV Resort in Port Aransas, but the whole island is mostly sand and always had a gopher problem. As with many RV parks, the Island RV Resort had the park rules on your receipt and in bold type said "DO NOT FEED THE CATS because well fed cats will not hunt gophers".  They had quite a few cats wandering around the park and it's the only place we stayed that prohibited feeding cats.
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RichZ
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: Bird]
12/21/07 12:43 PM
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Bird, I'm sure that's true!! We have quite a few gophers on our farm, and our cats have never gone after them. The fact that most of the gophers are bigger than the cats probably has something to do with that. But at least on our farm, the rats and mice are comparatively easy prey, and some mornings, there's quite a pile of "presents" left for me before I even start milking. So I know that my well fed cats are prolific hunters.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
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Pat
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: RichZ]
12/22/07 10:37 AM
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I bought one of those wind up all metal traps. It has a three hole wheel in it and a "holding cell" which can hold several mice. It doesn't have to have bait and isn't intended to be used with bait. It has a small hole through the middle of it. You wind up the trap and put it next to a wall or other barrier. Mice tend to follow the walls or other barriers instead of going out in the middle of an open area which is more dangerous for them. They go inside the hole and that trips the trigger which rotates the three hole (imagine a three shot revolver) rotating part and tosses the mouse into the holding cell. It can catch and hold a dozen or so mice at a time. Once one is caught the others seem more interested and they get caught too.
The mice are not hurt (if that matters to you) and they can be released unharmed if that is your preference. I have known folks to dump them in a toilet and flush it (drowning is swift) and I have seen them dumped into a plastic bag and crushed under a piece of heavy board yielding death in a fraction of a second.
The trap costs about $15, works very well and lasts a long long time. It can sit forever waiting for a mouse with no bait to dry up or attract ants or roaches. It can not injure a child. It can catch a dozen or more mice before needing to have the spring rewound and the holding cell emptied.
When I first saw these traps I thought $15 bucks for yet another useless dodad but surprise surprise surprise, they do work well, several times per intervention.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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eccentricfarmer
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Loc: central minnesota
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: Pat]
05/06/08 01:30 PM
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I think it is called the 'Tin Cat'. quite an old design and has worked to the demise of many a mouse and rat.
Self rising flour, and/or frozen bread dough. Rats and mice cannot throw up and will stuff them selves on these goodies. Think breaded on the inside. 'nuff' said. Have used these on barns with severe infestations (could actually see the savings on the feed bill.
Possums are opportunistic feeders and so are skunks and both adore eggs. The dog has discovered goose eggs as a delicacy lately. Has the nick name of 'Flower' when the after effects percolate out and fluff her tail. If i do not ignore her for too long she will retrieve them to me unbroken yet has the ability to tear apart any tennis ball at will.
No fun, change the rules!!!
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eccentricfarmer
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Horror of horrors!!!!! There is a rat in the chicken house!!!!!  Well, off to the store and get some self rising flour, just to see if it works! Another experiment!! Yay!!
No wonder the feeders have been more empty than usual (not that there ever was much left over).
No fun, change the rules!!!
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Upchucka
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Reged: 09/22/08
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Posts: 5
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Loc: Southern Oregon
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If you don't want to use poison, and don't want to get a couple of neutered cats.........
Mix corn meal w/ plaster of paris and put in a bowl near a water source: When the critter drinks water the plaster of paris will solidify in their stomachs and they die.
Mix corn meal w/ baking soda: Rodents do not have the ability to expel internal gas. When the critter drinks water, after eating the corn meal and baking soda, they will interally explode from the combination of the water and baking soda.
These two methods work if you have other critters around wich might eat the dead critters, and they don't get any "poison" in their systems from eating the rodent/s.
Chuck
Kubota L3400
Mig and Stick Welders
Sheep
2 guard & 1 pack llama
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eccentricfarmer
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Re: rats/mice in the barn
[re: Upchucka]
09/29/08 11:02 AM
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Yeah, do not like the poison route unless see things that are out of control and then long enough to get a handle on it and move on. Now am rodent freer (somehow i do not think any farm is rodent free, at least not for long).
Thanks for the newer ideas!! They are always fun to try!!
No fun, change the rules!!!
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AaronP
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I found that having a jack russell or other terrier type dog gets rid of mice/rats, groundhogs and raccoons. It works well and they're good pets.
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