Finally a decent mousetrap....

[gromit]

I have a problem with mice in the chook shed.
The little buggers seem to be able to jump up into the feeder so the chickens have to sort out food from mouse poo !

I set some conventional traps inside an ice cream container with a couple of holes in it so the chickens don't get trapped. I used cheese as bait and bound it up with cotton to make it hard to remove.
Managed to catch a couple but most of the time they managed to eat every bit of cheese without the trap going off. Looking at the amount of poo in the ice cream container they had been having a party in there !!
I put poison baits in the ice cream container but the mice didn't touch them.

Found this in Bunnings Nooski Revolutionary Ring Traps - The Safe, Cleaner Solution for trapping rodents (https://nooski.com/)

It uses castration rings stretched open and the trigger is above the bait. As the mouse tries to get to the bait the ring is released around their neck.
Caught 3 mice last night and not one of them managed to get to the bait !

You can buy the castration rings in bulk from ebay if you have a major problem.


Colin

[Graeme]

Buy a container of 300 rings from your local ag supplier.

[Grumbles]

Re the mice getting the bait without setting the trap off. A couple of tips here.

Put the cheese on the bait plate and heat the bottom of the plate with a match or cigarette lighter to melt the cheese to the plate.

The hold down bar. It will have a small lip at the end where it goes into the bait plate holder hole. This will be from the the factory cut off machine. Carefully file the lip down to eliminate it. If you file too much the bar will be too smooth and tapered so the trap will be impossible to set.

Good luck!

[theelms66]

I bought one of these feeders for our chooks, haven't seen any mice or rats or poo for months .best thing is I now save on feed as well.
Regards Pas.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200627/bdf0032af73e0b5455f41442bb6933cc.jpg

[Gav 110]

I bought one of these feeders for our chooks, haven't seen any mice or rats or poo for months .best thing is I now save on feed as well.
Regards Pas.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200627/bdf0032af73e0b5455f41442bb6933cc.jpg

We had one like that a few years ago
Problem is when a chook gets in it to have a scratch
The other chooks jump off and now we have a chook trap[emoji16]

[Bigbjorn]

Best rodent bait I ever used was bacon rubbed with garlic. Best tied on with a bit of strong cotton. The little buggers are adept at removing bait from traps.

[theelms66]

We had one like that a few years ago
Problem is when a chook gets in it to have a scratch
The other chooks jump off and now we have a chook trap[emoji16]You need bigger chooks

[POD]

We don't want to castrate the mice, we'd rather kill them.

[Gav 110]

Best rodent bait I ever used was bacon rubbed with garlic. Best tied on with a bit of strong cotton. The little buggers are adept at removing bait from traps.

Me brother uses bacon with a beer bottle for rats
If you can set up a beer bottle on the edge of a bucket of water (neck above the bucket) with a ramp up to stabilise the bottle and allow access for the rats
Put the bacon inside the bottle neck and when the rats step out on the bottle neck to get to the end they slip into the bucket

[windsock]

We don't want to castrate the mice, we'd rather kill them.

That depends entirely on what they are trying to do when the rig snaps!

[superquag]

That depends entirely on what they are trying to do when the rig snaps!

- Too much encouragement for idle imaginations ![biggrin][biggrin][biggrin]

[gromit]

Thanks guys, a lot of the suggestions I've already heard of and the existing chook feeder is fine if I control the mice.

The Nooski works first time every time so no plans to go backwards, in fact I might buy another for the shed.


Colin

[trout1105]

We used to have a real problem with mice and rats until we started baiting the little blighters and we haven't had any problems with them since.
We live "Rural" and are often away from home for months at a time and rodents Used to be a big problem here But the baiting program has solved this completely[thumbsupbig]
Don't bother with the supermarket type baits go straight to your local AG suppliers and get the commercial baits (The big ones) and put them behind the fridges, freezers, washing machine, cupboards, wardrobes, in your sheds, woodpile, workshop and anywhere else that you think that they will go and replace them as needed.

[Saitch]

Our meeces are kept under control by our resident Antichinus family.

Baits are not all that good in that there can be secondary poisoning of birds and other animals that will catch a crook, poisoned rat or eat a dead one.
I stopped using baits years ago for this very reason.

[trout1105]

Our meeces are kept under control by our resident Antichinus family.

Baits are not all that good in that there can be secondary poisoning of birds and other animals that will catch a crook, poisoned rat or eat a dead one.
I stopped using baits years ago for this very reason.

The Only dead animals that would eat a crook mouse I have seen around here are the foxes and wild cats that I have shot, The cats/foxes May eat a poisoned mouse But that is a Good thing.
The pythons that reside here seem to ignore any rodent that isn't healthy and they tend to prefer eating the frogs that have called this place home anyway.
The Only bird around here that would eat a crook/dead mouse are the crows and I hate those bastards anyway[bigwhistle][bigwhistle]

[350RRC]

The Only dead animals that would eat a crook mouse I have seen around here are the foxes and wild cats that I have shot, The cats/foxes May eat a poisoned mouse But that is a Good thing.
The pythons that reside here seem to ignore any rodent that isn't healthy and they tend to prefer eating the frogs that have called this place home anyway.
The Only bird around here that would eat a crook/dead mouse are the crows and I hate those bastards anyway[bigwhistle][bigwhistle]

Does that mean you don't have real birds of prey anymore?

[trout1105]

Does that mean you don't have real birds of prey anymore?

No wedge tails and verry few hawks or falcons, lots of parrots, doves etc.

[350RRC]

No wedge tails and verry few hawks or falcons, lots of parrots, doves etc.

Be aware that brodifacoum has a half life of about 9 months, brodidiolone 140 to 170 hours, pindone about 2 weeks.

Birds of prey can easily absorb enough brodifacoum from dead rats or mice to kill them over time.

The other 2 active ingredients are nowhere near as bad.

I use the blue oats (pindone) indoors because rats and mice love it and I know birds of prey can't absorb enough from dead outdoor carcasses to kill them over time because of the short half life.

DL

[Don 130]

Re trapping mice and rats with a bail trap, I tie the bait on with a strip of ladies stocking. The little mongrels get their nasty bucky beaver teeth caught in the fine fibres and whammo, they're gone. I also make a little tin 'shed' to back the trap into, so the buggers can only approach the trap from the front.
As for poison baits, I bought a bulk pack (7Kg) only to find later that it's capable of secondary poisoning. There are several species of owl here including the powerful owl and I don't want to kill any of them. So what's the oil on the best rodent baits that won't kill our birds?
For a chook feeder I use a grandpa feeder. I also use them at work. I've never had a bird caught in one.They're expensive, but if the rodents are eating your chook food, the feeder will save it's cost in feed in a short time.
Don.

[Saitch]

The Only dead animals that would eat a crook mouse I have seen around here are the foxes and wild cats that I have shot, The cats/foxes May eat a poisoned mouse But that is a Good thing.
The pythons that reside here seem to ignore any rodent that isn't healthy and they tend to prefer eating the frogs that have called this place home anyway.
The Only bird around here that would eat a crook/dead mouse are the crows and I hate those bastards anyway[bigwhistle][bigwhistle]

That's sad, Trout.[bigsad]
I'm glad I live where I do.

[ChookD2]

My old man had one of these years ago, can get 4 at once best I saw was 3.

162439

[Don 130]

Last night's effort. The bait was peanut butter under a strip of stocking162501 The bugger has been sniffing around the BBQ and table on the verandah lately.
Don.

[scarry]

Me brother uses bacon with a beer bottle for rats
If you can set up a beer bottle on the edge of a bucket of water (neck above the bucket) with a ramp up to stabilise the bottle and allow access for the rats
Put the bacon inside the bottle neck and when the rats step out on the bottle neck to get to the end they slip into the bucket

We do this out at the property.The record was 55 mice in one night in a mouse plague.We put water in the bucket,or they jump out.They drown pretty quickly.

If using break back traps I tie a piece of bacon or ham on with fishing line,usually gets them every time.

Our dog gets most of the rats and mice around the place here,but we never use bait anymore.
We learnt the hard way,we had rats in the cieling,and put some bait up there. The rats took the bait down the wall under the house,where it was eaten by possums,which killed them.Cant use bait with the dog around either.

[ATH]

We had a mice problem in our last Defender when after a really hard downpour one night beside a beach, I kept thinking I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Just a quick blur, never an actual sight of something. So we put a bit of cheese and a cracker in a plastic container on the floor behind my seat and sure enough it had gone by the morning.
I got talking to an old chap with a motorhome next day at a camp site and he lent me a trap the type I'd never seen before. It's made of 50mm square tube about 250 mm long bent near the middle with doors each end. One opens to put the bait in and the other is opened and supported on 2 legs so the tube is resting on them. When the mice go in the tube tips up and the door closes as soon as the legs leave the ground when they go the bait end. Mice can't open the door when they try to get out the way they got in because their weight keeps it closed. :)
I checked it the next morning yes I could feel the weight and hear something scrabbling about. Opened the door and 2 of the little beasts jumped out and straight into a clump of spinifex.
I now keep one in the van all the time just in case.
AlanH.

[bob10]

Well, we have three chooks, in a pen with a dirt floor. I noticed a couple of holes around the outside. So, got the hose, filled the holes up with water. About four or five mice came out, went into the chook pen. The chooks went wild, ripped the mice apart, and ate them. Never seen that before. I will not turn my back on those chooks again. :eek2:

[RANDLOVER]

I bought one of these feeders for our chooks, haven't seen any mice or rats or poo for months .best thing is I now save on feed as well.
Regards Pas.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200627/bdf0032af73e0b5455f41442bb6933cc.jpg

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/gardening-australia (https://iview.abc.net.au/show/gardening-australia)

See this about how to make an auto chicken feeder, using a bucket and an eye bolt, the relevant part is about 35 mins into the show.

Cheers,
Randy