# Mice in the barn



## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

How do you keep the mice or population down? I am afraid with mice bait the goats would get into. We have woods behind and on side of us.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

My cats take care of mice. I have two females that, if they see or hear a mouse, they WILL get it. There are also several kinds of traps to use. Keep the spilled feed cleaned up and keep the feed in containers the mice can't get into.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

It isn't very controlled. Hard to when the barn is full of hay. I keep all my feed in containers, and I had a run of catching them with traps. I like the rat traps cause they don't drag them away. I have a rooster in the barn, and he seems to be helping.


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

Cats! And sticky traps in areas the cats absolutely can't get to (like inside the milk room). you don't want to put the sticky trap anywhere a cat could step.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

With sticky traps, does the mouse just get stuck there and stay alive, or is there some kind of poison on it that kills them?


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## punchiepal (Aug 4, 2010)

We use sticky traps year 'round. In the summer they are great for putting into the corners of the windows for catching flies. 
Biggest surprise was when we went in the milkroom in the summer and the glue trap was upside down on the floor but lifted up some. Humm...wonder what that is? A mouse? OH NO! LOL it was a bird. Made us all jump when it attempted to fly away with the glue trap.


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

The sticky traps contain no poison - that is why we use them.


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

Some great hints, thanks! :biggrin


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## informative (Aug 24, 2012)

mice are averse the smell of cats. even if you don't want a farm cat you could get some friend with a cat to save you a litter box or two to sprinkle around the area should make the mice run for the hills.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

informative said:


> mice are averse the smell of cats. even if you don't want a farm cat you could get some friend with a cat to save you a litter box or two to sprinkle around the area should make the mice run for the hills.


I had also heard years ago that just the sound of meowing would keep rodents away BUT I do have a barn cat and he is doing an excellent job and I am so not a cat person but he insists on sitting in my lap while I bottle feed my newest babies which he must think are his too. When I put a doe in the kidding pen he then stays with them until they kid. No mice in my kidding pen for sure. In fact the only mouse I have seen this year was barn cat's first kill.

I also keep sticky traps inside the feed room where barn cat doesn't go. Although a mouse would have to go trhough barn cats territory to get into the feed room but I am not taking chances.


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## nlhayesp (Apr 19, 2012)

We have three cats, but mice still come (as well as rats ), and our cats are good mousers/ratters. We use "rat hotels" where rats or mice go in the small door through another door to the open area where there is poison. We use the type of poisont that doesn't have secondary poisoning (if my dogs or cats eat a poisoned rhodent, they won't get poisoned.) It works well. Depending on the year, I add poison 1 - 2 times/year.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

I wouldn't want cat litter around the barn- keep in mind cats can carry toxoplasmosis.


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## squeak (Jun 21, 2012)

Hi,
I use a 'rat zapper' - it works well for rats, although I haven't caught a mouse as there are feral cats around where I live :mad 
Good luck!
Helen.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

My cats prefer to point out the mice to the dogs, who then kill them, and are so good at it that they will tear down a wall to get to it. Yeah, one of my dogs ripped open an entire wall in my kitchen to kill one tiny mouse, and was soooo proud of his kill. sigh.

Mice I don't mind, in fact I don't have much of a mouse problem. The reason I don't have mice is because I have rats. Would much rather have mice. I hate the glue traps. Too easy to catch dogs, birds, chickens, cats and an occasional goat and horse. Nasty stuff to get off.

I use the bait chunks. I take old covered cans, put a small hole in it and put the bail inside. The rodent can get in but larger animals cannot. I then put the can in a corner or some other place where other animals can't get to. Once they are dead, none of my animals will try to eat them, though they will play keep away with the body.


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

> I wouldn't want cat litter around the barn- keep in mind cats can carry toxoplasmosis.


 :yeahthat


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## Qadosh Adamah Lamanchas (Nov 2, 2012)

Cats. Those sticky traps work well in the house, but I wouldn't want them in the barn just because I could totally see either one of the barn cats stepping on it or it falling and landing in my GP's fur or something of the like. Plus, the longer it's out and collects dust, the less sticky and useable it will be. I do not use kitty litter for the above mentioned reasons, but our barn cats relieve themselves in our yard away from the goats. They pick their favorite spots and keep returning. We have 4 cats patrolling our property and they keep the mouse/rat population way down. Another trick that I like (and it totally works) is to put out a full bucket of water with a ruler across the top. Put some yummy like peanut butter in the center and the mouse will walk across the ruler and fall into the bucket of water. I've sometimes gone out to find a bucket of half a dozen drowned mice.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

smithurmonds said:


> I wouldn't want cat litter around the barn- keep in mind cats can carry toxoplasmosis.


That's why I don't have cats, either. Plus, my dog would never give it a moment's rest. We use plain old mouse traps. We only put them in the tack/feed room. Sometimes we'll use the "hotels". No one gets into the room unless they know how to operate a door handle.



nlhayesp said:


> We use the type of poisont that doesn't have secondary poisoning (if my dogs or cats eat a poisoned rhodent, they won't get poisoned.) It works well. Depending on the year, I add poison 1 - 2 times/year.


What kind of poison?


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I have four cats who help control rodents. Inside my garage where the cats don't have access, I set regular traps and also have one of those metal live traps. Our biggest challenge last fall was a packrat that got into the garage. It eluded the cats when I locked them in for the night and also managed to get the bait out of the rat trap without getting caught. We finally borrowed a neighbor's live trap and got it. DH released it into the woods several miles from our place.


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## tendermeadowsnigerians (Sep 8, 2010)

We have barn cats they love to leave their presents by the back door. I find mice, moles, squirrels, chipmunks, and snakes. We also have a resident gardner snake in one of the barns, I let him be hes not poisonous and eats the mice, plus hes not going to get big enough to eat any of the livestock.


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## jdavenport (Jul 19, 2012)

We also have two cats, but the most effective rat and mouse catcher was the 6 foot black rat snake that took up residence in the compost pile. Needless to say that compost didn't get turned real often, but we had no rats and few mice, and 1 very freaked out dog...


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## AlaynaMay (May 12, 2012)

We have an excellent mouse-hunting cat, who has been keeping the population around here in check (or maybe she temporarily de-populated the area!). Anyway, with living in two houses 90 miles apart because of moving, the mouse problem has returned, since she got taken to the other house to clean out the mice resident there. We haven't seen a mouse for 7 years (which is how long ago we got her) and thought we were really smart and keeping them out of the house ourselves by blocking up holes. Well, that idea fell by the wayside three or four days ago, when I saw a mouse (or baby rat- not sure which) under the kitchen cabinet. :sigh It died yesterday.
At one point, over the course of 5 days or a week, I found three BIG rats, 2 squirrels, and a bird all in the yard near the barn. Flavia (the cat) was definitely the one responsible. She's also delivered (one literally- the liver was all that showed up) several rabbits to the front mat on our porch.
I agree with everyone so far who's said get a cat. I used the Farmer Boy method for Flavia- big ears and long tail make a good mouser (but I don't know if that's true for all cats).


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## Qadosh Adamah Lamanchas (Nov 2, 2012)

I've heard the same thing about big ears and long tails making good mousers. It's obviously not a hard and fast rule, though, as our best mouser couldn't be described that way. Our cat, Sugar, is all white with only medium sized traits in regards to ears and tail. However, you won't find a better barn cat. She kills snakes, frogs, mice, shrews, moles, rats, birds and even rabbits that are about the same size she is. Once she was even run over on the highway in front of our house by a car going 60 mph, but she walked away from it with no injuries aside from a tire track across her shoulder. Yep, get a good barn cat!


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## Annie (Jun 10, 2012)

I almost never see a mouse in our old bank barn, although in the winter I do find a tunnel or two that I know tells me there is a wood rat or two. Then I use the bait from TSC that is safe for dogs/cats after it has killed the rodent, can't think of the name...maybe Tomcat?

As for barncats, I have two. I had always been told that spayed or neutered cats were not good mousers but my two spayed females are excellent hunters. One in particular hunts constantly.

Cute quick story - previous cat Miss Kitty ALWAYS brought her kills INTO the barn to put in her dish to eat, even rabbits. Gross, but true. One day I was doing chores, she came in with small rabbit and laid it in her dish, then started rolling around in front of me acting all proud as cats do. "Foxy" the calico observed from the open window, stealthly snuck over, stole the rabbit, and took off with it out the window. Miss Kitty finally got up and went to eat her rabbit but it was gone. I thought I was gonna PMP laughing. Goofy cats.


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## NPgoats (Mar 18, 2010)

I couldn't resist adding to this thread when I found it. 
Yes, we have had barns cats but this year one was put to rest because he had cancer and the other is still here about 22 yrs old and isn't doing much mousing. So I've been concerned about the invasion of rodents this spring...but to my amazement we were adopted by a large hawk that has been perching on the gate post daily and cleaning up the pastures and near the barn. At first I thought he/she was after my chickens but has stayed busy with other prey thank goodness. When the electric company sent out workers to fix downed lines after a storm one stopped me and told me he liked my "natural environmental rodent extermination method" and pointed to the hawk on a near by fence post. He was completely overwhelmed by the hawks hunting methods! LOL
I need to replace my barn cats with some new young ones. I don't think the hawk with stay here forever! LOL But it has been very entertaining!
Linda


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

They will stay!
We have owls and hawks that have lived here and nested and fledged for generations.
We even have a huge tall stump we put 'offerings' on for them.
They are fearless of us and the dogs because of so many years of living with our antics.
Love it since our LGD's will not let us have cats.

And hawks don't carry toxoplasmids.


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## Qz Sioux (Feb 21, 2009)

I don't use sticky traps due to the "mess". I hat having to un-stick things that I didn't want stuck to it, plus I hate the idea of a mouse or rat having to suffer before dying. I have to say, my cats don't hunt :/ . I guess they feel they are just too good to have to work for their food. So, I just keep a rat snake in the shed that I keep my feed in. Yes, I did say SNAKE. By now, there is probably more than one in there. My DH had a "good" idea of digging our shed out, putting pallets down and then covering the pallets with OSB. I tried to tell him that a dirt of concrete floor would be so much better, that wood would rot and no matter how well he felt the shed had been built, rain water WAS going to run under the sides and rot out the pallets. Anyway, once the floor started rotting out, there were holes all over the place that mice/rats were sure to find shelter in. Needless to say, when my large "old timer" rat trap caught a RAT, I was done. I happened across a couple of rat snakes out in our wooded area, caught them and relocated them to the shed. I haven't had any copper heads close to the shed, which is good, haven't seen any signs of mouse/rat droppings, but HAVE seen the snake(s) on occasion. Yes, my heart does skip a beat :O when I move something and I see one sitting there, but once my heart rate goes back to normal, I just remind myself that I'm really glad that it is there. There obviously is enough to eat because I have not found them in my chicken coop. I probably have run across some of their babies because I have had to relocate a few from my nest boxes, but the shed snakes are still there.

So, if you are not deathly afraid of snakes and can handle a bit of a startle now and then, get you a rat snake for mice/ rat control.


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

Wellll, I for one don't do snakes! {{{{{{cringe}}}}}


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I prefer the chicken snakes to rats and mice 

We simply don't have anything out in the barn for them to eat, we don't feed enough grain for the goats to waste and the dogs clean up anything on the milkroom floor that even looks like food. Vicki


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