Getting voles/move out of green house

[Lazy Gardener]

My dog is death on mice, and has killed one or two rats. She's a Jack Russel mix. Unfortunately, she also likes to see chickens run. When she was a pup, and during her second summer, I trained her with a behavior modification shock collar set on vibrate mode. It worked very well, requiring only a couple corrections. Then, it broke. So... now... she likes to see them run. I really need to buy an other behavior collar for her.

I once found a mama mouse moving slowly across my back yard. She was dragging a whole litter of mouse pups along, each one firmly attached to a teat. I can't imagine how that must have felt! Well, I scooped Mama and babies into a bucket and presented the mess to the chickens. They stood around for about 15 minutes, having a meeting about what to do with these invaders. Finally, I took care of them myself, instead of giving them a chance to get out of chicken OR boot reach.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

All of my chickens - no matter the breed - will fight over mice. They'll try to catch adult ones and are totally annihilators of wiggly pinkies. Extra protein! My English Shepherd is awesome on vermin... mice, rats, even possums.

 

[DelcoMama82]

I had the same issue this season. My greenhouse planting is a bust: vole and mouse infestation, possibly followed by rat or squirrel. I called my county ag extension agent. They put their team to work to give me the most thorough answer they could.

1. Exclusion with hardware cloth skirt is the first line of defense. (not an option for me based on my construction methods and frame of greenhouse rotting at ground level.)

2. Traps: Snap traps or live traps.

3. More traps.

4. The Vitamin D based rodenticides (Cholecalciferol ) are the only ones that are approved for use on organic farms. D-Con is changing all of their formulation to Vit. D. This poison is toxic to any animal that eats it. It has a very fast break down in soil. It rarely causes secondary poisoning. (Meaning, that any animal that eats a poisoned rodent would not ingest enough of the Vitamin D to cause any issues) My state Ag. extension DID NOT recommend that I use this rodenticide in my greenhouse. Neither did they discourage it's use. But, they did strongly recommend that I not eat any of the veggies that likely came in contact with the rodents.

Based on this information: I used snap traps until the rodents became trap wary. (I killed 4 mice and 2 voles. After that, traps were snapped, but no bodies.) I chose not to eat the luscious greens that had not yet been chomped. I set up a bucket trap, and found a dead vole just yesterday. As weather warms up, I intend to get out and re-set all the traps. BTW, voles and mice LOVE chocolate chips. I once caught 5 voles with a single trap baited with a single chocolate chip w/peanut butter. (Dump dead vole out of trap, re-set trap... rinse and repeat every morning.) I will also set up a bait station with the Vitamin D based poison before re-planting next month.

Wow!
That’s a lot of info. Thanks a lot!
Here’s me thinking vegetable gardening would be an easy feat!
Been nothing like that since we started 5 years ago.
If anything I think it has invited more wild animals into our yard including deer and a woodchuck living under our shed!!

 

[Hinotori]

I use traps and dogs for rodents. Winter here means lots of rain which also helps flood them out since we're right by marsh and pond.

I've had a few easter egger hens that have liked killing smaller rodents to eat. Interestingly it's the little silkies that go after rats in a horde. This isn't helpful when the german shepherd is trying to kill it since she doesnt want to hurt them. I have occasionally found a dead rat in their pens.

I think you can only count on non-hatchery silkies and cochins as broody breeds.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Hello everyone,
BYC member, newbie here.
We put up a hoop house this fall to attempt to grow some cold weather veggies through the winter. Everything was going fine until we noticed holes dug up all over the place, raised cedar beds chewed through, and almost everything eaten... of course.
We’ve recently put out some rat traps and caught a few voles, I think. But I’m hoping someone here has figured out how to keep theses little buggers out of our veggies.
Thanks for reading

I found a perfect link for your problem...

What Is a Vole and How to Get Rid of It

Voles are mouse-like rodents that eat grass, roots, and many other plants. Learn how to identify and how to get rid of voles.

www.thespruce.com

Enjoy reading my friend...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Good article @YourRabbitGirl . However, I noted: the article states that D-Con is based on an anti-coagulant. At least in my location, I can no longer find the anti-coagulant based rodenticides. D-Con HAS or is in the process of changing all of their rodenticides to the Vitamin D3 formulation (chlorcalciferol). When buying ANY rodenticide, it's important to know exactly WHAT the product is, and how it works, as well as the risks to it's handling and use. You must know how the product works, how quickly it works, if there is risk of secondary poisoning (should an animal eat a poisoned rodent), and how quickly it breaks down in the environment. You also must use it in such a way that it can't be moved from the application location or accessed by a non target animal.

 

[flowerbug]

Wow!
That’s a lot of info. Thanks a lot!
Here’s me thinking vegetable gardening would be an easy feat!
Been nothing like that since we started 5 years ago.
If anything I think it has invited more wild animals into our yard including deer and a woodchuck living under our shed!!

it gives you chances to learn about them and their habits. how to discourage them and encourage their predators.

for deer only thing that works well enough that i trust is a good fence (7-8ft). this will also help with rabbits and groundhogs. it takes some work to do them right, the fencing needs to be put down on the ground and laying out a ways so that they won't figure out how to easily dig under it.

for chipmunks that's a whole different issue... and then climbers (raccoons, squirrels, possums, ...). if you are attempting to grow sweet corn (we don't bother with it) you'll need to be set up very well with an electric fence that has no other means of them getting through or over.

some people have guard animals. we don't do that here.

 

[FarmerJamie]

A friend of ours who maintains the repeater for the local HAM club found that sprinkling gum killed off the rodents very efficiently. He uses Big League Chew, and just sprinkles it around. I don't think it has Xylitol in it, which would be a hazard for any dogs.

I also recently found out that Buckeye chickens are as good as cats about hunting and eating mice...

Good old Wigley Juicy Fruit

 

[DelcoMama82]

Good old Wigley Juicy Fruit

Someone else suggested big league chew... how does that work exactly?

 

[FarmerJamie]

Someone else suggested big league chew... how does that work exactly?

My understanding is the digestive system can't process it, so it basically plugs everything up.