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Any ideas for a mouse trap that feeds the caught mice to chickens?

 
eco-innovator & pollinator
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I love the idea of the 5 gallon bucket for catching and drowning mice, but I hate the idea of scooping drowned mice corpses out every day.  I also love the videos on permies of chickens chasing and eating mice.  Has anyone devised a mouse trap that catches mice and makes them available to hungry chickens the next day?  I'm assuming live mice are better than dead ones since they are fresher even if the occasional one escapes.  This may be morbid to a few people, but getting rid of mice and feeding chickens would be killing two birds mice with one stone AND most importantly save me the trouble of scoping out mice carcasses in the morning.  I assume it would just need occasional re-baiting.  I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.  Thanks, Patrick    
 
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There is one trap designed to be emptied by foxes, cats, birds of prey, etc. I do not know if the chicken, as a relative of T. rex, is considered a bird of prey. But I guess they can be trained to empty the boxes as well.

http://topcat.ch/Beschreibung-2_1.html

See the monitoring videos as well

http://topcat.ch/Monitoring_films-2_4.html

Maybe the trap could be designed in a way that when the chicken walks on a bar, it lifts the lid of the trap, like some chicken feeders made to avoid birds eating the feed.
 
Patrick Freeburger
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Hans,
Thanks that is helpful.  I have some places outside the chicken run where that could work great.  I haven't seen that in the US.  
I haven't seen my chickens eat mice, but I have seen videos of other chickens doing it.  Attached is the crude mock up of my idea to turn a chicken treadle feeder into a mouse dispenser.
mouse-dispenser-.jpg
mouse trap - chicken feeder combo
mouse trap - chicken feeder combo
 
hans muster
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Great!  That is awesome!
This was exactly the type of chicken feed dispenser I was thinking of, but could not find any picture.

The trap I showed could probably be modified so the lid is lifted with the weight of chickens. I am saying that because I have seen chicken hunt mice, and do not know if mice would adventure themselves so far from a seemingly safe hole on a tiny ladder. Maybe only at night?

Could you keep me informed of how it works, and maybe send me some pictures?
 
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Here's a magnetic version of a bucket trap.  I bet you could modify the system to make it fit with the above concepts for making the mice available to your chickens.



or the modified version here



 
hans muster
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Any news from trials?
 
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Use a 5 gallon bucket.  Drill 2 small holes on opposite sides of bucket high on near rim.  You want to be able to fit close hanger wire through the holes next get a 2 liter bottle, cut off top and bottom.  Thread the wire through bucket one side then through the middle of your plastic bottle then out to the other side of the rim.  The bottle should freely spin on the wire.  Put some peanut butter inside high on top of bottle.   Then use a ramp so that mice can reach bucket.

In my version I wanted dead mice.  So I put water in bucket.  Make sure ramp and bucket cannot move.  With no water the mice most likely cannot climb out of plastic bucket.
20180827_mouse-swimming.jpg
[Thumbnail for 20180827_mouse-swimming.jpg]
 
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I have been catching mice in the spare bathroom bath tub, too slippery for them to get out. I bet a chicken could get out tho. What about an embedded tub, with a chicken wire removable lid? You could keep it baited until you catch something and then take the top off so the chickens could get in?
 
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There is a trap, safe for other animals, that kills rats and mice by using a co2 powered striker. The mouse is then eaten by whatever animal or bird that finds them. Trap does 24 before co2 cartridge needs to be changed.
Not cheap, but hands free, totally automatic. About $200 US. Cheaper on ebay or Amazon.
https://cart.automatictrap.com/collections/a24-traps/products/a24-rat-and-mouse-trap-kit-with-counter-1
 
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I hate dealing with mouse corpses too. My go to for the house is a live trap and when one is caught I release it in with the chickens. I have never seen chickens fight so hard for something as when I release the mice.

For my shop I used a five gallon pail live trap. It involves a screened top with a 6" long narrow oiled tube in the center and bait in the bottom. The mice drop through the tube into the pail. They can jump out of an open top pail but the screen prevents that and the oiled tube (veg oil) is impossible to climb and too narrow for an accurate jump.

I don't have the pail trap now but here is where I first saw it.
https://youtu.be/ChpMSrBbn3I

In the fall on the farm I was catching up to 7 mice a night, even with farm cats. The chickens were very happy. I definitely see them as little dinosaurs when they catch and kill mice.

Edit: I used chicken feed or bird seed as bait so I could just dump all the contents in with the chickens.
live-trap.jpeg
The commercial live trap
The commercial live trap
 
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