problem: chicken coop mouse population explosion. Plenty of food and water for chickens means plenty for mice, and nearly everything that could reduce it would risk death to chicks and chickens. Presence of vermin posed a significant health risk as well as too many extra mouths to feed.
solution: The better mousetrap. A tin-can on a rod rotisserie suspended over a 9″-deep swimming pool with enough anti-freeze to keep it from becoming an ice rink. Peanut butter on can with a bit on the ramp to lead the mice to their snack. At the top of the ramp, they jump onto the can which rotates to unceremoniously dump them into the swimming pool.
Having one mouse in the trap does not prevent a second, third, fourth and more from using it before it has to be re-set. I had from four to seven every day for the first several days. Well before the week was out, there were no longer a dozen or so scurrying into hiding places every time I entered the coop.
In case you notice that the peanut butter is “the good stuff”, I have two answers you can choose from:
1) nothing is too good for their last supper -or-
2) it is what we had on hand and they didn’t eat much of it.
A peek inside the “set” trap shows the rotisserie coated in peanut butter just a reasonable mousy-jump away from the top of the ADA-compliant mouse ramp.
