Keep Mice out of your Chicken Feed
A simple way to keep your bags of chicken feed away from rodents is to either set the whole feed bag inside a large galvanized trashcan with a lid or pour your feed into a covered metal trashcan.
That way mice and rats can't chew through the bags you have in storage.
But what about the feed that you dole out to your flock each day? Is there an easy way to keep any leftover feed safe from mice?
In my book 101 Chicken Keeping Hacks, I share more than a hundred quick, easy and inexpensive tricks to help you raise your chickens in ways to save you time and money. And this is one of my favorites!
Keep Mice out of your Chicken Feed
This is one of my absolute favorites quick and easy tips for keeping mice out of your chicken feed.
The following is excerpted from my book:
"I caution against feeding or watering your chickens inside the coop. Feed will just attract mice and flies, and water spills and makes a wet mess.
Instead, year-round, I feed my chickens outdoors in the covered area of my chicken run. Using an enamelware roasting pan for feed out in the run allows you to simply place the cover on top at dusk when you lock up your coop, thereby keeping any leftover feed safe from mice and other rodents overnight."
This prevents you from having to toss out any leftover feed when you lock the chickens up for the night, or having to dump it back into the bag or big container of feed.
In the morning, you just remove the lid and stash it somewhere out of the way until that evening.
I use the same tubs for water as well, although I do dump out and refill the water each morning so there's no need to use a lid for the water.
You can pick up vintage enamelware roasting pan sets at antique shops, ebay or even garage sales pretty inexpensively.
As an added bonus, the pan is deep enough that my chickens have trouble kicking or tossing the feed out. They don't crack in the winter like plastic or glass, and they don't rust like metal does.
It's a win-win all around!
Add Some Spice
For even more mouse-proofing of your chicken feed, consider adding some dried peppermint leaves and cayenne pepper.
A sprinkle of each stirred into your chickens' daily feed should do the trick. Your chickens won't mind either - and both have some good health benefits. Rodents can't tolerate either scent or taste and hopefully will go elsewhere in search of food.
If you enjoyed this quick tip, you'll love my new book 101 Chicken Keeping Hacks available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and where ever books are sold.
