If you're thinking of getting backyard chicken but are worried that you'll have a problem with rats or mice, there are preventative measures that can be undertaken to keep away these dirty creatures.  It's not the chickens or the eggs that interest the mice, but it's the food, water and a nice protected area to live that encourages them to co-exist in your chicken coop. While both mice and chickens love grain and seeds, chickens are actually omnivores, which means they also eat meat.  If they're quick enough, your chickens might even catch a mouse to snack on, although I wouldn't rely on your chickens alone to keep your mouse problem under control. There are several preventative measures that should be undertaken to keep away these undesirable visitors.

Can I physically keep mice out of my chicken coop?

While the first, logical thing to do would be to prevent mice actually entering your chicken coop, this is much easier said than done! Mice can fit into spaces we would never assume they would be able to gain access. If you've got a mobile chicken coop it's going to be quite difficult to keep mice out of your coop altogether.  There's likely to be a tiny gap somewhere for these determined creatures to find their way in. But don't despair! Even if you can't physically keep mice out of your chicken coop, but there are still other preventative measures you can take to keep the situation under control. 

Mice love spilt feed

One of the key factors in keeping away rodents is to make sure that you have an adequate feeder that doesn't allow the chickens to spill a great deal of feed onto the ground. As owners and manufacturers of 'Royal Rooster' mobile chicken coops, we regularly had customers asking for suggestions about how to prevent their chickens from scratching lots of grain onto the ground. Your chickens can cost you a great deal more than necessary in the way of chicken feed. Most chickens naturally love to scratch at their feed, which means a lot of it ends up on the ground and then wasted. 

To be honest, we were also having issues with our chickens wasting lots of feed. We were determined to overcome this problem and so decided to design our own feeders.  A key part of the design of our feeders is the special dividers in the middle of the feeding tray. These dividers make it much more difficult for chickens to 'swipe' the feed onto the ground.  Chickens will naturally try to sort their grain mix to find the tastiest piece of grain or seed.

We've found our feeders really do reduce the amount of grain that is wasted. The chickens are forced to peck at the feed to eat it, rather than 'explore' the grain mix and make a great mess with their feed. We've found that having a quality feeder with tray divisions or a treadle type feeder are a key factor in keeping away the rats and mice. If you can get your spilt grain under control, you'll soon find that your mice problem is also under control.

Once a day feeding?

If you have a really bad mice problem, you may be tempted to just feed your chickens at one point in the day by scattering their feed on the ground. Unfortunately, chickens do much better if they have a regular, continuous supply of feed that they can access throughout the day. Self-feeders are really the only easy way to ensure they have a continuous supply available. Rather than taking away the self-feeder all together, it is much wiser to invest in a feeder that limits the amount of grain spilt.

Keeping your supply of feed away from mice

It's also important that you store your supply of grain or pellets appropriately so that mice can't grain access. Keeping your feed in the bag in which you purchased it, is not wise as mice can very easily chew through this, much to their delight! I've discovered a lost Tupperware container in our garage, hidden behind a cupboard, that was completely chewed through for the mice to gain access. Tough plastic or even wood is no problem for mice or rates. Be sure to purchase a strong container, ideally made of metal such as an old-fashioned garbage bin or 44-gallon drum to store your grain.