I am looking for ideas to keep mice out of our chicken feed.
We buy our feed locally from Hutterites. We usually buy it in 1000lb tote bags (as pictured).
I store it in my shop on a pallet, but the nice chew holes in the bottom of the bag and make a huge mess. It’s a waste and they are crawling around in the tote of feed which probably isn’t healthy for the chickens to eat.
Any suggestions? I’ve got a few of the big brute garbage bins, but I would need probably 10 of them to hold all the feed and that would cost too much.
I’ve thought about buying a plastic ibc tote, but food grade ones kinda expensive . Though that is currently my best idea.
by burner9590
17 Comments
Metal garbage bins. Break out the shovel.
Cats
Buy metal drums. The only thing mice and rats can’t chew through. FWIW if you bring drums to the feed supply they can usually fill those.
Plastic will also be ruined by mice. They can chew right through it. The only thing that keeps them out is metal containers with tight fitting lids.
Metal or thick plastic food drums. Metal trash cans work, but coons and possums will get into em occasionally. I got a bunch of 55 gal picked barrels with screw top lids from the farmers market, they do the trick for me.
old, free non working chest freezer?
Build a simple box the exact size to fit the tote with 2×4 and cover the box in hardware cloth. The top and one side should be hinged so they can just forklift the tote into it.
Otherwise, impossible.
Dump the totes into an IBC tote
Barn cats *and* metal storage containers
We get pickle barrels from a dealer near Mt.Olive.
Store the container of feed on a pedestal inside the chicken coop. As long as the container is chicken-proof, it’s safe. Any mice approaching the feed will be attacked by chickens (who are absolutely brutal to mice).
A fuckload of chili powder will deter them and not either your chickens in the slightest
Maybe a secondhand metal IBC tote?? If there is such a thing!! Or get something custom fabricated?
Get cats, we went from having a rodent problem to nothing. Got two cats and killed all the mice in/around the house and progressively got further and further out into the fields just killing everything.
I would build a wooden box. That I could open to access the feed. Maybe a hinged front and a hinged top. Then I would cover that box with sheet metal and perhaps put angle iron on corners. I would make sure there were no gaps for the mice to get in. I would set that bulk bag in there and then shut the box.
While barrels are great, and you can buy a an automatic barrel lifter on amazon, thats where i got mine, getting the feed into the barrels is a pain in the butt and you would probably spill it all over the place. Now, if they would put the feed in open barrels with clamp on lids that would be the easiest way to deter the mice. I use plastic barrels with clamp on lids to hold feed. I get wet spent brewers grains from a craft brewery. I move the barrels with the automatic barrel lifter on the front loader of my tractor. I don’t have to get up or down from the tractor to pick up the barrel or release it when I set the barrel down.
You could build a gravity fed grain in or buy one to put the feed in, but not sure a skid loader would lift it high enough for you to empty the bag into the bin.
good luck!
I use a Metal trash bin with a metal lid. Works great! No rodents or animals have ever gotten in! Make sure the lid has a handle on top or else it can be quite tricky to remove.
I turned a 1000l water tote into a storage bin. Still working some kinks out of the “chute” to allow.food to sling out of the bottom. Will post a picture when im back home. No mice trouble anymore with this method though.