I went out to put eggfood in the cages, and first I saw a mouse running across the top of one of the CB cages. I found one male CB dead in the cage. He was caught between nest, plants, wire of cage, and he had struggled to free himself. I took him out, and noticed an egg in the hay on the floor. I decided to check the nest. This is a nest they had built themselves on top of a wicker canary nest base. There didn't appear to be an entrance hole, so I decided to start taking it apart, figuring if there was anything in there I would foster it. Well, there were two baby mice in the nest!! I decided to check the hay on the floor--well, I found six more eggs! I took all 7 eggs and put them in the Zebra's nest, as she had already laid 3 eggs, so maybe she will foster these eggs. The chances are they are lost already, I will candle them later.
Now I am in a panic, wondering about all the other nests. I decided I had to check everything out. The other CB cage has eggs, I had just checked that yesterday, and she is sitting tight today, so left that one alone. I had a Goldbreast pair that made a nest in a hanging bath (go figure!), and they have been sitting tight, but now they were off. I could barely see inside, but I did see some fuzzies, and mice don't have fuzz, so I think I have babies there. Another GB nest had eggs, and the third GB nest, the hen was sitting so tight, she wouldn't come off even with all that commotion, so I figure she's not sitting on mice, at least.
I couldn't see into the Owl's nest, and they went into such a panic, that I decided I had to leave them alone. The Strawberries just started sitting tight yesterday, so I don't want to chance disturbing them. One Star nest already had babies, which I knew, and another Star nest has eggs in it.
So it seems that it is just the one mouse for now (I know, where there is one...). I have set two mousetraps and put them on the floor under that tier of cages, and will go to HD and get lots more! Has anyone ever had this problem? This is a first for me!
Aack! Mice in the nest!! - Update
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Sally
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Aack! Mice in the nest!! - Update
Last edited by Sally on Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hilary
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Oh NO! Is this out in your shed? I'm no help with mice (though I did just find roaches in the bottom of one of my cages - yuk yuk YUK) - hopefully the traps will take care of the problem though I'd be very careful (obviously) placing them. You've got a mess of birds on their nests - hopefully the rest will be fine. So sorry about the cb, though!
Hilary
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Sally
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No, Hilary, I quit using the shed, because it is too hard to keep critters out, plus it is too hard to heat (I spent a fortune last winter). This is a little room that had been added to the outside of the house, just off the back porch/patio. It was just a storage room, and not finished off properly, but it was working for the birds (I thought).
I had some mice earlier, and set traps, caught quite a few. Then I found a mousetrap at Lowe's that is reusable and a lot easier to set than those little disposable ones (I hate those things, always set one off in my hand and scare myself half to death!). They also had some bait, a gel, that was supposed to work better than food. Well, I haven't caught anything in those traps, yet I still have mice, so now I have the little el cheapo things slathered in peanut butter. They are on the floor of the bird room, under the shelving units, and it looks like a mine field in there--this is war!!
Is this Friday the 13th, and my calendar is just wrong? I went out to check on the birds a while ago, and found one of those Star babies on the floor, cold and dead. I checked the nest for the other one, and it was dead in the nest. Both of them had full crops. Just in case they weren't really gone, I put them in my emergency brooder, but it was no use. I think I need to take to my bed with a big glass of wine!!
I had some mice earlier, and set traps, caught quite a few. Then I found a mousetrap at Lowe's that is reusable and a lot easier to set than those little disposable ones (I hate those things, always set one off in my hand and scare myself half to death!). They also had some bait, a gel, that was supposed to work better than food. Well, I haven't caught anything in those traps, yet I still have mice, so now I have the little el cheapo things slathered in peanut butter. They are on the floor of the bird room, under the shelving units, and it looks like a mine field in there--this is war!!
Is this Friday the 13th, and my calendar is just wrong? I went out to check on the birds a while ago, and found one of those Star babies on the floor, cold and dead. I checked the nest for the other one, and it was dead in the nest. Both of them had full crops. Just in case they weren't really gone, I put them in my emergency brooder, but it was no use. I think I need to take to my bed with a big glass of wine!!
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Sally
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I set 7, count them, 7 mousetraps yesterday, and do you think I could catch even one stinking mouse?!! It is amazing to me that not one tried my wonderful peanut butter. Of course, this is a breeding bird room, which I have tried to disturb as little as possible, so there are more seeds, etc., on the floor, or in the trays, than would be normally, so there is lots to attract mice. I just haven't wanted to sweep the floor, or even change newspapers, every day. So I am hoping to find something in the traps tomorrow morning--I'm not really a mean person, but I don't like mice anyway--sneaky little things! And can you imagine how hard it was to reach into a dark nest, not knowing if I would touch eggs, baby birds, or horrors, baby mice--shudder! 
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fairestfinches
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Sally,
This may sound bad but we keep a head count at our house.
To date this year I have caught 19 mice and one mole. We live in the country so we expect mice when it cools off. This is the first year to get a mole. Not sure how he got so lost as to end up in my garage.
My military experience has taught me well to deal with these vermen!
I have three zones of defense. First zone is in the garage were they try to get in first. This what we call the killing fields at our house because we cathch most vermen here. I have six traps set up in the garage. I use the the "SNAP-E" traps because they are easy to set without getting my fingers (don't ask how many times Michele had to hear son-of-a-.... before I found these babies), and they have a hair trigger. A nice feature about these is the little built in cup for bait. I use peanut butter in three and bacon grease in three. I have found over the years that not all mice like peanuts or they associate peanut butter with death. I'm not sure, but I'm sure some guy got a grant to study it. These are just my observations.
Second defensive zone is in our utility room where the furnace is and around any plumbing between floors (like under the sinks). Again I use "SNAP-E" traps along with sticky pads placed next to them. If one doesn't get them the other might when they jump to clear the first obsticle. Very few make it this far. I have also use foam in a can to seal every nook and cranny I could get the tube to fit in. I figure if the spray foam tip fits a mice can fit.
Third line of defense is my old boxer/lab mix. She has caught a couple of them and keeps them captive treating them like puppies until I remove them from her. It's kinda of a bitter sweet thing to find your dog being a mama to mice and caring for them like puppies. Especially in her early years she was a trained tactical dog.
I have considered purchasing an electric mouse trap that zaps the little buggers. I have a friend that uses them, but they are really pricey at $20.00 a piece. The one benefit I see to those is that a bird can not get hurt by them since they are self contained.
Good luck!
Just remember soldier. . .You're not alone out here.
Sean
This may sound bad but we keep a head count at our house.
To date this year I have caught 19 mice and one mole. We live in the country so we expect mice when it cools off. This is the first year to get a mole. Not sure how he got so lost as to end up in my garage.
My military experience has taught me well to deal with these vermen!
I have three zones of defense. First zone is in the garage were they try to get in first. This what we call the killing fields at our house because we cathch most vermen here. I have six traps set up in the garage. I use the the "SNAP-E" traps because they are easy to set without getting my fingers (don't ask how many times Michele had to hear son-of-a-.... before I found these babies), and they have a hair trigger. A nice feature about these is the little built in cup for bait. I use peanut butter in three and bacon grease in three. I have found over the years that not all mice like peanuts or they associate peanut butter with death. I'm not sure, but I'm sure some guy got a grant to study it. These are just my observations.
Second defensive zone is in our utility room where the furnace is and around any plumbing between floors (like under the sinks). Again I use "SNAP-E" traps along with sticky pads placed next to them. If one doesn't get them the other might when they jump to clear the first obsticle. Very few make it this far. I have also use foam in a can to seal every nook and cranny I could get the tube to fit in. I figure if the spray foam tip fits a mice can fit.
Third line of defense is my old boxer/lab mix. She has caught a couple of them and keeps them captive treating them like puppies until I remove them from her. It's kinda of a bitter sweet thing to find your dog being a mama to mice and caring for them like puppies. Especially in her early years she was a trained tactical dog.
I have considered purchasing an electric mouse trap that zaps the little buggers. I have a friend that uses them, but they are really pricey at $20.00 a piece. The one benefit I see to those is that a bird can not get hurt by them since they are self contained.
Good luck!
Just remember soldier. . .You're not alone out here.
Sean
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Sally
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Thanks for the info! All 7 traps remained unused again last night, so tomorrow I will go get the SNAP-E traps. Yes, I hate those little cheapos. You get them all set, after numerous times of struggling with the stupid trigger, and then just setting them down on the ground sets them off, or even worse, they snap shut in your hand! Needless to say, with all the commotion going on, I have birds coming off nests, eggs being tossed, babies tossed, it's just been a disaster. What a learning experience!
Before I set up the shelves in this room, I went thru with Great Stuff plugging a jillion cracks, etc., but I'm sure there are places a tiny mouse can slip thru. If I want to continue to use this room, it will have to have a complete breakdown and makeover this summer.
Before I set up the shelves in this room, I went thru with Great Stuff plugging a jillion cracks, etc., but I'm sure there are places a tiny mouse can slip thru. If I want to continue to use this room, it will have to have a complete breakdown and makeover this summer.
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Sally
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Update on my mouse disaster. First off, thank you Sean for the advice about the Snap-E mousetraps. I had to order them online, they arrived yesterday, and had them in the room last night. I didn't catch anything, but I only had peanut butter. Tomorrow, I'll get some bacon. In the meantime, I did catch 2 more mice in those cheapo mousetraps. But I LOVE the Snap-E, they are so easy to set and I didn't catch any fingers!
The breeding situation was about as bad as I had feared. Most of the birds were just off their eggs for too long a time, I think, with all the commotion going on. I found eggs in the nests of the 2nd CB pair and one of the Goldbreasts--it looks like the eggs were fertile, but died at early stage. The Goldbreasts that made a nest in the hanging bath started leaving the nest and quit eating so much eggfood. I had found one dead baby on the floor of the cage the day after the mouse disaster. When I checked their nest today, 2 dead babies inside. When I cleaned out the hay that lines the tray under the nests, I found two more dried-up babies. So altogether they had 5 GB babies, and I lost all of them.
On the third GB pair, they are sitting tight, so I left them alone. They may be sitting on eggs that died if they were off them too long, or they may have laid more eggs now. They have put feathers across the front of the nest, so you can't even get a tiny peek. I was looking at the cage today, trying to decide what to do about them, when the feathers started moving, and the male moved the feather just enough to peek out, then he pulled the feather back over the opening. So I decided to leave well enough alone.
The Strawberries have been sitting tight, and they were the only ones that really didn't stay off their eggs for very long when all that was going on. They have been sitting tight, taking turns, for about 9 days now, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The Owls have been on and off their nest--they had eggs, but those should have hatched by now. I checked yesterday, and nothing but eggs, but I think more than were there before, so they may have started another clutch. I'll give them another day or two to see what they will do.
Today I started very carefully and quietly cleaning out nests and cages. I am setting them up again, one by one, with new nests and nesting materials, taking advantage of this to make a few small changes in the cages. I am so encouraged by the fact that there were so many fertile eggs--I can do this, folks!!
On a side note, the Gouldians, which had nests just on a whim, I'm really not trying to breed them, laid 7 eggs in one nest. Four of them hatched and are growing like weeds. In another nest, which I cleaned out today, there were 12 eggs (I believe the other 2 females were using this nest together), none of which hatched. It looks like most of them were fertile and died early. The birds using this nest were not being as good about sitting as the ones using the porch-style nest.
I have learned first-hand just how disastrous mice can be. I always thought of them as just nasty little pests, but when they will toss out finch eggs to take over a nest for their babies--ugh! And I'm sure that some of the birds coming off their nests was caused by mice running around the cages during the night. Hard lesson to learn, but one I won't forget.
The breeding situation was about as bad as I had feared. Most of the birds were just off their eggs for too long a time, I think, with all the commotion going on. I found eggs in the nests of the 2nd CB pair and one of the Goldbreasts--it looks like the eggs were fertile, but died at early stage. The Goldbreasts that made a nest in the hanging bath started leaving the nest and quit eating so much eggfood. I had found one dead baby on the floor of the cage the day after the mouse disaster. When I checked their nest today, 2 dead babies inside. When I cleaned out the hay that lines the tray under the nests, I found two more dried-up babies. So altogether they had 5 GB babies, and I lost all of them.
On the third GB pair, they are sitting tight, so I left them alone. They may be sitting on eggs that died if they were off them too long, or they may have laid more eggs now. They have put feathers across the front of the nest, so you can't even get a tiny peek. I was looking at the cage today, trying to decide what to do about them, when the feathers started moving, and the male moved the feather just enough to peek out, then he pulled the feather back over the opening. So I decided to leave well enough alone.
The Strawberries have been sitting tight, and they were the only ones that really didn't stay off their eggs for very long when all that was going on. They have been sitting tight, taking turns, for about 9 days now, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The Owls have been on and off their nest--they had eggs, but those should have hatched by now. I checked yesterday, and nothing but eggs, but I think more than were there before, so they may have started another clutch. I'll give them another day or two to see what they will do.
Today I started very carefully and quietly cleaning out nests and cages. I am setting them up again, one by one, with new nests and nesting materials, taking advantage of this to make a few small changes in the cages. I am so encouraged by the fact that there were so many fertile eggs--I can do this, folks!!
On a side note, the Gouldians, which had nests just on a whim, I'm really not trying to breed them, laid 7 eggs in one nest. Four of them hatched and are growing like weeds. In another nest, which I cleaned out today, there were 12 eggs (I believe the other 2 females were using this nest together), none of which hatched. It looks like most of them were fertile and died early. The birds using this nest were not being as good about sitting as the ones using the porch-style nest.
I have learned first-hand just how disastrous mice can be. I always thought of them as just nasty little pests, but when they will toss out finch eggs to take over a nest for their babies--ugh! And I'm sure that some of the birds coming off their nests was caused by mice running around the cages during the night. Hard lesson to learn, but one I won't forget.
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FeatherHarp
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Leah
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We live in the country and have mice in our well-house. One time there were a couple of brown house mice in there that would intentionally throw the traps off the shelf and then eat the peanut butter. It wasn't until I got sticky traps and caught them that I started to get the rest of the mice in there. The deer mice don't seem as smart.
I keep my birds in the house and use "bioligical rodent control" (cats) outside. If we can keep the "BRC's from being eaten by bigger vermin (coyotes) our mouse problem is kept under control. We have "Organic Mowing Units" (horses, cows) so we get mice. I also have one BBRC (Beloved Biological Rodent Control-dog) in the house. I just don't kiss him after a kill till I have brushed his teeth.
I keep my birds in the house and use "bioligical rodent control" (cats) outside. If we can keep the "BRC's from being eaten by bigger vermin (coyotes) our mouse problem is kept under control. We have "Organic Mowing Units" (horses, cows) so we get mice. I also have one BBRC (Beloved Biological Rodent Control-dog) in the house. I just don't kiss him after a kill till I have brushed his teeth.