Keeping Rodents Out of Chicken Coops and Feed

Store feed in metal cans with tight lids, pick up spilled feed before dark, line the coop with quarter-inch hardware cloth and set traps inside covered boxes where the hens can't reach. That covers most rodent problems in a backyard flock.

Chickens are common in the South Valley, around Belen and on rural lots east of the mountains. Feed is the draw. A coop with open feeders and a bag of scratch in the corner will feed mice all winter.

Chicken feed is grain, and grain is what mice and rats eat. Chickens scatter it, and it ends up in the bedding and under the coop. Water, warmth from the birds and deep litter give rodents everything else they need. The state rodent guide notes Norway rats occur in some New Mexico farm areas, and feed rooms are where they show up.

The biggest fix is the simplest:

• Keep feed in galvanized metal cans with tight lids
• Store cans off the ground on a pallet or shelf
• Fill feeders only with what the flock will eat in a day
• Use a treadle or covered feeder if you can
• Sweep spilled feed out of the coop and run before dark

NMSU Extension says mice fit through a quarter-inch hole and rats through a half-inch hole. Chicken wire won't stop either. Use quarter-inch hardware cloth on windows, vents and the run, and bury it along the base or add an apron so rodents can't dig under. Raise the coop off the ground if you can, which removes the dark space under the floor. Keep woodpiles, hay and brush away from the coop.

The state guide's yard advice applies: firewood on racks 18 inches off the ground and plants trimmed back from buildings.

Chickens are curious and will peck at anything. Put snap traps inside a covered box or a short length of pipe with openings only a mouse can enter, and set them along the coop walls. Check them every morning. Avoid glue boards entirely.

Be careful with bait. Hens can eat bait directly if it's not in a locked station, and can eat a poisoned mouse. Tell any provider about the flock first. See rodent poison, pets and wildlife.

Rodent droppings in bedding mean the same hantavirus precautions as anywhere else. Ventilate the coop, wear gloves, soak droppings and nests with disinfectant for 5 minutes, then remove them. Don't dry-sweep a coop full of mouse droppings. The New Mexico Department of Health also recommends keeping hay, wood and compost piles away from the house, since they shelter rodents. See deer mice in garages and sheds for outbuilding cleanup.

If you're seeing rodents in daylight, finding burrows under the coop or losing eggs, the population is bigger than traps alone will handle. A provider can trap around the coop safely and seal the outbuildings. See cabin and shed rodent control and rat control.

Collect eggs daily. Clean the nesting boxes when you change bedding, and look for droppings in the corners. A mouse living in the coop will use the nesting boxes and the deep litter. If you find droppings there, remove the bedding with gloves on after wetting it down, and replace it. Wash your hands after any coop work.

A coop on the ground leaves a dark space underneath where rats and mice burrow. Raise it on legs or blocks with open space below, or line the floor with hardware cloth. Keep the run clear of piles of bedding, scrap lumber and old feed bags. Mow or pull weeds around the coop so rodents have to cross open ground to reach it, which they avoid because hawks and owls hunt there.

Mice are the most common coop visitors, but rats can show up around feed, especially near ditches and farm land. Look for burrow holes under the coop or along the run, droppings much larger than a mouse's and missing eggs. Rats need about a half-inch gap, NMSU says. If you see signs of rats, get them identified and talk to a provider about trapping around the flock safely.

Burrows under the coop floor should be filled and the floor lined with hardware cloth once the rats are gone, so new ones can't dig back in.

• Keeping Rats and Mice Out of Your Compost
• Rodent Poison Around Pets and Wildlife: What to Know
• Deer Mice in Garages and Sheds: Cleanup and Keeping Them Out
• Plague, Fleas and Pets Around Albuquerque

Services: Cabin, Shed and Outbuilding Rodents / Rat Control / Deer Mouse Control

1. NMSU Extension Guide L-209: Rodent Control and Protection from Hantavirus
2. New Mexico Department of Health: Domestic Rats and Mice
3. New Mexico Department of Health: Plague case in Bernalillo County (Sept. 2025)
4. U.S. EPA: Restrictions on Rodenticide Products (archived Jan. 2025)