AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Is there any poultry disease that can be transmitted from mice?

I have some chooks that have a discharge from the nose. I treat the affected ones with Baytril and/or Tylan which works, but others get sick also.

They are all wormed, shed is clean and disinfected, food is clean and good quality.

But we do have a mice problem suddenly, which we are combating.

Any suggestions please?

Hi Jenny, I don't know about the mice but if you have had resp. problems & not treating all the poultry the cycle may just keep going. I have found if every one gets treated at the same time I haven't got birds that are sick but haven't shown any symtoms yet reinfecting the others. It's like a cold going around the family

I looked this up 12 months ago and this is what I found. not sure it will help you.

RATS & MICERodents carry disease causing organisms such as: Leptospirosis,salmonella, typhus and ringworm. They spread disease by feeding andurinating on stored products and contaminating food with droppings.They are attracted to virtually any structure that has food preparation orstorage areas due to the abundant food and shelter.There are over 500 rat species and 250 kinds of mouse that inhabit theworld. Two rat species and one type of mouse constitute the total pestspecies. Rats and mice are pests because they live closely to humansand cause a number of problems.The pest species are rattus rattus (ship rat, black rat, roof rat), rattusnorvegicus (brown rat, common rat, norway rat) & Mus musculus(house mouse). They have become pests because they are dependenton humans for food and shelter (commensal).IDENTIFICATIONRats and Mice are mammals that belong to the order Rodentia(rodents), from Latin rodere ‘to gnaw’. This is attributed to the maincharacteristic of all rodents, being their teeth and their gnawing habit.They gnaw to control the size of their chisel shaped incisors located ontheir upper and lower jaws.The most common rodents are the Norway rat, Roof rat and Housemouse. Characteristics of the Norway rat are: weight of 450g, heavyset body, has a blunt nose and has course, red-brown hair. The Roofrat is 260g, slender, has a pointed noise and fine grey, black or brownhair.WHERE DO RATS & MICE LIVE?Rats and mice live and nest in and near buildings where they haveaccess to food, water, and shelter.Rodents live in groups and may nest outdoors in burrows adjacent towaterways, under buildings, in trees and vines, in garbage dumps, inrubbish heaps and in other places which provide food and shelter.They can nest indoors in wall cavities, under floors and with storedfoods. Rodents can damage insulation cables, electrical wiring, woodand other materials. Their sharp teeth enable them to gnaw throughaluminium, lead, wood and cardboard.Rats and mice are creatures of habit and therefore tend to use thesame routes of travel from food sources for as long as possible.

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:QXl ... clnk&gl=au

If you stop them from peeing on the bird’s food I don't think they are a real heath risk to your chickens. As I said just don't let the pee on their food.

Thanks for information. We have had bait stations working that have reduced mice numbers significantly.

Also have reworked feed dispensers so mice cannot get into main feed area.

Problem is going away, but still treating a couple of distressed birds.

cheers

jenny

I can't keep up with the little rodent's at the moment ,
They are keeping me busy ,thinking of new spots for the traps , and trying to outsmart them ..

We used bait stations, Tomcat ones, that made a big impact on our problem.
We had to make sure the hens didn't get to the bodies before we did though.

That's my biggest fear with poisoning too Jenny.

I have a puddy tat who loves to catch and eat rodents, have you ever seen a cat who doesn't even chew mice before swallowing them. I just worry she'll eat a poisoned one some day, so we have a bottle trap, but the little blighters seem to have figured that one out and have been living on a nice diet of peanut butter for a few days now.

I've heard good reports about Tomcat though. I know a girl at Monto who's dogs ate a 2kg bag and didn't have any ill effects. They were HUGE pig dogs though.

Oh well. Such is life I guess.

Cheers for now.

Ann

I've thought about poison to , but haven't resorted to it yet ... If the little blighters get an worse I'm going to have to though .