deer mice

[Monty]

I usually have a "few" deer mice in some of the boxes on my trail, but this year, they are pretty much infested. Every Friday when I check the trail, I have to, again, evict the mice and their nests.

The boxes that the tree swallows have claimed are now the only boxes that the mice are still trying to use. And I'm finding that the swallows, with no other option, are beginning to round out the center of the mice nests and put pieces of grass in as part of their own nest building.

My concern is: since mice will occasionally eat birds' eggs/young, if I have to allow them to co-exist with the swallows, will they prey on the birds' eggs/young? They'd be foolish not, as they would be an easy meal. I don't want to kill the mice, but don't want to lose this year's young swallows, not even hatched.

I've not had this problem before, and am not sure what my options are.

Monty

[Evelyn Cooper]

Hi Monty:

Do you have a predator guard on your pole? I have field mice, rats, raccoons, SNAKES, roaming cats, squirrels and all kinds of climbing predators. I use the Ron Kingston stovepipe guard on my poles and never put a box on a tree or hang it in a tree. This guard can be used on a pole underneath a feeder and it works. You can find instructions on how to make it at www.nabluebirdsociety.org, click on the fact sheets on the left of the Home Page, or you can go to www.sialis.org and I am sure Bet has instructions there. It is not hard to make and inexpensive. I would suggest going to a hardware store and ask for the heavy duty hanger iron (I think they call it plumbers tape) that holds the hardware cloth and stovepipe. Lowe's stopped carrying the heavy duty and when the horrible storms and winds come, it doesn't hold up as well. It can let the stovepipe move (the flimsy kind) and a hole is there large enough for a snake to get through. I had that happen a couple of season ago. My local hardware store carries the better grade. It is a little more expensive, but is worth it. We changed out the flimsy hanger iron on the poles we had put them on.

Evelyn