[SalmonHamachi]

Two of them spotted tonight nibbling on some spilled cracked corn. Ducks in their cages.

My question is, does the disease risk posed justify getting rid of these mice?
While they're cute, I am unaware of how severe the risks of:
1. Serious multiplication
2. Will they attract raccoons to come and eat them
3. Disease via droppings risk?
otherwise, hell I'd like to keep them as pets but I'm unaware of how severe the risk is. My garden is rather closed up (within a city + neighbors)

 

[muleskinner2]

Leave them alone. When the ducks find them, they will eat them. Problem solved.

If there is still corn on the ground after the ducks are finished eating, you are feeding too much.

 

[doc-]

Trying to change a natural rodent population by occasionally removing an individual is like trying to make a hole in a lake by removing one bucket of water.

 

[Orchardsmith]

LOL. If you like mice, leave it. If you think mice are pests, then stomp the little bugger. What you see is only a fraction of what's there. After three years of dealing with a major unspecified pest problem, I had almost none of them this year. Go figure!

 

[Wolf mom]

Just like deer and elk - rats will move in and the mice will move out.

It's all about the food, ya know.

 

[altair]

Don't feed what they can't eat in about 10-15 minutes-- you can always feed small amounts a couple times a day. Corn's not a great food to start with, so you could nix it altogether really.

 

[SalmonHamachi]

Leave them alone. When the ducks find them, they will eat them. Problem solved.

If there is still corn on the ground after the ducks are finished eating, you are feeding too much.

The mice or the corn?
The ducks ignore the corn on the floor. And even stranger, they prefer mud/dirt over my food often times.

The mice are way too big for the ducks, what?

 

[SalmonHamachi]

My question is also however about disease, I understand if that's a bit too technical to answer as I'm trying to ask what people think the real disease vector risk is from mice within the city that probably largely roam within a few peoples' gardens.

 

[Danaus29]

Yes, mice can spread disease but I don't think it's anything that will harm your ducks.

Ducks dig holes in dirt and mud looking for insects and other tasty tidbits. They also get the grit they need to digest their food from dabbling in the dirt. Poultry needs grit in their gizzards to help break down food so they can get the nutrients from it. Corn is harder to break down so they instinctively dig through the dirt to find little pieces of rock which collect in the gizzard and grind against the food to break it down so it can be digested. It's a pretty neat system.

What are you feeding your ducks? Corn isn't the best food for them. It has a lot of calories but not a lot of nutrients.

I believe in trying to keep the pest population under control. Eliminate the spilled food problem and get rid of the mice. Either get or make some duck proof mouse traps to keep the rodents under control.

 

[ladytoysdream]

From a google search, copy and paste...

Rodents such as rats and mice are associated with a number of health risks. In fact, rats and mice are known to spread more than 35 diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans directly through handling of live or dead rodents, contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, as well as rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also be spread to humans indirectly through fleas, ticks, or mites that have fed on an infected rodent.

From this page.
What Diseases Do Mice & Rodents Carry? Rodent Diseases

 

[012345]

Kill them. Any you get rid of lessens the population and like others said, there are plenty. They can be destructive and their nests can get rather nasty. While you will have them around, the less the better.

 

[Danaus29]

Learn something new every day.

Apparently there are several diseases rodents can pass to chickens including a possibilty of avian influenza. This article doesn't say what diseases or mention ducks.

Rodent Control in and Around Backyard Chicken Coops

Home, landscape, and structural pest news from the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program

ucanr.edu

I knew about hantivirus and the roll mice play in the spread of Lyme disease. I think the mice present more of a disease danger to you than to the ducks.

 

[RJ2019]

You should really implement a rodent control problem NOW, unless you enjoy sharing your home with rodents. If you have seen one there are many more unseen. It isn't so much about the ducks health, it's more about your health.

 

[geo in mi]

Be thankful that your ducks and mice are in the fields where they belong, and not in your house.

geo

 

[Orchardsmith]

I'm trying to remember. . . what do mice always do in the fall of the year??

 

[Orchardsmith]

And as for rats, I'm still mighty angry over that whole plague thing that started in 1347 in Marseilles. If the only thing between them and extinction was me, I'd show them the way over the cliff. Used to shoot them in my grandfather's corn crib. Good memories. . . And I won a free sweet tea and slice of pizza for stomping a mouse in a truck stop in Ohio a few weeks back. I was at the right place at the right time. All the help was freaking out, but I flattened the little blighter.

 

[ladytoysdream]

I grew up on a dairy farm. One day , Dad decided we were, going to bag some grain.
Metal sided round grain bin. Put us kids in and we started bagging. Pretty soon,
rats were running wild. Had to go find the cats and we kids, were pounding on the rats,
with shovels.

 

[wdcutrsdaughter]

Someone recently told me that having mice is a good thing because it means you don't have rats.

However, I agree that you should do some sort of mitigation. But be careful with traps or poisons - don't want those around your ducks!

Personally I wouldn't get too worked up over a google search that tells tales of how dangerous nature is for humans. Sure, there could be a problem, and just as likely, there may be no problem.

My chickens eat the mice that are in their coop. The owl took care of the red squirrels. Sometimes nature takes care of itself.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Just get some barn cats and stop worrying about it.

 

[Hiro]

I cannot speak to your ducks and I am new to them (< 1 year), so YMMV; but, my ducks will gobble down a field mouse in short order. They can't do anything with rats, but they eat field mice.