Voles in my hay shed

[atr]

This winter has been particularly awful up here, and the entire mountain vole population appears to have taken refuge under the floor of my hay shed. They spoiled a good deal of alfalfa in the process.

Said hay shed is now completely cleared out and swept clean, but the voles are still in residence under the floor in unsettlingly large numbers.

the floor is pallets with plywood on top. It’s been there for 20 years and I’d really rather not lift it all up–in fact, I’m not even sure we could without taking the building down. We are planning to add an additional layer of plywood to it this year as it could use some help.

I’d rather not use poison–because other wild creatures, raptors, owls–unless there is some kind of vole bait I can use that won’t poison the food chain?

There are too many to trap, It think. My cats are absolutely not interested in voles, apparently they taste bad.

Any suggestions for getting them to move on? We don’t have big snakes up here or I’d go find one and let it lose out there.

I’ve tried dousing the whole place, including their burrows, with a strong solution of pinesol, which caused some squeaking and irritation, and a few rather damp and disinfected voles to pop out from round the edges, but it doesn’t seem to have moved them along.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@atr

I’ve tried dousing the whole place, including their burrows, with a strong solution of pinesol, which caused some squeaking and irritation, and a few rather damp and disinfected voles to pop out from round the edges, but it doesn’t seem to have moved them along.

:lol::lol::lol: Sorry, had to laugh at the thought of voles soaked in pinesol making a mad dash for safety.

I think a heavy infestation like this calls for an exterminator. They have products not available to the public for eliminating large populations without the worry of causing deaths in predators. Once under control, then I’d dig all the way around your shed and put in wire cloth a good foot down into the ground and 6" up the side of your shed to discourage any future residents.

Those voles found a goldmine in your hay shed - a never ending supply of food all winter. I’m sure they thought they’d died and gone to heaven… and as the word spread in the vole kingdom, every single vole on your property moved in to share the good fortune!

I wish you luck!

[Lolliver]

I’m wondering if ammonia would encourage them to leave? I know it’s supposed to get rid of other varmints. Good luck!

[imaginique]

I’ve heard that peppermint oil will discourage mice (and bugs). You might try soaking some cotton balls in it and placing them in strategic locations.

[walkinthewalk]

We have an over abundance of voles this year — on the hillside where I have to hang onto the tractor fender when mowing or slide off the opposite side:(

When I lived in SoCal fresh sticks of Juicy Fruit gum seemed to work to get rid of gophers. They loved the smell, chewed it and cashed in because they could not digest the gum.

I am giving thought to buying a trailer load (not really that much:) of Juicy Fruit to see if that might work on the voles.

Just unwrap the sticks of gum and shove them down the holes:). How slick would that be if it works:). I haven’t tried it because there’s too much other pressing stuff ATM, but rolling the tractor when a wheel falls into an underground vole condominium could be a pretty pressing issue----

[chestnutmarebeware]

I need to lend you my kitty, Fat Eliza. Voles must really taste bad, but she kills as many as she can anyway, and lines their little corpses up on my doormat. :lol:

[atr]

It’s probably magical thinking, but it’s vewy,vewy quiet out there this morning–maybe a combination of pinesol and removed food source has caused them to move house? Or maybe they are just having a lie-in…

Juicy Fruit, eh? interesting! Maybe a juicy fruit/Ammonia combo…

My cats are not remotely interested–it’s also a little far from the house for them, I think.

[Chall]

Ugh. If I had to follow a natural path I’d borrow (from friends, neighbors):
Any of the terrier breed dogs, this was they were bred to do. (NYC has a terrier club that they take on rat hunts- shudder).
someone’s pet boa constrictor should work but tape (with those tapes for human skin) a gps on him. You don’t want him disappearing.
Feral cats from your local shelter, in our area they are referred to as “barn” cats, you might be able to foster a few.
encourage owls (I have no clue there)
chickens ? I think flocks go after mice, am I correct chicken owners?

Other than the feral cats, I’m talking borrowing for a few days, not owning.

[atr]

DH went to the feed store this morning and after deep discussions purchased some vole repellant with very precise instructions. This evening we get to rip the plywood up and get to work. Yipee…. I hate to think what else we’ll find under there.

We had ermine living under there for several years, which did wonders for our rodent population.

[walkinthewalk]

@atr

DH went to the feed store this morning and after deep discussions purchased some vole repellant with very precise instructions. This evening we get to rip the plywood up and get to work. Yipee…. I hate to think what else we’ll find under there.

We had ermine living under there for several years, which did wonders for our rodent population.

If the stuff from the feed store works, please let us know:). I really don’t want to go all over the hill chucking juicy fruit down every hole:)

1. Barn cats – mine wouldn’t hunt them but since I have laid my last barn cat to rest, the vole population does seem to have increased.

2. I once rescued a Lab/Red Heeler mix who loved digging up the voles, killing them, and leaving them for me to dispose of. My then dip stick neighbor managed to hit him and kill him, while he was standing at the end of the driveway – I know it was an accident because her young children were in the van and saw it, and she came to where I worked to apologize.

My current dogs have no desire to dig after anything – they only engage in chase, if they get the chance, and the subjects have big fluffy white tails —

[atr]

It was astounding when we pulled the floor up… just more or less wall to wall vole carpet. So now we have to sprinkle these granules over the area and water them in for 5 days in a row, then, if they have departed, put a perimeter of it around the shed, and repeat in the Fall.

We shall see.

I think we may need dynamite.

[Chall]

Let me post this for the first time on Coth - no pictures please! Your carpet of voles skeeves me out :eek:

[walkinthewalk]

@atr

It was astounding when we pulled the floor up… just more or less wall to wall vole carpet. So now we have to sprinkle these granules over the area and water them in for 5 days in a row, then, if they have departed, put a perimeter of it around the shed, and repeat in the Fall.

We shall see.

I think we may need dynamite.

Yuck:(. I’m not sure I could handle pictures either, lollol. I know we don’t have to look at pics but -------lol

Is the stuff you’re using a deterrent and they will move somewhere else, or will it kill them?

I hope you had some sort of face mask on so as not to inhale anything:)

[endlessclimb]

@Chall

someone’s pet boa constrictor should work but tape (with those tapes for human skin) a gps on him. You don’t want him disappearing.

LOL I’m imagining a boa constrictor with a gopro on his head narrating his buffet experiences

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@atr

It was astounding when we pulled the floor up… just more or less wall to wall vole carpet.

:lol: Vole carpet. I personally would have loved to have seen a picture of that! Now, if it had been infested with a carpet of spiders, no.no.no.

[Chall]

Someone mvp?, talked about a “welcome mat of millipedes”.
We are developing new house designer terms here on coth

[Sidneyland]

Sorry to derail but I read the title of this thread quickly and thought it said Voices in the Hay Shed.

Yup. That would be a problem.

[atr]

So, an update… after 5 days of repellant treatment, the voles appear to have packed their little rucksacks and moved on. We’ve left the floor up for an additional week and we have had torrential, flooding rain all week, so I think the whole area has been pretty inhospitable.
The floor probably wont go back in until next weekend, and we plan to add an extra layer of repellant before we put it in, and seal it tighter around d the edges.
Then I guess we wait for the fall and see whether they try to move back in…

[george]

If your in the market for a barn owl I highly recommend building a barn owl box. You can order plans for them online. Well done reclaiming your feed room!