[From the May 2017 issue of the UC IPM Retail Newsletter]

Keeping backyard chickens is becoming increasingly popular in residential areas around California. Your store may be selling pre-made chicken coops, feed, or other accessories, or you may be getting questions about rodent pests in chicken houses.

Chicken coops are sometimes associated with mild to serious rodent infestations. Rodents, such as rats and house mice, are not only predators of chickens and eggs, they can carry and transmit many diseases to both chickens and humans. For rodents, as well as most pests in and around the home and garden,...