Asked on Oct 21, 2014

Dead critter smell thats making me sick!

We have chickens, therefore we have rodents and they come in the basement in the winter so i have to put out poison. My hubby kept forgetting to get the stuff from work that makes them NOT STINK when they die and I put out some other brand. Now we cant find the dead critter, or critters if the case may be, to get rid of the smell. There are literally tons of places in that back corner they could be inside walls, under the freezer or washer dryer, etc. I already have lost over 28 pounds that i couldnt afford to lose over the summer with illness and now im just staying nauseous from the odor. Can anyone help me with a general whole room deodorizer I can use to absorb this horrid smell till it's completely rotted away? If I could locate it I would certainly go and remove and be rid of it and gladly get sick doing so. We have all three tried to no avail to find it.
  11 answers
  • I am not sure why you think chickens draw rodents because chickens if they can catch them will eat mice and other smaller rodents. You need a couple neutered outside cats to get rid of mice. I have 3 cats that go in and out and are actually housebroke too and I have no mice problem (I am in the suburbs where mice can be a real problem too). You need to go around and use steel wool to plug any holes you find in the foundation or in the walls. mice will not chew through this. You could also have a squirrel issue or other larger rodent issue too with that much smell! usually mice die in the walls about 3 days of stink and then it dissipates but it sounds like you have a real problem. there are companies that check for rodents and I would give them a call. these companies know what to look for! this is not healthy for you or your family. seek out professionals, please.
  • Angelia Angelia on Oct 21, 2014
    I am terminally ill and my daily medications cost more than my house payment each month so I certainly cannot afford a professional. I have commercial grade poison blocks now in place. I just need help getting rid of the odor that the previous grocery store killer has caused. We get nice every winter at this time and I've been here nearly thirty years so I am aware of what kinds of wildlife I have and why.(chicken feed DOES attract rodents and squirrels but my squirrels tend to remain in the attic area instead downward under soil level)
    • @Angelia sorry to hear about your illness. You are right feed does (I always kept mine in galvanized cans). the professionals usually give free estimates and give you a report which then you can use for your own use. and maybe the professional will help you solve the problem? I know the smell is awful and wondering if an air purifier in your room would work? Activated charcoal rids odors too but can be expensive. I have masked the odor before with plug ins but that may not be good for you. I hope someone has an answer.
  • AvonelleRed AvonelleRed on Oct 21, 2014
    You could try a couple of air sponges placed strategically around the area where the smells are most intense. I recently moved into a house that had a weird smell. Bought a couple of the air sponges off of Ebay, and the same day I got them in the mail, I opened them up, and within an hour or two, I couldn't smell that weird smell. Each air sponge should last two or three months, and they cost less than $10 each. Just look up Nature's Air Sponge.
  • Kristen Kristen on Oct 22, 2014
    Angelina, For your own health consider getting rid of the poison and if you can, ask your husband to install quick kill spring traps. It probably seems much more difficult and messy but when you are ill your body is weakened so the poison offgassing and even being brought into the house in minute quantitities on your husband's hands and clothese may be negatively affecting you. The traps can be used over and over which should keep the expense down. Praying for your recovery.
  • Angelia Christenson Angelia Christenson on Oct 22, 2014
    thanks for the advice guys. I have no choice to try and get out for a bit today and run an errand but after that im gonna attempt to TACKLE this area even if it DOES make me wretch the entire time. Provided its not IN THE WALLS on behind the heavy stuff that i cannot get to at all. (since im down to 94 pounds and am five foot 81/2 you can imagine i have literally VERY LITTLE strength and stamina for this job but then again its over a decade since we remodeled and moved back into our home so it definitely needs a good tossing of accumulated junk. I dont have very close relationships with my almost 30 year old kids and they both have lives of their own now so i DID try one of them and got turned down for some assistance. (i NEVER ask friends or family for anything. Im the one everyone else still calls when there is something they need help with) My husband works more than 60 hours a week as it is so i hate to "put him to work" when he is here. It didnt HIT ME HARD when i descended the stairs to the main floor this morning so maybe its starting to fade a LITTLE BIT. ...one of the "bad poison" traps fell behind the dryer so if i can get all of THAT out maybe it wont recur. We've used the same stuff the city uses in tiny one inch blocks for EVER and they really do have something in them that causes them not to have that road kill smell. I have no idea WHAT it is but this is the first time ive had an odor other than my beast of a saint bernard literally keep me nauseas.
  • LInda Nicholson LInda Nicholson on Oct 22, 2014
    We use Eagles-7 Rat bait. I'm not sure what it does to the mice, but there's no smell. We've found a few dead ones, and they are completely dehydrated. You can find it at some of the bigger feed stores. But we buy it off the internet. It's very inexpensive, a lot less than all the other rat/mice bats we've found.
  • Ida Hennessey Ida Hennessey on Oct 22, 2014
    I started having this problem when my neighbor built her hen house, too. I've found that it's a very bad idea to use the rat poison, because the rats slow down, and get eaten by the eagles and hawks, thus killing the birds. I now use peanut butter on rat traps, with a thumb tack and string on them, in case they aren't killed outright, and go crazy trying to escape. Tie the traps down, and dispose of them in the morning. I'm so sorry about the illness, and the smell. They do dry out in a couple of weeks.
  • Angelia Christenson Angelia Christenson on Oct 23, 2014
    Well, thus far i have filled mason jars with vinegar for a day and sat around the general area....nope. Then i opened four boxes of baking soda yesterday and left them down there to "absorb" it....little better but not really and i installed so many dang plug ins all over the house at least it doesnt hit ya till ya actually go down there to get something or do laundry. As i said, i KNOW what poison works without giving off the horrible odor and i know how to get rid of my mice every winter. I simply wanted assistance with the ODOR RIGHT NOW. I think one is INSIDE of a wall we made between the two sections so when i start dissecting down there today im gonna dump some lime between the walls as well. Fortunately that one wall is NOT part of the drop ceiling and open on the top.
  • Darla Darla on Oct 23, 2014
    I feel for you - that is the worst odor in the world! Have you tried the enzyme cleaners used for pet urine? One of the brands is called Nature's Miracle. Spray it on everything that smells and let it dry by itself. I would agree that it's better to use traps than poison so you can empty the traps and avoid the problem in the first place. Cats would get rid of mice but maybe not large rats.
  • There are several types of bait and rodent traps that can be used to prevent this. First off you need to determine how they are getting in and plug those openings. Rats create a path using the oils on their hair marking the walls giving them a road of sorts to find their way in. You need to look around for these oily black stains on the walls etc to help identify where they are moving. Place enclosed rat traps along the walls. These are the types that are covered over. They provide a safe location, or so they think in which to hide as they move around. Inside some of these have electrical shock devices that kill them on contact. This prevents them from getting in at all. Other baits cause them to suffocate causing them to leave the safety of the wall cavities where they feel they can get more air. This prevents them from dying in the wall cavities. Some other baits react when they drink water. So be sure that there is no active leaks in which they can get water within the house. Lastly contact a professional to bait and trap them for you. It may appear to be a bit costly at first, but when you figure in the cost and aggravation when they die in the walls and the health issues that they can cause. Its money well spent.
  • Angelia Christenson Angelia Christenson on Oct 24, 2014
    We have cats....always HAVE HAD CATS.....(husband much prefers kitties while i cant stand them but oh well) One is too old to do much but lay around and be fat anymore but we also have a tiny grey tabby named Miss Scarlett cause she is SUCH A LITTLE B%&$*$!!!ha....seriously, she reallly IS. he always said "if they would just stay tiny and cute" and we ended up with one thats gonna do exactly that cause she had worms for a really long time and we had no idea and it pretty sell stunted her growth, but she is the MIGHTY HUNTRESS of the culdesac. Even when something happens to the older one im sure ill get another cat for a gift even though i prefer the saint bernard so got that part covered. Ive never seen one eat the heads off of rodents and birds and squirrels before and bring me the rest of it till now, but she will even get up IN THE CEILING and chase things and so small she doesnt fall thru. i tired yesterday to get down there and work on cleaning it out and getting rid of junk and hunt then i got super nauseas and had to quit. I took my nausea medication FIRST THING today so maybe i can tackle is some. It is starting to dissipate some though at least or ive got enough smelly stuff i cant smell it while im cooking and such. Again, hubby works for the city of Marietta Housing authority and he hires the PROS to do these things for the projects (whats left of them anyhow) We already have the right kind of baits now and traps as well for any future ones coming in from the chilly nights. I have two holes in the actual concrete of the house that i can plug with old clothes or rags etc but they CANNOT be permanently reclosed. One is for the barrel out in the yard for drainage of the tub and washer that helps keep my garden watered during the summer and the other is for the gas line to the propane tank since we updated ten years ago and got rid of total electric heaters in every room in the walls. I have had those plugged and even the pipe to the old washer and dryer connectors in the bathroom as well since first night below 60 degrees.
    • Lois Franklin Lois Franklin on Jun 23, 2015
      @Angelia Christenson I realize that as I'm seeing this well after you posted it that you might not get it but had to pass on this tip. When trying to plug any holes to keep mice/rats out, use STEEL WOOL, not cloth. They won't chew through the steel wool but they'll just chew through anything else to get what or where they want. I learned that from my mother many years ago.