Mice in, or around the coop..?!

[paulandashia]

I vividly remember a few people bragging what wonderful mousers their chickens are, and here we are thinking "What's WRONG with our birds???" LOL

Without our knowledge, the mouse population BOOMED at my best friends house over the winter.!!!
EEEK..!!!
Soooooo..... We set 20+ traps around her coop, and within hours they were all FULL.!!!

At first, we were tossing the mice out, but then I came up with something clever... (Although a bit nasty!)

I told my friend to start saving the mice and when she gets a bit, bring it over to my house.
Within the week, we had a big gallon-sized ziploc bag full of the little vermin! (which I kept in my freezer)
Big, FAT, sassy, grain-fed mice.!!! LOL

Once the bag was full, I pulled out a big pot, threw the mice in, added some salt, covered with water, and boiled for a little while to make them nice and tender (and to kill any potential pathogens). Once cooked, I strained the little vermin (WARNING: They smell like raw liver, and the skin tends to start peeling!). Then I put them back in the pot to cool off. Once they were cool enough to eat, I went out with the pot, and dumped the cooked mice on the ground...

The chickens went CRAZY..!!! They were running around with mice hanging from their mouths!
It was SOOO funny.!!!
EVERYTHING was eaten! Heads with skulls, fur, tails, feet, EVERYTHING. Nothing was wasted!

More than half of the birds at my house belong to my best friend, and one of them, an agile, beautiful Andalusian, affectionately named Andy, grabbed a mouse, and started running around with it, clucking proudly while holding it by the head, and being chased in circles by the other hens. Once the hens gave up, Andy decided she would swallow the mouse whole, starting at the head, she managed to get the whole mouse down, except the feet and tail! It was HISTERICAL!!! There she stood, with a foot sticking out of each side of her beak, and a tail in the middle!!! LOL She finally managed to get it down, but it was SOOO funny.!!!
It was a feeding FRENZY for a good half an hour.!!! And afterwards, all the hens were walking around happily with crops full of cooked mice! LOL

I know this may sound grose to some people, but I thought, what the heck, FREE extra protein.!
I am TOTALLY going to do it again.!!! LOL (Next time taking photos!) LoL

 

[TheRookie]

That sounds totally disgusting... but.. Im probably gonna do it next time we get mice around the coop

 

[jk216]

I love the idea of feeding mice to my chickens. We have just had poison put down to treat the problem in the house after winter so i cant use them

. Our local pet/vet outlet has frozen white mice

which will do nicely thou. How many do i need to cook up and how often should i do this treat per week, i have 7 hens and 3 ducks. Will the ducks eat cooked mice wouldn't want them to be left out! I could make it into a mice stew for them add some veg mmmmm I'm sure they would like it! Or is this taking it to far!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Aeropennchick]

Maybe they will see the live invaders as a tasty snack from now on!

 

[joan1708]

you cooked those mice in your house? in your cooking pot? that you cook other food in? I think it would be better to put them in tin foil and cook them outside on a grill or something. I wouldn't mind the chickens eating cooked mice, but I don't think I could cook them in the house.

 

[paulandashia]

LOL I have a big, old, stainless steel pot that I use for our "Pets". I use it to cook salmon that we have caught the year before if it did not get eaten, hooligan, old meat, and yes, mice. LOL

Nothing "we" humans eat gets cooked in "that" pot. It's just for the pets (got it at a garage sale for $1).

But Yes, I DID boil them on my stove in the house. It didn't smell that bad really (pretty much like liver), and the over-the-stove fan pretty much sucked out all the smell...
I think it was the thought of "mice" that grosed me out the most, but I used plenty of Febreeze afterwards! LOL

I know it seems disgusting to "us" humans, but I wish you guys could have seen the feeding frenzy! LOL
It was TOTALLY worth it.

Those little fur-balls have been happily living off of our feather babies food, and it was PAYBACK time.!!!

 

[roosterjrm]

That was gross, I would'nt eat the eggs from those chickens after that, but different strokes for different folks,Lol.

 

[beaglady]

If you want to see the chickens go crazy, find a nest of baby mice buried in their bedding and uncover it. They play 'keep-away' with the little pink mice.

 

[tyjaco]

That was gross, I would'nt eat the eggs from those chickens after that, but different strokes for different folks,Lol.

yah...I'm with you...gross

 

[jomoncon]

I think that's a great idea! Free protein & I know the chickens will love it.

I'm going to set some traps for mice today. I have an old pot I can use, but I think I will boil them on the propane burner outside.