Will Eating a Whole Mouse Hurt a Hen?

[rockstar]

The hen ate the whole mouse with one gulp. Will she be able to digest it?

 

[Amethyste]

I've seen the Ladies eat frogs/lizards/bugs......no mice as of yet /knock on wood

However I remember seeing the chickens when I went to visit Grandad's farm....they LOVED the mice!! Caught more than the cat did I would say lol They also would eat anything.... caught them eating a deer carcass that had been freshly poached on his property the one time.

That made Grandad mad tho.... not the birds eating it, but the fact that someone shot one of his deer so close to the house and only took the head and a little meat. The birds tho were all over that thing tho! It was a cold snap so they worked on that thing for a bit....Grandad got rid of most of it but left some for the birds to work on. Said it was good for the eggs to have a bit of meat

Come to think of it...those birds of him were greedy lil buggers and ate anything remotely foodlike. Fish guts? Yup. Single sides of bread? Yup. Goat food, cat food, bugs, old veggies, they ate it.

Only thing they WOULDNT touch was the ludefisk that was left over from Xmas day or major holidays. LOL Smart birdies say I!!! We kids didnt want to touch it either

<but we were required in our family to eat it and put up with it and not complain about it...even if just a small bit on the plate>

 

[ibpboo]

Should be able to digest it, mine eat mice sometimes. Once the mouse was too big, and it just coughed it back up, yuk!

 

[horsejody]

Chickens love mice. It will be fine.

 

[PineappleMama]

All's I'm Saying

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I've seen my big Cochin roo chase down a mouse and eat it like that. Despite what some people think, chickens eat more than just vegetables.

 

[dichotomymom]

My oldest hates that ours eat toads. He went from loving the chickens to hating them over that fact. The only concern I can think of is if the mice have gotten into poison.

 

[PineappleMama]

I think of that, and the claws. *shudder* At least frogs don't have claws.

That would just freak me out. I'd be pacing and hoping just like Rockstar seems to be.

 

[dichotomymom]

Think of birds of prey.......they are, only domesticated!

 

[rockstar]

Thanks. I was hoping to get that kind of feedback. Both of my grandmothers had chickens when I was little. I never heard them say anything about chickens eating mice, so I was concerned as to how that gizzard could digest a mouse.