The last bag of chicken feed I purchased (crumbles) had a mouse hole chewed in the bag. My chickens seem not to want to eat that feed... could they smell or somehow sense a mouse presence (even though the hole was small and mouse-entry was not made?
I've been told over and over that birds have a horrible sense of smell. I believe that includes chickens. Contrary to popular belief most birds can't smell if you've handled their nests or eggs. They do however have much much better eye sight than ours and I believe good sense of taste. They will pick out differences in feed that we can't see and many species of birds can identify their own eggs from another birds by sight alone. If they are avoiding it from the mouse then most likely the feed looks wrong or tastes wrong to them.
