I just saw a lttle brown mouse crawling on my ducks pen.. i panicked since i am a new duck owner.. but knowing my ducks... they would scatter from it... but can field mice have rabies..??
Our ducks LOVE mice, I've seen them chase them around and catch them more than once. We threw a dead one from a trap out our backdoor last winter and the chaos was amazing...one duck would grab it and they were all after the duck with the mouse.
Yep they could hurt the ducks.....if the ducks choke to death while eatting them lol. Be careful about rats though, big rats can kill chicks and ducklings in a brooder. I've had several chicks to get killed by rats before.
Well, mice carry lots of germs and nasty stuff, but I'd say as long as you aren't infested and have a giant pile of mice doo in from the floor to the ceiling in your duck pen, it's fine XD! Ducks can hold their own pretty well from what I've seen. My kittens were terrified of my big girl! She'd waddle up and give them the eye and they'd run for the hills. So unless it's a predator or a large rat, don't worry too much about it. If you're concerned souly about mice, I'd suggest getting a couple of cats with claws. In a month my cats have kept birds, mice, and other small boogers from grabbing my duck's food. Now they are free to eat when they please without theives or poo in their dish. So I'd say that over all, mice are more annoying than they are dangerous, and a couple of kitties will fix that right up!
No the mice wont hurt your ducks but the ducks will probably eat the mice where there is nothing wrong with that either, mine eat them all the time
Could the mice get in a few blows? Three of my Pekins have small bite marks on their bill. No evidence of a larger predator breech.
Maybe if they were being attacked by the ducks, I had a cat once that caught a chip monk and he got bit in the face from it got an abscess from it had to go to the vet. So anything is possible. Dip their lil webbies into some Epsom salt water if they look irritated.
Right now it is the only thing I can think of making those marks. And the injured parties are the most agressive eater although all six of them have a pretty passive nature. Can I dip their whole head in Epsom water or just dab their bill?
