Chickens eat mice?

[SurprisingWoman]

My chickens aren't crazy about slugs but they do eat mice! They will lay in the sun outside where the mice live and listen for movement and they are alll over there.

It makes my poor kitty crazy. She gets chased away from her favorite sleeping spots by the chickens and now she can't even go and catch mice at her favorite mouse hole.

If my chickens didn't eat so many mice my husband would have a real problem with them eating so many tomatoes but they are paying their way!

 

[Amethyste]

I've seen chickens gathered around a deer carcass munching away....

so no surprise to me that mine LOVE meat...especially chicken and turkey lol Silly cannibals!

They love frogs, lizards, toads, bugs, and I have caught them giving the eye to the local squirrels....

If it fits in the beak...down it goes!

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I had a herd of chickens that came upon a wild bunny burrow somehow, and watching them run around the yard with hairless newborn bunnies hanging from their beaks was NOT fun. I'd be cool with the mice, though. And roaches.

 

[texasbartrambaby]

Yep, mine love them. My kids about had a fit when I found baby mice in my shed and off to the coop they went. That was not a good day ... 10 years from now they'll be telling the shrink how mean I was for feeding chooks mice.

I find very few rodents, etc in our coop and barn and I am soooo thankful! We have show goats and pigs and dairy goats, and although I keep stuff in barrels, I am sure that there are mice around. Just don't see the darn things running around and that suits me fine! We don't even have barn cats, just "barn chickens!" They come running when they hear us scooting the feed barrels around!

 

[Pathfinders]

I love to watch my Buckeyes play "Chicken Football" when one has caught a mouse or other small creature...

 

[cap1717]

I am loving all of these "mice and critter" stories! My very small suburban back yard is perhaps not the "small critter" habitat that many of you have, but I live in the desert, and besides the occasional mouse, I'm sure they are eating lizards, ghecco's, roaches, and other "big bugs", as well. What tickles me is how very proud of themselves they are, after having caught something!

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

My cats kill mice all the time but don't eat them. However, the hens find these mice and dispose of the, uh, evidence?

 

[LoreenH]

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That's part of the reason I'm getting ducks, they LOVE slugs!!!

 

[bluey]

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I think they call that "drawn and quartered"!

You got a real sick mind Lady Jayne...I like it!

 

[Flannery Eau]

I have been having a surprisingly good time feeding mice to my chickens. The first time Georgene swallowed one whole, I couldn't believe my eyes! I think it is a great example of poetic justice - the mice eat the chicken food, the chickens eat the mice!!

The chickens have even come up with chicken "ninja moves" such as the comb grab, the waddle grab, and the sneak attack switch. I recorded it and posted it on youtube. You can find it at:

These chickens have proven to be endless entertainment - I got them in the spring, and we have four laying right now. The eggs will soon be fortified with mouse proteins and other nutrients.