Cocoa is a mouse eating duck now!

[newchickmom09]

Yesterday was the funniest day. A couple of weeks ago I found a hole under my chicken's feeder and figured we had gotten mice.

My cat is an inside/outside cat and we also have another cat that adopted us and thinks that it lives at our house. So I was hopeing that I would see at least one of those cats doing what cats are supposed to do and catch those darn mice. Well, yesterday my hubby and I were checking out the garden and deciding where we are going to plant everything and I see my cat run out of our shed and stop right by our feet. In her mouth was a small gray/brown thing. I told my hubby "look she caught a mouse"! Well, then my cat let it go and caught it again. It was like she was so happy she wanted to show it to us. We didn't want it getting into the chicken coop or back into the shed so my hubby pinned it down with a rake the next time our cat let it go. With in the time that we have been watching and yelling about the mouse of course noisy Cocoa and Ebony are right under our feet by now seeing what is going on. My hubby asked well what should be do with it. I told him to give it back to our cat since she caught it. He must have squished the mouse a little hard because when he lifted up the rake the poor thing just switched. Before that mouse could move one more time Cocoa lepped on top of it and the mouse was in her mouth before we could even move. I have never seen her move that fast before. Ebony was just standing there looking at her with the most puzzled look on his face like he had no clue what she even went after. Normaly any time she has something he always trys to get a piece. But he just stood there as Cocoa sat there chomping her bill. I didn't know if she could actualy eat the whole mouse so we tryed to grab her and take it away. There was no getting that mouse back. Within the couple of seconds that all of this happened Cocoa had swallowed that mouse and was back looking at the rake for another.

So now I guess she is a mouse catching duck.

I was worried about her but she is just fine today. Crazy animals.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

I have a mouse catching chicken. She loves to steal the mice my cat catches and eat them...its kinda gross! I guess thats why I don't have mice in my coop!!!

Congrats on the pest control duckie!!!

 

[Parrotchick]

Their was a dead and bloodied rat in my small Pekin house a few weeks ago; it must have been too big for them to eat. I was so proud of my ducks! Those darn rats have been vexing me with their ankle twisting tunnels all over the pen (no evidence of them in food or coop thank goodness). All the deep snow and freezing temps have kept me from setting traps and putting out buckets o' death. And now I'm leery of using poison lest the ducks ingest a rat that has eaten it.

I also found the head of a mouse in the snow recently. I wonder if the ducks were responsible for that. I saw my Pekin female catch a medium size toad in the grass last summer, but I rescued it from her bill. It was too big for her anyway and she was struggling with it. I told her she was a good duck and gave them all some alternate treats.

And I worry about them choking over grapes that are too big

I guess it's because they don't have teeth.

 

[newchickmom09]

Quote:
That's how I was...worried she was going to choke or something serious. I guess she IS a duck and that is what ducks do.

 

[The YardFarmers]

Wow, I'm glad to know that about ducks. I can't stand mice or rats either around either- they stink and make a mess and chew holes in things.
Well, as long as we humans keep the poutry feed locked up and the coops clean, who can say that chickens and ducks will bring in mice or flies and ruin the neighborhood. Chasing flies and mice sounds like their idea of a good time. My dogs are much messier.

YardFarmer Julie

 

[Wifezilla]

Ducks rule!!!

 

[jdewees]

We have 5 Indian Runner ducks. They each produce an egg every morning even in the middle of winter, and they are HILARIOUS. We live on the forest in Northern Arizona so predators are a big issue. Our girls have a straw bale house attached to a secure pen in the middle of a fenced yard surrounded by two dogs and another fence. The one thing we can't keep out are mice. When cleaning their house/pen last week I found a system of tunnels. This morning I found mouse terds outside of the pen but close enough to gross me out a bit. I'm all for letting nature work itself out, but I'm concerned about what the mice might be exposing our ducks to... and us.

Does anyone have any insight on this potential safety issue? I appreciate any advice.

 

[Wifezilla]

Being out west, I would worry about the hantavisrus....not for your ducks but for YOU!

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/FAQ.htm

If the ducks wont eat the mice, you need to take care of the infestation.