I have been leaving a cardboard box out on my deck, so I can let my 2 and 3 weekers get some fresh air and sunshine. I pulled it out today, and moved the girls out so I could change the bedding in the brooder in the house. Came back to bring them back in and found a tiny dead mouse in the corner of the box. I immediately removed it, and brought the girls back in the house. I don't if it was alive when I put the girls out, and I don't know if any of them pecked at it. Should I be worried? Thanks, Sonja
From what I've read on BYC, mice are nice little protein treats in teensy paws if the chickens can catch them (or if the chickens find a mouse nest in their coop). In short: chickens pose a greater threat to mice than the other way around!
My only concern would be what killed mr. mouse? If the chicks trampled or pecked it to death, then cool beans! They're well on their way to being mouse assassins. There are types of rodent poison that cause the rodent to seek out water on their way to dying. If you're not using any type of poison like that close by, I wouldn't worry.
No, we don't use mouse poison. I think they may have trampled it. Thanks for helping me ease my mind! Sonja
Ours used to eat any mouse that DARED come in their pen. One day I lifted up the feed bin and about 6 ran out. All were scarfed up in..oh, about 6 seconds... LOL, RIP mice...MWAHAHAHA.
Sounds like the chickens did do in the mouse. Ever see Jurassic Park? Chickens are velociprators to anything smaller than them. God help the hapless mouse that runs afoul of them. But the old saying goes, "Where you see one mouse, a thousand more are behind him." You may wish to BEGIN setting a few mouse traps around the place. I'm just syain'...
I had a mouse jump out of a barrel in my tac shed and a chicken pounced on it and pecked it to death. I had suspected they did that, as I have found dead mice in the pens, but to see it was interesting. She killed and ate it.