Hens fighting over a frozen mouse

[shellyga]

First let me say that ChickenTV is the most entertaining activity I have found during our recent ice/snow in here in GA. Our chickens stayed in the coop until yesterday when the ice had melted off patches of ground in their free range area and they showed interest in coming out of the coop.

DH and I have been battling some mice that decided they liked our hospitality better than their old lives as field mice.. so several traps have been successful in this assault against the vermon..
The other night, in the midst of all the frozen precipitaion, I heard a SNAP.. then a squeal..

I thought.. until I realized it was just caught by a foot!

Since I can't kill anything..I decided to pitch it.. trap and all.. on the deck. DH called me silly..and TWO hours later, went out to dispose of the now frozen dead mouse. He pitched it into the front yard and it was quickly covered with the sleet that was falling...

Fast forward to yesterday. I am sitting in my dining room chair watching the chickens explore the wet ground and frozen patches when "HennyPenny" , my dominate hen, spies the mouse TAIL that has now become exposed.. you would have thought she had found GOLD.. she flapped, scratched, and jumped around trying to free her treasure from the ice. She drew a crowd and the battle was on. The first grab and run looked like a GIANT ice cube on a string.. For the next 30 minutes or so.. the prize changed hands several times.. if a pullet happened to snatch it -- their possession was short lived as the grown hens ganged up on it. Once it was clear of ice.. well humm...

several different chases were on as the prize was.. hummm

divided. Very interesting ChickenTV indeed

I guess a little extra protein during the winter months is good.

Shelly

 

[Olive Hill]

Watching them catch live mice in the summer is hilarious. I have a roo who is a master mouser. Better than a cat.

 

[bufforp89]

Mine did the same with a huge bullfrog that they caught this past summer. Difference was this poor guy was alive when they found him. I would have rescued him but they were back in the wet swampy area of my property and there would have been no way I could have gotten it.

 

[terrilhb]

 

[babalubird]

Oh, I can't wait to get them out at the farm then. We have voles that make bad holes for the horses to trip in. As well as field mice. Or are they the same?

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Kinda makes you glad that you are bigger than they are huh? Unless you have a LOT of chickens, then they could swarm you...

...if they thought about it...

 

[wood&feathers]

They are certainly quick at mouse killing - my roo kills them with one hit to the head, then tries to convince the hens it is a dangerous, scary thing. They know better and the chase is on.

Some on BYC say Buckeyes are superior mousers.

 

[magicpigeon]

My chickens eat skinks

Unfortunately, my roo is the only one with a taste for cockroaches so whenever I catch one (live!

) I pluck off the legs and feed it to him. He sometimes gets the legs later too

 

[Farmerboy16]

I once was cleaning my chicken coop 5 years ago, before we had built bigger better one, anyway I been having mice problem in the old coop, so I started cleaning it out throughly. When I moved the old desk away from the wall, hundreds, I MEAN HUNDREDS!!!

of mice scattered everywhere! My 20ish hens chased and caught as many as they could. I was cheering the hens on.