I've known for weeks I have mice eating the chicken food. I bought a trap but haven't caught a single one - I guess the lure of the peanut butter in it means nothing compared to the chicken feed so freely available.
But this afternoon it was ridiculous. The mice were brazenly running out and around my feet while I worked outside. So I set to, to block up all the holes I could find (with dog poop - may as well kill two birds with one stone, right?) Standing back to admire my work, I saw movement and there it was - a mouse trying to find an entrance so it could return to its nest. Suddenly he ducked under the dog igloo. Darn. A hole I hadn't noticed. I lifted up the igloo and there are several mice under it along with a nest of fuzzies. The chooks meanwhile, were milling around, paying absolutely NO heed to the mice whizzing past them. Not even the slightest interest in a meaty snack. I was SO disappointed after reading many times here on BYC from people who've watched their chickens catch and eat mice in the coop. But the biggest surprise was that they weren't even interested in the fuzzies. One of them eyed them, cocked her head and walked away. Grrr. She wouldn't have even had to stretch to eat them they were so little. So now I'm thinking I need to add Buckeyes to the list of future additions. In the meantime, I've hung the feeder so hopefully with less food the mice will eventually move on.
