I was out feeding my flock the other evening and heard a squealing racket. Looked over and one of my Welsummer hens was running around with a mouse in it's mouth. It frailed it around for a while then swallowed it whole! Never seen that before, don't know how it kept from choking.
That's awesome! I need my chickens to be doing that. We have had mouse issues as of late and I would LOVE to be rid of them.
You're lucky. My chickens see a mouse, and they are just mildly curious. They might peck at a mouse caught the night before in a mouse trap, but they then ignore it.
I wish mine were better hunters. They seldom go after a live mouse but if I toss them a dead one from a trap they play keepaway for a while, peck at it to soften it up, then swallow it. It’s extra protein. Mine also love small snakes and frogs. Those they will hunt. If they are too big to swallow, they will peck them to pieces and eat the pieces. Chickens live by the motto “Do lunch or be lunch”. If it doesn’t eat them, they eat it. Consider them the models for the Jurassic Park velociraptors.
My silly chickens won't touch it if it is still alive and kicking. But a dead mouse....dinner!!! They do love live frogs and crickets of course. Now snakes.....DH and I killed a small juvenile on 2 months ago...and I went and tossed it in the run. At that time, I left the gate open so they could go in and out. well, I went back later and the snake was gone. I thought they had ate it for a week, till I found it way down the driveway. Looks like some rooster boy got rid of the evidence....
