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Mouser Hens?

Discussion in 'Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying' started by Wisher1000, Jan 13, 2011.

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  1. Jan 13, 2011 #1
    Wisher1000

    Wisher1000 Bama Biddy

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    I found a dead mouse on the ground in the yard. My birds have been free ranging all day. I have guineas and BSL hens (and 4 cockrels but they don't range that far out yet.) The mouse was floppy and wet as if it had been "mouthed" by something but there were no wounds or blood. Could this have been the birds? I can't imagine anything else that would just kill a mouse and not eat some or all of it. I have heard that chickens and guineas will eat baby mice but this was an adult. Do any of you have birds that make good mousers?
     
  3. Jan 13, 2011 #2
    chickenshagg

    chickenshagg THE ALPHA ROO

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    One of my wife's cats was playing with a mouse out in the yard and when she dropped it in the grass one of my chickens snached it away. The chicken ran across the yard with the mouse hanging from her beak with the other chickens following close behind her. Meanwhile the cat kept looking for the mouse where she dropped it in the grass.
     
  5. Jan 13, 2011 #3
    ChickensAreSweet

    ChickensAreSweet Heavenly Grains for Hens

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    About an hour ago one of my BOs ate a WHOLE mouse, slowly. I watched with slighty grossed out amazement. [​IMG]

    I have read that Buckeyes are good mousers- I don't know if this is true.
     
  7. Jan 13, 2011 #4
    jomoncon

    jomoncon Chillin' With My Peeps

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    My 12-week old RIRs caught & ate a mouse a week or so ago. When I finally realized what they were all running around after, the poor little mouse was in pieces, with innards being gobbled down by all the girls.

    Why haven't I learned to carry a camera with me every time I'm anywhere bear these little darlings.
     
  9. Jan 13, 2011 #5
    ssdyle

    ssdyle Out Of The Brooder

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    I've watched my Jersey giants catch and eat several mice. The first one was kind of discusting, they ripped it apart and all got a bit.Now they are big birds and they just swallow them whole after a bit of tenderizing.Watch the Velociraptors on Jurrasic Park and you'll see where they got the idea about how they hunt and run, By watching a bunch of chickens!!
    I'm just glad they don't get any bigger or our place on the food chain would slip a couple of spaces
    Sonny
     
  11. Jan 13, 2011 #6
    cindy99

    cindy99 Chillin' With My Peeps

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    My girls love mice! They steel them from the cat every chance they get - now they have started following the cat around just in case. [​IMG]
     
  13. Jan 13, 2011 #7
    gordonburrito

    gordonburrito Chillin' With My Peeps

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    My Black Australorp downed a caught mouse in front of me after a long game of keep away with the other girls. No mouse is safe in my backyard.
     
  15. Jan 13, 2011 #8
    Wisher1000

    Wisher1000 Bama Biddy

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    This mouse was not eaten, just dead and wet. I would think it would have gotten more picked than that. Maybe it was their first kill and they weren't sure what to do with it, or maybe one grabbed it and ran and managed to get away but then lost interest. I don't know, wish I had seen it though. I bet it was funny to watch (except it wasn't fun for the mouse, can you imagine a chicken that much bigger than you chasing you and pecking you to death? Sheesh! Would make a great B horror movie...)
     
  17. Jan 13, 2011 #9
    Illia

    Illia Crazy for Colors

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    Often chicken eat the mice, not just kill them.

    American Gamefowl and Oriental Gamefowl are very good mousers. A BYC user here, fowlman01, has a Shamo hen that takes down and eats full grown rats. [​IMG]
     
  19. Jan 13, 2011 #10
    ARose4Heaven

    ARose4Heaven Chillin' With My Peeps

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    I once found a rat's tail in my little coop. Just the tail. I had to assume the chickens had a feast on the rest of him.
     
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