My chicken is a toad murderer!

[DawnCols]

I was a gardener before I ever considered keeping chickens. A couple years ago we heralded the first sighting of a toad as a good omen in our garden. We dubbed him "Todd". One day we spotted him eating a swarm of termites--an hour later we came back to the same spot and found him tripled in size, and still chowing down on the few remaining insects. That day we declared him a hero. We made him little houses and chased stray cats away to protect him.

Today our chickens came out to supervise the planting of the spring garlic. We paid little attention to them until I noticed the RIR acting unusually aggressive. When I looked, Todd was dangling from her beak while she viciously jerked to and fro like a cat with a mouse! Todd was already a goner.

She ran off with him when I came close (afraid I was going to steal her prize, I guess). I later found his abandoned carcass lying in the middle of the lawn. The only thing left to do was to give him a proper burial in the compost heap.

Why couldn't she have taken this kind of interest in the chipmunks that destroy our strawberries?

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I'm kinda surprised they took a toad... since toads can secrete a milky, bad-tasting substance. Mine won't touch a toad, but most certainly will eat frogs lol.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

Quote:
No surprise here! My chickens will eat frogs, toads, mice, large scary wood roaches, pretty much anything smaller than them. As far as the toad is concerned, if you'd have left him alone, she would probably finished him off or would have enticed her friends with him. Remember, paleontologists deem our back yard flock long lost cousins of the T-rex. That means they ain't too proud to try much of anything.

Sorry about your toad though, I get attached to things like this too. I keep my garden fenced, and allow my geese to monitor the rows. The only chicken who is allowed in my garden (although several attempt daily) is a cochin hen and her chicks. Cochin bantams are too small to mess with your toad and geese have no interest.