OMGosh......A MOUSE

[warren]

Can hens kill rats, or is it the other way around?

 

[1acrefarm]

A hen will kill mice and baby rats. I have yet to see a hen kill a grown rat.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I'm glad I read thispost because I was wondering the same thing about chickens eating a mouse. My Dachshund was in the coop with me a few weeks ago and was digging like crazy at the end of the ramp to their nesting boxes and a teeny mouse baby jumped out and ran out of the coop. Well it ran back in the pen in the front where all the Barred Rocks were standing but they just stood there watching it in awe so I had no idea they would learn to eat them. That mouse got away so maybe now that they have been introduced to them they wont miss another one. I know they did major snatch and grab, honk and beep and sqwack saturday over the biggest fattest grub worm I have ever seen! Guess he was yummy! My dog loves them too so I knew that wouldn't harm them, japanses beetle larvae, we have alot of those in NC. Thanks for the mouse info, helpful! Darlene

 

[ozark hen]

I have seen my chickens go after, and catch, mice, snakes and frogs. I wouldn't put out any traps or poison since it is their instinct to go after them.

 

[texaschickmama]

I'll let the chickens take care of them. Should I worry about them eating them, or do they just kill them? I just don't mouse dookie in the food.

 

[1acrefarm]

I know some of you have witnessed me talking about my four worthless cats. The mom is not a mouser so she is not teaching the offspring to be mousers. One of the kittens has learned on her own to catch mice. I have saw her with two so far. The other two are trying so they won't be worthless for long.

 

[pipermark]

To answer your questions:

A few mice are not something to worry about.

However to many and you will notice it in the cost of your feed, also their droppings carry parasites.

If you dont like traps that kill you can get the ones that are houses , they go in, they stay in. The only thing about these traps that I could never figure out is What do the people to with the trap after its full of live mice?



And yes a 250 pound chicken would mostly try and eat you.

I have watched my standards eat mice and frogs.