Our chicken the mouser?

[GallusGal]

I used to volunteer at an animal sanctuary, and rats occasionally threatened the flock by night. But if the rats dared show themselves in the chickens' waking hours... I watched a score of birds run one down and rip it apart in moments.

My rooster is a fairly savage hunter. He's not only killed and eaten countless rodents, but will take out birds, frogs, lizards, snakes... anything foolish enough to happen into the enclosure. I'm glad the current enclosure is very much fortified against wildlife; it benefits the chickens AND the wildlife!

 

[imtc]

my buff orpington had a frog today doing the same thing....funny to watch her run around the yard with it trying to keep it away from the others and eventually gulped it down.

 

[cozycritters]

My cat feeds mice she catches to the chickens. I think she likes the fuss it causes and it cracks *me* up to see a hen running around with a tail hanging out of her beak. LOL! It's always a free for all, trying to see who will actually get to swallow the mouse whole... very entertaining!

 

[laughingdog]

and here i was curious about this habit with my mex game hens i had, were they would hunt down and savagely tear apart large rodents for them, with their beaks claws and spurs. the look and sounds made me think they were trying to get in touch with inner raptor ancestors or something... lol

 

[laughingdog]

P.S. my few chooks were also alot better mousers than my families cat colony (they had alot). plus they ate the pest bugs as well, aside from other benifets, so i guess maybe i threw those facts around and upset their pride for their cats.

 

[2DogsFarm]

Sigh......

Apparently I have Hippie Love Chickens.
They have decided to coexist peacably with the rats that moved into the coop this Fall after the fields were cut.

The rats don't bother the hens or the eggs in nestboxess & have gotten so bold I often see them peering into the coop or skittering back into their holes in daylight.
I WISH my hens would get a little more aggressive about hunting these vermin.
These are some fat, juicy rats!

 

[gmendoza]

mine are vicious.Killed 5 baby but fully furred out mice in my wifes greenhouse yesterday.Tossed them into the run.They immediatly got snached up by my shark-like chickens and gobbled down within mere minutes.The last one was Jeckle eating the mouse in front of me and my oldest daughter in sheer disgust.

 

[columbiacritter]

Mice, rats, lizards, snakes, frogs, if it moves mine will try to kill and eat it. They even went after my friends tea cup chihuahua once. The dog slipped it's collar and took off after a hen, but the rooster came running then it was the dogs turn to run. Once the roo had it running several girls took off after it too. That was funny! I'm sure they would have killed it if they'd managed to corner the little ankle biter but it made it back to the protection of it's owners hand bag.

 

[Mogli]

ive caught live mice that get into my feild corn that i dry ad feed to my hens. they some how get into the big cargage can i have that i keep the shelled corn in and so i gotta scoop up the mice i kinda knockem out to stun them so i tossed 1 mouse in to my five hens to see how they would react the peck at at a few times and flung it around but they didnt eat it 1 hen tryd to eat the tail on the mouse but she cldnt

 

[duluthmom]

I'm happy to have wandered into this conversation! I did not know that chickens were so...carnivorous. We have one chipmunk that creeps into the run to pick corn. I was surprised that one chicken defended the feed and tore after the chipmunk - the other girls were clueless.