Q about feeding mice. **Those against killing mice DO NOT CLICK***

[SueT]

Well I know when I have fed them watermelon , they had loose poop next day.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Speckles, the mouser:
View attachment 2017851
She catches them herself and swallows them whole, and yes, I eat her eggs.

Beautiful hen... it must be the mouse protein... I use to have three Speckled Sussex hens and they were also excellent mousers. And I ate their eggs because the mice had been processed.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I recently had a mouse problem in one of my coops. The little guys were getting into the hanging feeder and fouling the feed.
I tried snap traps hidden behind a barrier so the chickens could not reach them but the little buggers just licked all the peanut butter off of the bait plate and still didn't trigger the traps. After a couple of days of this I watched a video from a gentleman who used a hot glue gun to attach dog kibble to the bait plates. I did this and placed the traps (4 in a row) inside a piece of plastic downspout guttering. My thinking was the mice would have to touch the trigger bar to reach the bait. The next morning I had 2 mice, the next day, one more. This method worked for me and I will use it in the future as I really don't want to use poison if at all possible. Rats are another issue altogether though.

Great idea about the hot glue! I'll have to try that

As for digestion of the mouse....hmmm...I would say they digest it within 24hours, so yes, if the mouse is fresh, I would eat the eggs.

 

[nuthatched]

Well I know when I have fed them watermelon , they had loose poop next day.

Let me tell you, it's not just chickens with that problem.....

 

[Al Gerhart]

Free protein but rodents carry a lot of diseases, you are better off cleaning up your feeding practices and storage of the feed and not having mice in the first place I would think. If there are mice they are eating something or they couldn't be hanging about.

 

[ThunderHillChick]

I had NO IDEA chickens ate mice! I have all those outside cats (8 of them) sharing the chicken house. No wonder I don’t have mice in the shop or house anymore!

 

[twendt]

Your chickens need to step up their game.

That's one of my Favorite YouTube videos!! I showed it to all my co-workers! I love to see their reaction

 

[Eggscaping]

There is a youtube poster who tests various kinds of mouse and rat traps, including antique ones. Very interesting, to me. He has a channel he calls 'mouse trap Monday'. He recently tested a product called "Rat X" which claims to only kill the rodents, not pets, wildlife, etc. Supposedly it makes the rodent lose its desire to drink water and it goes into its burrow and dies. He tried it on rats and then dug up the burrows a few days later to find rat carcasses. I haven't tried the product but it sounds like a good solution with less chance to find its way into the food chain. Anyone else try this? Here is a link

 

[aart]

I think it is ok to feed them the mice unless they have been dead a while or potentially ate poison.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[cassie]

My chickens would chase down and kill and eat mice. I can't think of any reason not to feed your dead mice to the chickens unless you use bait. In that case I would flush them down the toilet. Before I got my cat I used bait to control mice. I thought of turning a blacksnake loose in the house for a while but I didn't because I was afraid I would step on him in the night. My Ragdoll cat is quite a mouser. I don't know what is worse. The mice or him charging through the house after them.