Uh...my girls just killed a toad :(

[cassie]

We have poison blocks in the crawl space as we have waaaay too many mice in fall and winter...IN my house!Unfortunately, they have gotten into dog food bags and random other "treats" and stored boatloads in the computer desk drawer, the dryer vent, my boys' dresser drawers...even the engine block from an old mud truck and tool box drawers and the riding mower SEAT in the pole barn (nearly 100' behind our house!). Luckily they rarely move during the day and the chickens are very securely enclosed and tucked in at night in their fortress of a coop I think our farm territory breeds bionic mice though lol

For reasons I do not understand, we don't have much trouble with mice during the fall and winter. Here, they come in during the spring. I have a Ragdoll cat who has decided he is a mouser. I don't know which is worse, the mice or him charging through the house at all hours noisily shoving things aside to get at them.

 

[Aunt Angus]

For reasons I do not understand, we don't have much trouble with mice during the fall and winter. Here, they come in during the spring. I have a Ragdoll cat who has decided he is a mouser. I don't know which is worse, the mice or him charging through the house at all hours noisily shoving things aside to get at them.

Our mouser died last year. The DAY after we put him down - I kid you not - mice invaded. So we got another cat. I think he's defective. I've never seen him chase a mouse or even be "triggered" by one, but the mice seem to have gone.

Been considering making the silkie chicks house chickens if either (or both) turn out to be roosters. Maybe I can make them mousers - LOL!

 

[cassie]

Our mouser died last year. The DAY after we put him down - I kid you not - mice invaded. So we got another cat. I think he's defective. I've never seen him chase a mouse or even be "triggered" by one, but the mice seem to have gone.

Been considering making the silkie chicks house chickens if either (or both) turn out to be roosters. Maybe I can make them mousers - LOL!

Before I got the cat I thought seriously about turning a black snake loose in the house. I didn't for two reasons. One, I have friends who are terrified of snakes, and two, I was afraid I would step on him in the middle of the night. I have had good luck with bait. I put it under things and in drawers. I don't use it now because I am afraid that if the cat should catch and eat a poisoned mouse it might make him sick. I don't think he eats the mice he catches. I find bodies in various places but I don't want to take the chance. This is the first Ragdoll I have ever been around. Everything I have read says they are laid back cats. Nowhere have I red anything about Ragdolls being mousers, but he is. He is clunky and not very graceful but he catches them nevertheless.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

We don’t have a problem with mice in the house, but they sure love the outbuildings and the camper! I read somewhere that fresh cinnamon and cloves can repel mice, so I sprinkled lots of both around the inside of the camper. It worked and, bonus plan, the joint smelled delicious!

Hubby is all the time devising new mousetraps... The most successful involve a five-gallon bucket, water, a “plank,” and some fresh peanut butter. His other favorite is a mouse sized guillotine. Can’t have cats as I’m SEVERELY allergic, even when exposed outside or in the barn. So that’s a no-go for me!

 

[llombardo]

Toads do have toxic poisons in them. They're not really harmful to humans or large animals. But they can be deadly to small animals like cats and small dogs if ingested. I don't think I'd let my chickens eat one personally.

This would be why I have 11 toads in an aquarium in the house. The last one was in the run with the ducks. The dogs attempt to pick them up but whatever they have on them makes the dogs drop them then shake their heads. I do not want my chickens or ducks killing and eating toads.

 

[mesalina87]

Just a chicken doing it's chicken thing.

 

[ocap]

my hens are particularly fond of the lungs of the chickens that I process, they are at my elbows the entire morning.

 

[Gray Farms]

Just a chicken doing it's chicken thing.

True but if they get something that is potentially harmful to them one needs to step in.

 

[Kprestridge]

my hens are particularly fond of the lungs of the chickens that I process, they are at my elbows the entire morning.

I'm a new chicken owner...but aren't you supposed to at least cook chicken bits thoroughly before giving them to chickens to prevent diseases? Do you cook the lungs? Eggs I can understand..they basically consume an egg as they develop inside it..but feeding chickens actual chickens seems different.

 

[bobbi-j]

True but if they get something that is potentially harmful to them one needs to step in.

In all my years of raising chickens, I’ve never had to step in. For one thing, they free range. I don’t have time to follow them around all day Imto see what they’re catching and eating. We have toads, so I assume some of them have been eaten. Chickens seem to know what they can and can’t eat. It’s instinct. If they didn’t, they’d have died off by now.