The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: UPoneacre on August 17, 2014, 01:49:36 pm
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As newbie hen owners we've always assumed hens just ate grain, seed, vege stuff, and small insects etc ;Dso it came as a bit of a surprise yesterday afternoon to see all three of ours in turn catch and devour small mice from behind the poly tunnel. Is this common or are we breeding cannibal chooks? :)
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Yes they eat whatever they can catch including froglets, but mine won't touch slugs - can you blame them :P
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We once found a mouse nest and my youngest daughter who was six at the time fed the baby mice to her bantams. They just swallowed them whole.
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They are descended from dinosaurs, what more would you expect? Quite impressed though - I'm fairly sure mine would not eat a mouse, much as I would love them to. I gather they'll catch and eat small birds too - again I can't even begin to think how mine would go about catching a bird.
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Ours behave more as though they're descended from 'Roadrunner' :) Reassuring to know that being 'mousers' is fairly normal tho'.
Is there any way I can stop them continuously pecking my boots while I'm trying to paint the barn, or are they getting big ideas?
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what colour are your boots? Probably shouldn't wear red ones...
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Ours will chase and mug the cat if they see him coming across the yard with a tasty looking mouse ;D .
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I wish my hens would catch mice, there is at least one mouse goes in their house at night, eats their corn and craps in the food trough!
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I saw my chooks fighting over somethingunder my kids trampoline the other day. Went over to investigate and found them pulling a mouse apart between them. Can't complain, the more things that eat the mice round here the better! :chook: