For many years my chicken house has been a safe, friendly environment. This all changed when I saw a mouse in the chicken house a couple of months ago. I went in to give the chickens feed after dark and when I put my hand into the feed bag, a mouse scurried across my hand. Needless to say, my screams woke the chickens and caused quite a commotion. I didn’t see any more mice for quite a while, but I was always very wary in the chicken house, knowing if one made it inside there were likely others. I think the next sighting was a few weeks later when I was again in the chicken house after dark. I peered into the 35 pound hanging chicken feeder and spied six mice inside gorging themselves on chicken feed. They held completely still for several seconds, then started zipping and zooming around inside the feeder trying to find a way out. When the mice started moving, I also leaped to action, frantically trying to avoid the mice all the while exercising my vocal chords to their fullest capacity.
Since it was early spring the floor in the chicken house was covered with a winters worth of manure and straw bedding. When I started my spring clean out I was very apprehensive knowing I would likely run into mice somewhere down in the bedding. I shoveled out dozens of wheelbarrow loads of manure before I had my first encounter. I was cleaning just under the roost when I discovered a nest of baby mice. I took a moment to compose myself and decide how to proceed. I had completely disturbed the nest and baby mice were just rolling around on the floor of the chicken house. There were tiny pink babies, little babies with a tiny touch of fur but eyes still closed, and some juvenile babies that waddled away into the straw. Not a single adult to be seen.
I brought my daughter in to see the little mice, she immediately started cooing over them and picking them up to give them some attention. She has been raised around rabbits so I guess seeing blind and hairless figures seemed normal to her. I wasn’t keen on touching them but she couldn’t get enough of them.
After seeing that amount of babies in the chicken house, I knew there must be a large nest somewhere for all the adults to hang out in. I knew it was time to call in reinforcements. I continued cleaning out the chicken house, but when I got to a old nest box on the floor, I knew it was time to get my husband involved. I innocently asked him to come into the chicken house and pick up the old nest boxes and take them out, since they were too heavy for me. He willingly came and did as I asked. He should have been suspicious when he noticed me standing safely outside the chicken house door, but he is a trusting guy so I guess it never occurred to him to be vigilant. When he moved the nest box, dozens of mice went scurrying everywhere. He said they were hopping like popcorn. They went everywhere, straight up the walls, down into the straw bedding, out the door, just everywhere you looked there were mice running. My cat, Tom, was in the chicken house at the time. The sight was so alarming that he turned and ran out the door and hid under the porch.
We were shocked and horrified at how involved the chickens were in these proceedings. They went wild over the mice. I have always heard chickens will eat mice, but I never imagined to see them eating mice at that rate. They picked up the mice and swallowed them whole, headfirst. They especially loved the small mice. When one chicken would find a small mouse, it would run across the yard with other chickens in hot pursuit. They were only interested in live mice. Justin tried to offer a couple dead mice to the chickens, but they turned up their beaks as if insulted by the dead offering. Our rooster, George, was especially aggressive in consuming as many mice as possible. He acted as if a dangerous predator was on the loose in his henhouse every time he saw a mouse. He is a good rooster, really looks out for his ladies!
Surprisingly, this sight diminished my appetite for eggs for the next few days. A few days after all of this happened, Justin fried himself some eggs for breakfast but didn’t eat one of them because the yoke was too orange, presumably filled with nutrients from the mice they had been enjoying.
I haven’t found any more nests since then but I do see mice anytime I am out there after dark. Any tips on getting rid of them for good? My cat likes to park himself right outside the chicken house at a spot the mice are known to go in and out of but he can only catch so many.
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