Buckeyes and Mice

Many people ask when they hear I have Buckeyes "Do they really kill mice?" and until yesterday I had to admit I'd never seen them show any interest in the mice that I occasionally see in the runs.

Last week with the cooler days and nights mice have been moving into any warm space they can find so I've set traps in the areas where I keep my chicken feed. This morning when I opened the door I found a mouse with one foot caught in the trap. I hate that - having to kill it myself. As an experiment I took flicked the trap open and the mouse went flying into the midst of the older hens - Buckeyes and White Chanteclers both who were out and about as usual. That mouse didn't even hit the ground before the Buckeye hens were on it. One of them caught it and shook it like a terrier shakes a rat, all the running around while being pursued by the all the Buckeye hens in the run. The White Chanteclers weren't the slightest bit interested. The Buckeye hens started to tear the mouse apart between them then got it on the ground (it was clearly quite dead by then)and pecked at it until it was little more than a pancake.

Pretty exciting! And yes, nauseating too. Now if only they will chase down the live ones on their own!

Who knew such mild mannered biddies could be so murderous?
We have had them do the same although we are pretty low in the mice populations at the moment. We have 6 female cats and 1 neutered tom

My Ameraucana's hunt and kill mice.
And between my traps and them I now have
very few mice. As a matter of fact haven't
seen one for a long while now.

We lived through a mouse plague in Australia. That makes your skin crawl! They would just swarm and run like a river from everything you touched. Gross! We used to go in the garage and move the dog food and start stompin, it has to be one of the creepiest things I have ever lived through!

we saw one of our young ameraucana chicks 5 weeks old grab a little mouse and chug it down.  We later found one of those chicks dead, and it could have been the reason

I'm tempted to select chickens for their mousing abilities. Or maybe there is a way to train them.

YAY buckeyes! lol I detest mice and wish my current hens would go mousing. I used to have a couple Aussie hens that would happily devour mice, IF they could catch them. Little buggers are FAST! I admit to helping them satisfy their carnivorous cravings with a well placed stomp on occasion.  

 Coop, the very thought of such a thing gives me the heebie jeebies. Yuck, yuck, YUCK!!!

A few years back when the mice were bad I had
two live traps from Princess Auto.
Every morning I would go out traps would be full
with 20 or more and I would drop the trap in a
bucket of water and by the time chores were done
they were done. So I would let the chickens out
and call them as I dumped the traps with all
the dead mice out and the whole flock would
come running for their treat. By the end of the
summer I noticed them hunting any mouse that
dared show it head in the coop.
So yes Heda I think you can train them.
And it has been since then my mouse population
is almost non existant.

That's a great training method karona! I have a bucket trap in the garage, and a live trap in the tack room, now I know what to do with those mice.

Oh that's great heda.
My Buff Orps are excellent killers. If it moves and doesn't belong in that area "PUH-POW" gone. Its not a pretty gone either. watching the self satisfaction they get from working as a group is funny. Mine don't eat the already dead ones. Between the 3 cats and the flock of chickens I'm hoping I will be good this winter, so far knock on wood.

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I do wonder about worming mouse hunting birds more often. Mouse are apparently full of worms and the vet always recommends worming cats that are great mousers more often than those that aren't.

Funny, hens eating insects and even pushing through manure doesn't worry me, but a hen who's diet is largely mouse makes me feel a little queasy about their eggs too.

Love watching both my dogs pick mice and even pack rats off the walls of the barn. They don't eat them, just shake them till their dead.

I often dream of getting a really good ratting terrier, but they are all so cold sensitive I think winter would be hard for them here.

I used to go out after midnight when I lived in Washington DC with a friend and his Jack Russell terrier in my little red convertible. We'd go to some of the beautiful little parks downtown - park benches, flowers and box hedges. The garbage cans were always overflowing and the rats living in the roots of those box hedges were unbelievable - hundreds of them and HUGE, garbage fed rats. That Jack Russell, called Toby, would kill a few dozen a night, just pounce, shake, and on to the next one! A different life...

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We are over run with mice....Live traps, bucket traps the more traditional traps and still the little blighters are everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean even in my silverware drawer. Every pot, pan and bowl stored under the counter has to be washed and bleached before use.... I'm tired of them!

Sometimes I think a pet ferret might be a good thing.

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I had friends in England who kept them. They had a cage outside with a little house as part of it for cold days - if they came inside it was while under constant supervision. They used them for ratting outside mostly, again under supervision. I think they have a bit of a weasely smell, not surprising really.

But really, you want them to be as agile and able to squeeze into small spaces, just like the mice (yes, the silverware drawer).

It might just be worth it to get DH to put down the toilet seat!! And lid...

Echo 1 wrote:We are over run with mice....Live traps, bucket traps the more traditional traps and still the little blighters are everywhere.  When I say everywhere I mean even in my silverware drawer.  Every pot, pan and bowl stored under the counter has to be washed and bleached before use.... I'm tired of them!
 

Where abouts are you, Echo 1? I'm in K-town and am starting to wonder if we have mice or rats, though I haven't seen any for a while. I found some interesting droppings in the greenhouse a month or so ago, and a bunch of chewed up tomatoes, then saw the Capital News the other day saying Glenmore was infested with rats, so ...  Was thinkin I might look into getting a buckeye or 2, but I also have buff orp's and ameraucanas so maybe they're already taking care of any rodents ... my golden retriever is certainly useless in that department ... but my little tortie kitty now ... she is ALWAYS hangin around the chicken coop -- and has no interest in chickens! Hmmm...

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Three most dangerous things in houses: throw rugs, ladders, bath tubs.

Dog water bowls clearly not considered. Also not mousetraps on bare toes!

Heda, I"m stuck at trying to picture you in a little red convertible. Nope, can't get there. Have pictures of hairy cattle, not red convertibles.

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heda gobbler wrote:Three most dangerous things in houses:  throw rugs, ladders, bath tubs.

Dog water bowls clearly not considered.  Also not mousetraps on bare toes!

May I add one? Plastic snap buckles on backpacks. I stepped on one yesterday, my foot skidded across the lino, jammed under the bureau and peeled a whole layer of skin off the top of my foot. Makes wearing shows difficult.

Oh those plastic snap buckles! As much as I wonder what outdoorsy people like me did before there were those plastic snap buckles existed you should hear me curse when I step on one!

To that i should add my husband's beloved leatherman. He leaves it on the floor at night and I unfailingly manage to step on it too. That REALLY hurts and it isn't even open!

My sons marbles or hot wheels cars never go over well if left laying around