[stujem]

Hi all, the other night while locking up my chocks, I saw a mice running across there run, so I put a mice/rat catcher in the run last night and one in the shed, I caught a mouse in the shed, and the run catcher was empty, but tonight I caught a mouse in the run and also in the shed again. Should I kill them? are they any harm to my chocks? or should I get a live bait catcher? I thought the problem with the live catcher is where would I get rid of them. What should I do? (My wife is now calling me a murderur!)

[joyfull]

the chickens will catch the mice and eat them 

[alancane]

My chickens go mad if they find a mouse, it's like the best supper they can have and it's a good game for them 

[Helenaj]

I'm with Joyfull and Alancane here - leave them for your chooks. They'll really appreciate the protein and it's great exercise for them running about trying to catch them.

[stujem]

I don't think the chocks will stand a chance they only seem to come out when they have gone to bed. I don't really like the idea of my chickens pecking a poor little mouse to death. They must of caught a frog the other day, I found them pecking a dead frog in the garden, so I think they must of found it and killed it? I shooed them away from it and covered it up.

[joyfull]

they love frogs (they play tug of war with usually 4 of them pulling a limb each, gruesome but then again they are omnivores).

[OpiumEater]

Urgh!

[Helenaj]

Funniest thing I ever saw was one of my girls with a grass snake. It was too lively for her to hold and swallow in one go and she was trying her best to avoid the other girls - cue Benny Hill music as they run around the garden.

Stujem - I know it's not nice to watch, but it is nature's way and at least the mouse is eaten and not killed and just thrown away. My hens are certainly quick enough to catch a mouse and will dig up the nest if they find it.

One thing they do say though - if you have mice, you've not got rats!

[ANHBUC]

We have fed a trap caught dead mouse to our girls.  Then they know mice are food and we don't see many any more!    Mice have either moved on or are dicing with death entering their enclosure.   

[bramford]

Oh dear I can't show this thread to the little field mouse that has made his home in the shed 

[henamoured]

I've posted before about the arrangement my hens have with my cat - he catches mice and leaves them on the lawn for them. In exchange .... they don't frighten him too much when they're all in the garden together!
Actually I think my chooks are on the verge of learning to use the cat flap. The cat went through it the other day and the flap got stuck open. The chooks each put their heads through the flap and stretched out their necks to try to reach the cat's food but it was just a bit too far away. I watched and waited to see if any of the chooks would jump through the flap but they didn't... this time! I think it's just a matter of time though!