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Good Grief! A surprise in my hen house.


Ginevra
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I was changing the bedding in my chicken coop today when I noticed the corner nestbox breathing. It's a mouse nest in there, with mama mouse and a pile of fuzzy pinkies. Awwwwww! But also not. Is this bad for the chickens? I realize the hens would view the pinkies as a tasty delicacy, but am I being a foolish pacifist that I covered them back up and went on cleaning the coop? It's blustery and frigid today. I can't evict those tiny babies! Am I dumb?

 

As an aside for any of you wondering about my brutilized hen: she is surviving. When I called the chickens to get them back in the run, she flew over the backyard fence to try to go back to the coop! I love those old girls. They are so smart. I took her back out, though. The Mean Girls are still eyeing her with a view to target practice. :( She gets to sleep in the garage tonight; it's too cold and windy to be out in the dog crate.

 

So - the mice. Am I dumb?

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The mice are likely destined for a short life. My hens kill and eat them - even the adults. I'm surprised they've survived this long. They must be hidden well.

I had a notion there could be a nest in there, because I have seen the mama about three times when I was closing up the coop in the evening. I guess the hens don't really use that nestbox and she's lucked out.

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Well, you are nicer than I am.

I would have left the next uncovered and encouraged a hen to venture that direction. Better a hen eats them than that they get into our house. (Disclaimer: Despite our best efforts we always get some mice in the house in the fall. So I am very pro "get rid of them before they are in my house.")

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It would depend. If I lived in a place that didn't have too many mice around I would probably just encourage the hens to do the dirty work but if I lived in place where there are mice everywhere outside (like our current home) then I would have done the same thing you did. We tend to get a cat whenever our mice get out of hand but right now we're blessed by a neighbour's cat that includes our property in his patrols. I don't like killing anything but I don't mind when the animals do the jobs for me.

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The mice are likely destined for a short life.  My hens kill and eat them - even the adults.  I'm surprised they've survived this long.  They must be hidden well.

 

I was thinking the same thing here! I'm surprised they're still there. I probably would have left them too simply because I wouldn't want to be the dispatcher. 

 

Thanks for posting the update! I was thinking about you and your old girl today while working outside with my own chickens! 

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Those babies are on the verge of terrible deaths being held down and eaten alive by giant feathered dinosaur monsters.

 

Eta: but nbd. Chickens eat mice. I was thinking you were going to say SNAKES so.....

Edited by OKBud
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I was changing the bedding in my chicken coop today when I noticed the corner nestbox breathing. It's a mouse nest in there, with mama mouse and a pile of fuzzy pinkies. Awwwwww! But also not. Is this bad for the chickens? I realize the hens would view the pinkies as a tasty delicacy, but am I being a foolish pacifist that I covered them back up and went on cleaning the coop? It's blustery and frigid today. I can't evict those tiny babies! Am I dumb?

 

As an aside for any of you wondering about my brutilized hen: she is surviving. When I called the chickens to get them back in the run, she flew over the backyard fence to try to go back to the coop! I love those old girls. They are so smart. I took her back out, though. The Mean Girls are still eyeing her with a view to target practice. :( She gets to sleep in the garage tonight; it's too cold and windy to be out in the dog crate.

 

So - the mice. Am I dumb?

 

I am definitely the wrong person to respond here... I gave dh the evil eye for putting rat poison in the attic. :)

 

Can you relocate the mice to another cozy sport - a barn, corner of garage. The brutalized hen may not feel like gulping down pinkies...

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I  :001_wub: foolish pacifists. You are not dumb. If I had a way to move ALL the babies AND the momma to a better place, I would, but if that wasn't an option I'd leave them be and figure a chance at life is better than freezing to death.

 

Thanks for the update on your hen! Glad she is doing okay.  

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I am definitely the wrong person to respond here... I gave dh the evil eye for putting rat poison in the attic. :)

 

Can you relocate the mice to another cozy sport - a barn, corner of garage. The brutalized hen may not feel like gulping down pinkies...

I doubt it. I have two cats and they are quite effective at reducing the mouse population everywhere they patrol; they simply are never inside the chicken run or coop. The mouse may have hedged her bets on whether the giant feathered dinosaurs or the fearsome felines were the bigger threat.

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Those babies are on the verge of terrible deaths being held down and eaten alive by giant feathered dinosaur monsters.

 

Eta: but nbd. Chickens eat mice. I was thinking you were going to say SNAKES so.....

Snakes could totally happen, though. DH has found snakes in the garage numerous times.

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One time, my 9yo little brother went out in the evening to shut up the hens, checked the nesting box for eggs, and came face to face with a SKUNK.  It was eating eggs.  Nobody got sprayed.  (Whew.)

 

I assume there is a Part II to this story.  How'd y'all get rid of the skunk?  Critters tend to return to their favorite buffets...

 

ps  I'm quite happy not having a skunk in our henhouse story!

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Better then what I found this afternoon in my yard...an eastern brown snake with my terrified 9yo standing frozen on his scooter beside it. The goosebumps have not gone away yet and my poor son is still wide awake and can't sleep. 😳.

 

Extremely venomous for the lucky Americans who don't know.

 

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post-23532-0-61448300-1477225363_thumb.jpeg

Edited by sewingmama
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Keep in mind that the momma mouse may relocate the nest herself, since it's been disturbed. If they are all suddenly gone without a trace, they may still be okay. 

 

But they'll still be gross mice in  new location :laugh:

 

I want wild animals to live free and in the wild (gonna go wild, wild kratts....) I want them dead in my animal enclosures/home.

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Better then what I found this afternoon in my yard...an eastern brown snake with my terrified 9yo standing frozen on his scooter beside it. The goosebumps have not gone away yet and my poor son is still wide awake and can't sleep. 😳.

 

Extremely venomous for the lucky Americans who don't know.

 

attachicon.gifimage.jpeg

 

:scared:  :svengo:  What did you do? Did it eventually just slither on away? Your poor DS :(

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I assume there is a Part II to this story.  How'd y'all get rid of the skunk?  Critters tend to return to their favorite buffets...

 

ps  I'm quite happy not having a skunk in our henhouse story!

We were not very successful with the chickens, so there probably weren't more eggs on a regular basis.  Those girls were freeloaders.  :closedeyes:  He just moved on.  Weird, huh?  But it was a long time before my brother would look in the nest at night again! 

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Better then what I found this afternoon in my yard...an eastern brown snake with my terrified 9yo standing frozen on his scooter beside it. The goosebumps have not gone away yet and my poor son is still wide awake and can't sleep. 😳.

 

Extremely venomous for the lucky Americans who don't know.

 

attachicon.gifimage.jpeg

 

Poor guy!  I'd still be unable to sleep too.  I can't stand snakes, esp when they surprise me in the wild.  I can tolerate them some when I know where they are ahead of time (even in the wild), but that doesn't happen often.

 

Then add the venomous aspect to it all.    :svengo:

 

I'm glad it worked out ok for your guy!!!  (safety wise - no advice on the stress/sleep issue)

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Better then what I found this afternoon in my yard...an eastern brown snake with my terrified 9yo standing frozen on his scooter beside it. The goosebumps have not gone away yet and my poor son is still wide awake and can't sleep. 😳.

 

Extremely venomous for the lucky Americans who don't know.

 

attachicon.gifimage.jpeg

Glad everyone is OK!

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I assume there is a Part II to this story. How'd y'all get rid of the skunk? Critters tend to return to their favorite buffets...

 

ps I'm quite happy not having a skunk in our henhouse story!

We had five skunks move into our barn last winter. It was horrible. My dh accused the barn cat of pooping everywhere- somehow he missed the longer eu de skunk whiff that was apparent the moment I walked in. It was the skunks! And they threw parties! Ripped things off of shelves, terrorized the cats, knocked things over anywhere and everywhere. It was like leaving a band of non potty trained two year olds lose for a weekend in the barn. You are lucky to not have had that experience!

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Keep in mind that the momma mouse may relocate the nest herself, since it's been disturbed. If they are all suddenly gone without a trace, they may still be okay.

Yup, they are totally missing today.

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