Chickens eating a MOUSE?




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I just wanted to show you this video I found of chickens eating a mouse.

Chickens eating small rodents such as mice isn’t as uncommon as you may think and it just goes to prove that chickens need and are looking for other animals to eat, and that chickens are NOT vegetarians…

Chickens need a good amount of protein, which is why it’s important to let them forage freely or use a mobile coop that you can move around to give them access to a sufficient amount of insects and worms.

The egg to your left in the picture below what eggs that come from chickens that have been given a lot of time to forage freely and eaten their fair share of insects look like – can you spot the difference?

free range egg yolk

As you can see the yolks of these eggs have an intense, almost orange color.

These eggs are a LOT more nutritious than eggs from chickens that haven’t been given access to insects and worms.

So to summarize: Chickens are not vegetarians and they should be given the opportunity to forage, ideally out in the open. The next best thing is using a mobile coop to be able to move them around to give them access to a new spot of fresh plants and insects once every few days or so.

That’s it for today!
John

14 thoughts on “Chickens eating a MOUSE?

  1. What do you do in winter? We live in Northeast US and winter is harsh and frozen. No bugs to be had. Plus we have lots of hawks and EAGLES around especially in the winter so I can’t let them out of the run.

    • for winter months ground up left over meat from your dinner etc. and feed that to them also feed any and all table scraps to them

  2. Poor cat did all the work catching the mouse and the chickens took it. My chickens were fighting over a frog once poor frog but it’s funny watching the chickens pinching it off each other, I love my chickens, never get bored watching them.

  3. To Joe, I live in the Northwest so I can understand how u feel. In order to provide my chicken with some meat during this thime I do 2 things: 1- any leftover meat from soup, stew, non fry meat, blended with any other veggies; 2- buy dry mealworm. They fly to you when they see u coming with these kind of treats.

  4. Yeah that is brutal. I seen a nature show that showed the same, I was shocked as well!!…Poor cat is like “Hey, they stole my mouse” !!!

  5. I have seen hens eat baby chicks. In the past I allowed my broody hens to lay eggs and set in one of the nesting boxes. one time, a mother hen was leaving her nest for a meal while 2 of the eggs were almost hatched. 2 curious hens attacked the eggs and ate the new born chicks. Nowadays I allow a broody hen to have her own provate area to set, and when the chicks hatch, she raises them for a month before I let them back into the “genpop” coop area 🙂

  6. Obviously chicken are free to roam around and access in to vegetation and naturally food the eggs and meat become nutritious.

  7. I have a couple of questions! Is it ok to feed the chickens left over chicken? Will this turn into cannibalism? My Chickens and Turkeys are close to 4 months: 2 hens 1 rooster 4 toms and 2 Turkey hens. I know many people frown on them being caged together but mine, where only caged the 1st 2 months with daily access outside. All purchased together. So they adjusted from chick/poult nursery, to being taken outside of there 2′ x 2′ cage daily to a small 10′ x 5′ pen that they out grew, they are now in there 20′ x 20′ pen. I still have them in a pen with the turkeys, while i build there separate housing and enclosure. Question, would they interbreed if kept together? Would the Turkeys attack the chickens if I started to feed them leftover meats? Do these birds become more aggressive if eating meat, any kind, fresh or left over? I give them there daily crickets and they free roam! Thank you so much for your time!

  8. Yes, I am down to four hens as my favorite one was killed by a ‘coon.. I want to get another chick or two but have to merge the hens into the flock.. and we have rats which most are down rat tunnels before we can kill them..
    My hens are lovely but heartbroken that Bumblebee was killed.. I let the hens in the back where they forage and we have four dogs which love eating their ‘truffles’ … chicken turds.. disgusting but just part of the food chain .. love your site.. thank you… Terilyn

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