# A True Omnivore



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Chickens are incredible creatures. They are super fast....and fantastic mousers. Our chickens aren't big enough (only 3 months old) to eat mice whole just yet, but man they had a blast catching one and fighting over it. 

THESE animals are true omnivores.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)




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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

I love chickens. So cute!

I miss Chicken Little! :frown:


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I didn't know they'd do that. We had chickens for several years and they would eat a surprising variety of things. Most surprising to me was egg and chicken. Something so wrong with that....
We got a couple of new chicks once and one died a couple of days later so left one with no companion. I went to get another because it wouldn't stop peeping and the place we got them from had sold out. Finally, we found a guy close by that had a hen that had just hatched one chick that day. (She and my Dachshund Madison were born on the same day, May 1st.) We brought her home and she was so tiny. I figured the two chicks would bond and grow up together but I was wrong. The tiny one wanted nothing to do with the other chick or adult chickens and bonded with me and my husband. I never knew a chicken could be so funny and affectionate. We started calling her Fluffy, sorta as a joke but it stuck. She would run to be held and perch up on your hand. She perched on my bedroom windowsill at night while the other chickens slept in the hen house. My bedroom is right off the covered front porch so needless to say I cleaned chicken poop off the porch on a daily basis... 
We got her some fertilized eggs once and she sat on them. One hatched and she was a great mom. Seriously one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen. She was 7 yrs old then.
As she got older we started bringing her in at night and she'd sleep in a dog crate. I could sit the crate on the ground and say, "kennel up" and she'd get right in. She actually knocked on the door one night because I'd forgotten to bring her in. Not kidding. 
We had her for 10 yrs and my neighbor, who keeps his Pitbulls on chains, (another reason I have a problem with unattended chaining) wasn't home when his dog broke loose, crawled under my fence and killed her in front of me. A horrible end to a precious life. I doubt if we get chickens again I'll ever have another one like her. She was definitely one of a kind.


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## blueasajewel (Sep 12, 2011)

That's wild! I've would never have thought they would have been fast enough to catch a mouse!


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

blueasajewel said:


> That's wild! I've would never have thought they would have been fast enough to catch a mouse!


I'll try to get it on video next time :biggrin:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

It was one heck of a sight to see ALL 29 of them running after the poor little mouse! But, such is the circle of life...I didn't think they'd be able to catch it but they are so fast! 

We have ours all trained to come when called, we really enjoy them a lot. The only reason we would have to kill one is if the roosters (that were supposed to be hens) start fighting. So far, they all seem fairly friendly to one another, unless one of them has a mouse LOL

And I definitely do have my favorites out of the bunch :wink:


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

SO SO cool!!! I was meaning to ask you what ones you have for laying *breed wise* and which you have for eating?

I've heard of them catching and killing mice before! love it!


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

They're all dual purpose but we're going to just use them for eggs :wink:

We have
Buckeye
Buff Orpington
Mottled Java
Speckled Sussex
Black Langshan
Welsummer


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## Ethel (Aug 14, 2011)

I didn't know that chicken eat meat, really. And I would never guess that they are fast enough to catch a mouse. Really interesting. 
You can keep a chicken instead of a cat. :biggrin:

Dona Little I'm so sorry for your chicken, what a terrible thing.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

oh oh oh! and what do you guys feed them or are they strictly free range? I've read at multiple sources and chicken boards that cracked corn is actually okay for them? but i'd rather not feed anything corn 

Do you guys feed maggots at all from the carrion from the dogs?


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

Donna Little said:


> I didn't know they'd do that. We had chickens for several years and they would eat a surprising variety of things. Most surprising to me was egg and chicken. Something so wrong with that....
> We got a couple of new chicks once and one died a couple of days later so left one with no companion. I went to get another because it wouldn't stop peeping and the place we got them from had sold out. Finally, we found a guy close by that had a hen that had just hatched one chick that day. (She and my Dachshund Madison were born on the same day, May 1st.) We brought her home and she was so tiny. I figured the two chicks would bond and grow up together but I was wrong. The tiny one wanted nothing to do with the other chick or adult chickens and bonded with me and my husband. I never knew a chicken could be so funny and affectionate. We started calling her Fluffy, sorta as a joke but it stuck. She would run to be held and perch up on your hand. She perched on my bedroom windowsill at night while the other chickens slept in the hen house. My bedroom is right off the covered front porch so needless to say I cleaned chicken poop off the porch on a daily basis...
> We got her some fertilized eggs once and she sat on them. One hatched and she was a great mom. Seriously one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen. She was 7 yrs old then.
> As she got older we started bringing her in at night and she'd sleep in a dog crate. I could sit the crate on the ground and say, "kennel up" and she'd get right in. She actually knocked on the door one night because I'd forgotten to bring her in. Not kidding.
> We had her for 10 yrs and my neighbor, who keeps his Pitbulls on chains, (another reason I have a problem with unattended chaining) wasn't home when his dog broke loose, crawled under my fence and killed her in front of me. A horrible end to a precious life. I doubt if we get chickens again I'll ever have another one like her. She was definitely one of a kind.


Awe Donna, she really sounded like one awesome chicken! I'm sorry for your loss.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

That's really cool about them eating mice. We are thinking about getting them to keep ticks and bugs under control. Supposedly they are able to keep a yard pretty much tick free if you get the right kind. 

Keep posting about your chickens. They are really fascinating!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I would love to see a video of 29 chickens chasing a mouse.

When we lived in grasshopper areas we always had chickens and ducks because they were 10000 times better at keeping the grasshoppers down than any sprays. Now that I don't live in my house in Texas and it's rented, the grasshoppers have totally stripped the bushes AND the trees.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Tobi said:


> oh oh oh! and what do you guys feed them or are they strictly free range? I've read at multiple sources and chicken boards that cracked corn is actually okay for them? but i'd rather not feed anything corn
> 
> Do you guys feed maggots at all from the carrion from the dogs?


I feed a modified recipe based on this
10 lb wheat (white or red)
10 lb Black Oil Sunflower Seed
5 lb millet
5 lb organic cracked corn
5 lb rolled oats
5 lb rolled barley
4 lb split peas
4 lb flax seed
2-4 lb pumpkin seeds
4 lb unsalted peanuts
a little kelp meal
oyster shell and grit sized #2 and #3 mixed into the feed each day

They also get most of our food waste now. Should've seen them demolish 1/2 a watermelon last week. 

No maggots around here.... meat gets consumed long before we have maggots. We ARE raising mealworms for them though :wink:


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

jdatwood said:


> I feed a modified recipe based on this
> 10 lb wheat (white or red)
> 10 lb Black Oil Sunflower Seed
> 5 lb millet
> ...


Wow that's fantastic!!! how much does the feed normally cost to make for say a month of feed for them? I've not read up on mealworm raising yet! good for you guys! :becky:

I'm sure it was a frenzy over the watermellon! lol I can't wait to have chickens/rabbits, and a nice big garden and nothing will ever go to waste...


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Tobi said:


> Wow that's fantastic!!! how much does the feed normally cost to make for say a month of feed for them? I've not read up on mealworm raising yet! good for you guys! :becky:
> 
> I'm sure it was a frenzy over the watermellon! lol I can't wait to have chickens/rabbits, and a nice big garden and nothing will ever go to waste...


I have no idea what our monthly feeding cost is yet. This batch cost me $200 for about 500lbs of feed. I haven't weighed out their daily intake yet...

Yep, I can't wait til we get our garden going.... won't matter if we grow too much as the chickens will convert it to fertilizer to put back into the garden :wink:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

xellil said:


> I would love to see a video of 29 chickens chasing a mouse.
> 
> When we lived in grasshopper areas we always had chickens and ducks because they were 10000 times better at keeping the grasshoppers down than any sprays. Now that I don't live in my house in Texas and it's rented, the grasshoppers have totally stripped the bushes AND the trees.


Its funny....the chicken yard lines the driveway and whenever we drive up or down it the chickens run along the fence because the cars make the grasshoppers fly. So, they've learned to run to catch them all! At first it seemed like they didn't want to see us go LOL


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## smexywhales16 (Jan 15, 2011)

Does anyone have chickens that also catch and eat small frogs?
Mines do, I haven't stopped them(because they love it), but it seemed a little odd.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

smexywhales16 said:


> Does anyone have chickens that also catch and eat small frogs?
> Mines do, I haven't stopped them(because they love it), but it seemed a little odd.


When I was little we had 6 chickens, and we lived by a stream....they LOVES their frogs!:biggrin: 
(But then again....why wouldnt they?!?! Frogs are GOOD!!:thumb


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