Ok, so maybe he doesn't look like anything special in THIS picture, but the fact is Mackeral is one of the best mouse-catchers I have ever seen. We have never lived anywhere and had a problem with mice in the house, even if we started out with a mouse problem or lived in the country. He is also hours of entertainment because he doesn't just catch, kill, and eat the mouse (or worse, leave them for us to find). No, he catches a mouse then plays with it, sometimes for hours, before finally eating it. A bit sadistic on our parts? Probably. We should feel sorry for the poor, half-dead mouse, and I honestly usually do, but it is still interesting to watch...especially since we don't have cable or satellite!
Like I said, we have never had a problem with mice in the house, but since it has gotten warmer finding a mouse in a feed bucket, and holes in feed bags, has become an almost daily occurance. We usually find the cat and lead it to the trapped mouse. The problem has gotten so bad we have considered getting a couple of barn cats. This morning there was yet another mouse. I had my camera with me so I pulled it out for a picture. I was going to write a blog entry about the mouse problem and good, organic ways to deal with mice. Then the Welsummer showed up...
Out of nowhere, this Welsummer jumps into the feed bucket and starts chasing the mouse. I think, "Cool, I'm going to get this on video!" I had just started to turn it on when, BAM, the chicken picks up the mouse and tries to eat it whole, "snake-style". I start screaming, "Oh my gosh, the chicken is eating the mouse!!!" and really wishing the video would have been on. It turns out the mouse didn't quite go down whole, so I was able to get some proof:
Forget the barn cats, we'll just make sure to keep a few barn chickens!
Oh, and forget "snake-style". My 9-year-old son just informed me owls eat their food whole like that, so it was "owl-style". He also patted me on the head and gave me a "that's so cute" kind of look before walking away smiling to himself. And here I was hoping I could claim to be smarter than him for at least a couple more years!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment