Of Mice and Men… and Baby Chick Smoothies
Blender Mice, Baby Chicks, and RFK Jr.’s Falcon Fiasco: Is It Really That Weird?
“Crazy people don’t know they’re crazy.”
Let’s get one thing straight—I am NOT here to defend RFK Jr. I’m NOT advocating for him to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, nor am I suggesting that blended mice and peeps should ever be a thing outside of nature’s own design.
That said, if we’re making a list of reasons RFK Jr. should not be in charge of public health, I’d argue that his college-era rodent smoothies for hawks don’t even crack the Top 50.
There are many, many reasons to question his suitability for the role.
But feeding falcons like a deranged NutriBullet commercial? Not really one of them.
And as someone who’s seen some truly bizarre animal care practices up close, I can confidently say… it’s weird, but not that weird.
Now, let’s get into it.
Recently, Caroline Kennedy decided to dig into the family archives of questionable moments and casually drop that RFK Jr. used to blend mice and baby chicks (peeps) and feed it to his hawks while in college. While this sounds absolutely insane to the general public, in the world of animal care and falconry, it’s not actually that weird. So, let’s address the elephant in the room—or rather, the mouse in the blender.
Yes, feeding raptors is not for the faint of heart.
Now, as someone who worked in an actual animal lab during college—handling rats, mice, rabbits, and even rhesus monkeys—I’ve seen my fair share of bizarre animal care practices. And while I wasn’t directly involved with the university’s Peregrine falcons, I was privy to their feeding routines and the realities of caring for birds of prey.
So, I have to ask…
Was this really the weirdest thing happening in an animal lab? See When the Secret of NIMH Collided with Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Answer: Not really. But also… kind of.
Let’s start with the mouse and peep smoothie incident.
Yes, it sounds insane. Yes, it probably looked insane. But here’s the thing—while this isn’t exactly standard falconry, it’s not completely off the wall.
When working in an animal lab, I learned that sometimes food has to be prepped in ways that make the general public queasy.
Raptors don’t chew—they rip and swallow. If a bird was injured or unable to eat solid prey, blending it into a slurry might have been a way to keep it alive.
In wildlife rehab, I saw cases where injured animals were fed "prey mush" to ensure they got the nutrients they needed. Not appetizing, but effective.
And let’s be honest—there’s a reason pet stores sell "frozen pinkies" (baby mice) for snakes. Predators eat whole prey. Sometimes that means serving it in a new format.
So, while I’d personally never reach for a mouse smoothie recipe, I can at least see how RFK Jr. thought this was a good idea.
The best part of this saga? When the story first broke, people thought RFK Jr. was feeding his hawks marshmallow Peeps.
Which, while horrifically unhealthy, would have at least been funny.
But no, he meant actual baby chicks. And while that might sound horrifying to people who think of fluffy Easter chicks, I can tell you: this is totally normal in falconry.
In fact, when I first learned about it, my gut reaction was:
Wait… wouldn’t that make the falcons weak? If they’re not hunting, how will they survive in the wild?
But I was told otherwise—by people who actually worked with Peregrine falcons:
Nope! Even if they’re fed in captivity, their hunting instincts stay intact.
Basically, feeding pre-killed prey doesn’t erase a falcon’s ability to hunt—just like ordering DoorDash doesn’t mean you forget how to cook.
So, while this sounds disturbing to outsiders, in the world of birds of prey, it’s pretty normal.
Honestly? It depends.
If you’ve worked in an animal lab or falconry, this is gross but not shocking.
If you just heard about it on the news, this is the most horrifying thing you’ve ever imagined.
Would I have done it? No. Remember I quit the work study at the lab? Do I think it needed to be a public revelation? Well…I did tell you about my cousins who trained their dog to hump on command in Sit Stay Hump…Don’t Pet Da Dawg!
But honestly, considering all the truly weird things I’ve seen working in an animal lab, this doesn’t even make the Top 10.
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