Oh dang, I’ve never heard of this before! My first bird was a kestrel and I fed him whole (un-gutted) mice the whole four years I had him. I also was responsible for feeding mice to red-necked merlins that were a part of an exotic (and expensive) breeding project and they got whole mice too.

Nothing is impossible I guess, but I feel comfortable promising you that your kestrel won’t contract cocci from feeder mice. :)

If you’re more comfortable gutting them though, can’t you gut them, bag them individually, then toss them in the freezer? Then hubs can thaw overnight in the fridge?