I doubt they'd smash the wall, rather they'd put out poison bait and/or traps in appropriate places.

There is no point in smashing through a wall to get to the mice (or even killing them) unless you stop them from returning again.

Take a long walk around the exterior of your home with an eagle eye towards any sort of opening. Look at the eaves, where any pipes or cables enter the home, around doors, windows, the entire foundation, etc.

Then look up- are there trees that overhang your house?
That provides a clear pathway as well.
They are coming in somewhere and the first task is to eliminate that possibility.
Then deal with any that are actually inside.

Of course there's a point in killing them even before you close off the entrance. The alternative is letting them multiply.

Kill mice as quickly as possible as soon as you know about them. They have btwn 6-10 babies at a time and can reproduce at 3 months of age and have no problem with incest. Stop them now before they get out of hand.

Probably a little late for this as if they were mice, they have died and have already stunk up the house. LOL!!! We had the same problem year after year. I finally opened up a hole in the wall and took the shop-vac and sucked them out. There were five live and four dead in the cavity. They did not come in through the crawlspace as a lot may think, they came in through the attic. I would bet the OP has a soffit in the kitchen. The mice will walk down through the soffit and when they reach the end, drop into the wall cavity. The soffits are normally built before a wall is sheetrocked and therefore are open on the backside. A mouse will dribble urine and feces along the way. Other mice can pick up that scent and will follow along. Once I located where they were getting into the soffit at, I blocked off the cavity that drops down into the wall. We have not had a mouse problem for quite a few years now. Before blocking off the soffit, we had mice in the wall cavity every Fall for a number of years. And if you live in the country, keeping mice out of a house is almost an impossibility. Once the weather starts to cool off in the Fall, they head towards warmer areas.

i think you have ice. i too heard scratching noises at bedtime and throughout the night. one night i pulled away the floor heater board and saw a mouse! those sticky glue traps work great. but then you have to check everywhere, like under the sink, inside cupboards, by the range, by water pipes/heaters, etc. for small openings and plug them. even then they may chew through them and come back.

Hello everyone..Had a similar problem at our Summer home. Would hear a scratching popping noise in a bathroom wall. You could knock on the wall and it would stop for a while but come back. This occured mostly at night. Turned out to be carpenter ants chewing wood in a 2x4 as they expanded a nest. Took off the wall paneling and removed the nest and old wood. Sealed all cracks and openings and never had a problem. Amazing the sound they can make in a wall. Best regards, Mark in Buffalo