I'm not sure where this should go so I'm just putting it in Random Ramblings. My flock was struck by tragedy and I just need somewhere to vent. I'm not just mad, I'm furious; first at myself and then at the local wildlife. I understand that wild animals need to eat too and I don't begrudge them food but NOT MY FREAKING CHICKENS!!!
The set up we have is not a traditional coop and run because it was built by our home's previous owners and I received my flock (as chicks) as a housewarming gift from the same people. There is a wire enclosure, which I call a cage, with a sort of hatch-like door about 3 feet from the ground on one side. Inside of this cage we have a hutch that they stay in at night. The previous owners allowed their chickens to roam freely inside the cage so I do the same and secure the door as tightly as possible until about sunset then herd the gals into their hutch for the night just to be safe.
Two nights ago I was out past dark and forgot to put them back in their hutch. The next morning my toddler and I found two corpses in the cage. I couldn't figure out how an animal had gotten in but figured maybe it was raccoons, as I've seen them on our porch several times, and chalked the loss up as a learning experience. I still had 2 chickens left and one of them was my favorite. Yesterday I let them out again and went about my business. I got home as soon as possible but it was still about 30 min to an hour after sunset. My toddler and I dropped everything in the house and dashed out to the cage to get get the chickies in their "house" and found an opossum inside the cage with one of our last 2 pullets in it's mouth. It scared my daughter and made me so MAD that if I owned a gun I would have shot the critter right then and there, which is really saying something because I cry if I accidentally run over a squirrel. The opossum dropped the pullet and back up to hide where my favorite was trying to stay out of reach. I think it got some of her tail feathers, there's a suspicious chunk missing,then she squawked and ran to the front of the cage trying to squeeze through the wire so frantically I almost couldn't get her out of the cage. We took her inside and she now resides in a very large guinea pig cage that they lived in when they were small. Inke was so stressed that she rode on my shoulder the whole way to the house and paced perimeter of the cage all night.
I can't let Inke go back out to the cage until we figure out how the stupid opossum got in or build a new (predator safe) coop and run with our meager funds. There. Story done. I feel a little better after typing it all up but I'm still furious.
Good bye poor chickies: Scarlet (RIR?), O'Hara - (RIR?), Goldie (Buff Orpington).
Lone Survivor: Inke (Barred Rock)
The set up we have is not a traditional coop and run because it was built by our home's previous owners and I received my flock (as chicks) as a housewarming gift from the same people. There is a wire enclosure, which I call a cage, with a sort of hatch-like door about 3 feet from the ground on one side. Inside of this cage we have a hutch that they stay in at night. The previous owners allowed their chickens to roam freely inside the cage so I do the same and secure the door as tightly as possible until about sunset then herd the gals into their hutch for the night just to be safe.
Two nights ago I was out past dark and forgot to put them back in their hutch. The next morning my toddler and I found two corpses in the cage. I couldn't figure out how an animal had gotten in but figured maybe it was raccoons, as I've seen them on our porch several times, and chalked the loss up as a learning experience. I still had 2 chickens left and one of them was my favorite. Yesterday I let them out again and went about my business. I got home as soon as possible but it was still about 30 min to an hour after sunset. My toddler and I dropped everything in the house and dashed out to the cage to get get the chickies in their "house" and found an opossum inside the cage with one of our last 2 pullets in it's mouth. It scared my daughter and made me so MAD that if I owned a gun I would have shot the critter right then and there, which is really saying something because I cry if I accidentally run over a squirrel. The opossum dropped the pullet and back up to hide where my favorite was trying to stay out of reach. I think it got some of her tail feathers, there's a suspicious chunk missing,then she squawked and ran to the front of the cage trying to squeeze through the wire so frantically I almost couldn't get her out of the cage. We took her inside and she now resides in a very large guinea pig cage that they lived in when they were small. Inke was so stressed that she rode on my shoulder the whole way to the house and paced perimeter of the cage all night.
I can't let Inke go back out to the cage until we figure out how the stupid opossum got in or build a new (predator safe) coop and run with our meager funds. There. Story done. I feel a little better after typing it all up but I'm still furious.
Good bye poor chickies: Scarlet (RIR?), O'Hara - (RIR?), Goldie (Buff Orpington).
Lone Survivor: Inke (Barred Rock)
opossums are one of my least favorite animals, that and woodchucks, those do a number on my garden....
