What did you do in the garden today?

I keep thinking raccoon.

So let's add to this mystery in the garden with something from left field.....

In the 2 yrs I have lived here, we've NEVER seen a raccoon. We have a pond. No evidence of footprints, nada. No coon attacks on my chicken coop either. WE DO have foxes and coyotes. We've also caught a baby possum in a live trap but otherwise never saw evidence of any possum either. No skunks either. Typically my dogs keep things scared away....

Well, this morning I went out to the barn to feed everybody and noticed that SOMETHING had been up on the table I have in the barn. I had a single egg in a carton up there that I'd found in the barn yesterday. Egg was eaten. On the table. There was also a bucket of horse treats that had been knocked off a shelf next to the table. Whatever it was didn't eat any of those....just made a mess.

Then....I went out to the coop. The automatic door is currently not working on the coop so the door was left propped open last night. We have netting over our run so for a critter to get inside the chicken yard, it would have to get through the netting first. Not impossible but certainly not easy either.

I didn't see any signs of struggle and I don't THINK any chickens are missing, including the 10 babies that I had in an open brooder insider the coop. However, there were probably 7-8 eggs that something had pulled out of the nesting boxes and eaten. In fact, it looks like almost ALL the eggs that had been in a nesting box were eaten. Broken pieces of shell all over. I do have egg eaters in my flock and it is typically to see 1-2 eggs eaten if I don't get out there fast enough. But I just cleared eggs yesterday and I've NEVER seen my chickens eat so many eggs that quickly.

Soo....upon seeing this mess, my FIRST thought was "I wonder if it was a raccoon?" But surely a raccoon would have eaten the babies or even one of the adults in the nesting box? There'd be blood and feathers everywhere, you'd think?

High strangeness going on at my place last night. I think I need to invest in a game cam.
 
I'm thinking maybe opossum based on the eggs eaten vs messing with the girls. Have no idea if opossums will eat onions. Maybe you have two critters? one going for the onions, and one going for the eggs, but since all have happened in a short span, more likely one culprit.

We borrowed a game cam to see the raccoons coming around. It was helpful to know exactly what we were dealing with and trying to trap.
 
Potato bed looks good. in the front are white potatoes. The back half has yellow type then a purple type. The white ones are just beginning to produce flower buds, while the yellow type are about 1-2 weeks ahead on the flower bud production.
Screen Shot 2022-05-26 at 2.36.33 PM.png


Large bed planted. (potato bed is just behind it). Many tomatoes, and peppers with celery seeds in one area (I hope they sprout and grow), and two kinds of melons in mounds towards the back. The entire 4' of the south side is unplanted - it will be for the sweet potatoes.
Screen Shot 2022-05-26 at 2.36.08 PM.png


garlic bed. The foreground are the garlic plants from spring shipped garlic heads, with single cloves planted. The back half of the bed is broken up into 3 sections. These were planted with "bulblets" and should produce a single clove later this year....that clove can be re planted in the fall to obtain a head of garlic next year. Such a difference in size!
Screen Shot 2022-05-26 at 2.36.53 PM.png



This bed is just beans a carrots (and gourds). The four sections in the foreground are beans, green beans in 1st section, then 3 types of soybeans - all sprouted. The last 4 sections are 4 varieties of carrots. The arches have gourd seeds planted at the base so they can grow up and over and shade the pen to the right. Bean bed with strung bean towers is behind this bed.
Screen Shot 2022-05-26 at 2.37.10 PM.png




Rhubarb is doing well. Mulched and some strawberries are planted in here as well.
Screen Shot 2022-05-26 at 2.38.06 PM.png
 
So let's add to this mystery in the garden with something from left field.....

In the 2 yrs I have lived here, we've NEVER seen a raccoon. We have a pond. No evidence of footprints, nada. No coon attacks on my chicken coop either. WE DO have foxes and coyotes. We've also caught a baby possum in a live trap but otherwise never saw evidence of any possum either. No skunks either. Typically my dogs keep things scared away....

Well, this morning I went out to the barn to feed everybody and noticed that SOMETHING had been up on the table I have in the barn. I had a single egg in a carton up there that I'd found in the barn yesterday. Egg was eaten. On the table. There was also a bucket of horse treats that had been knocked off a shelf next to the table. Whatever it was didn't eat any of those....just made a mess.

Then....I went out to the coop. The automatic door is currently not working on the coop so the door was left propped open last night. We have netting over our run so for a critter to get inside the chicken yard, it would have to get through the netting first. Not impossible but certainly not easy either.

I didn't see any signs of struggle and I don't THINK any chickens are missing, including the 10 babies that I had in an open brooder insider the coop. However, there were probably 7-8 eggs that something had pulled out of the nesting boxes and eaten. In fact, it looks like almost ALL the eggs that had been in a nesting box were eaten. Broken pieces of shell all over. I do have egg eaters in my flock and it is typically to see 1-2 eggs eaten if I don't get out there fast enough. But I just cleared eggs yesterday and I've NEVER seen my chickens eat so many eggs that quickly.

Soo....upon seeing this mess, my FIRST thought was "I wonder if it was a raccoon?" But surely a raccoon would have eaten the babies or even one of the adults in the nesting box? There'd be blood and feathers everywhere, you'd think?

High strangeness going on at my place last night. I think I need to invest in a game cam.
snake
 
I'm thinking maybe opossum based on the eggs eaten vs messing with the girls. Have no idea if opossums will eat onions. Maybe you have two critters? one going for the onions, and one going for the eggs, but since all have happened in a short span, more likely one culprit.

We borrowed a game cam to see the raccoons coming around. It was helpful to know exactly what we were dealing with and trying to trap.
vole?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom