20 chicks gone, could it be a hawk?

[johnderosa1]

Set a havahart type box trap big enough to catch a raccoon with some sardines, catfood or any other similar bait. You need to get on this quickly as the raccoon will come back for more. Most juristictions allow you to kill predators that are killing livestock. I leave a trap set along my coop at all times to catch any curious critters before they can cause problems... good luck

 

[chloezoebob101]

Set a havahart type box trap big enough to catch a raccoon with some sardines, catfood or any other similar bait. You need to get on this quickly as the raccoon will come back for more. Most juristictions allow you to kill predators that are killing livestock. I leave a trap set along my coop at all times to catch any curious critters before they can cause problems... good luck

Thanks everybody!! You guys are a big help

We have a lake, could we just catch a fish out of there and put it in the trap?

 

[suebee]

Build a run and keep them penned up for a couple of months.
edited by staff

 

[chloezoebob101]

Personally I think it's just plain cruel to allow unsupervised chicks to run free. Why can't you build a secure run for them? I feel sorry for your poor chicks that suffered senseless deaths and your future chicks that will meet the same fate. Build a run and keep them penned up for a couple of months.

at least if they are gonna die they are gonna die happy.. If i keep them in a run they will run out of bugs and they won't be happy. Plus, we had them in a run once, didn't do one bit of good, raccoon or something dug under and got 40 of my big girls.

 

[texas75563]

Sure a fish, crawfish, or frog from the pond would make good bait.

 

[chloezoebob101]

Sure a fish, crawfish, or frog from the pond would make good bait.

Thanks

 

[mondotomhead]

at least if they are gonna die they are gonna die happy.. If i keep them in a run they will run out of bugs and they won't be happy. Plus, we had them in a run once, didn't do one bit of good, raccoon or something dug under and got 40 of my big girls.

WOW, the predators eat well at your house.

I think its wrong to blast away at something that "could" of taken your chicks. If you are going to have animals its up to you to be their protector.

 

[chloezoebob101]

WOW, the predators eat well at your house.

I think its wrong to blast away at something that "could" of taken your chicks. If you are going to have animals its up to you to be their protector.

I know! We thought they would be safer here than up there (their other coop location) but apparently not :/
I don't see why everyone thinks just because we don't have a run we don't protect them. We DO protect them, but we want them to be happy. In their run they were not happy (the other coop had a run) all they ever wanted was to be out and they would be by the gate begging to be let out.

 

[mondotomhead]

I know! We thought they would be safer here than up there (their other coop location) but apparently not :/
I don't see why everyone thinks just because we don't have a run we don't protect them. We DO protect them, but we want them to be happy. In their run they were not happy (the other coop had a run) all they ever wanted was to be out and they would be by the gate begging to be let out.

I, too, had this same problem with all kinds of predators, flying, crawling, climbing, etc. I was a newbie and very naive and my chickens paid the price. But I also learned from this. I bought aviary netting, I bought welded wire. I bought "night-eyes". I predator-proofed EVERYTHING. The coop and run are a Fort Knox of chicken safety. Gone are those horrible days when I came home to missing or dead chickens. I do let my chickens free range but I am with them the whole time they are out.

I understand you want your chickens happy. It hard to see their little faces at the coop door wanting to be let out but I'd rather they be alive. Maybe you could enlarge their run? Or, what I do is get a wheelbarrel of last year's leaves digging down to get the wet ones where the bugs are and dump it in the run. This keeps mine entertained for hours. Make a dust bath box. Put some large branches in the run. Throw in piles of clover, weeds and grass. All this will break up the bordom of the chickens having nothing to do.

Chickens have no defenses. That is why EVERYTHING eats them. Please keep your babies in the run unless you are right with them when they go out.

 

[chloezoebob101]

I, too, had this same problem with all kinds of predators, flying, crawling, climbing, etc. I was a newbie and very naive and my chickens paid the price. But I also learned from this. I bought aviary netting, I bought welded wire. I bought "night-eyes". I predator-proofed EVERYTHING. The coop and run are a Fort Knox of chicken safety. Gone are those horrible days when I came home to missing or dead chickens. I do let my chickens free range but I am with them the whole time they are out.

I understand you want your chickens happy. It hard to see their little faces at the coop door wanting to be let out but I'd rather they be alive. Maybe you could enlarge their run? Or, what I do is get a wheelbarrel of last year's leaves digging down to get the wet ones where the bugs are and dump it in the run. This keeps mine entertained for hours. Make a dust bath box. Put some large branches in the run. Throw in piles of clover, weeds and grass. All this will break up the bordom of the chickens having nothing to do.

Chickens have no defenses. That is why EVERYTHING eats them. Please keep your babies in the run unless you are right with them when they go out.

I think one of our main "missing chick" problems have to do with tall grass near them. Its about a foot high, just enough to be a trap for the young ones. This is something we are learning too, they walk in it and they get stuck, and can't see the end. When we walk out there sometimes we see them trapped in a bundle of grass waiting to be let free, we are going to mow the grass this weekend, its the worse part about the location they are in.
Thank you for the suggestions about how to get them unbored. for some sand do you think we could just toss a kiddie pool in there filled with dirt and sand?
But yes, once we get around to making a run we will make it HUGE. but we are super busy, we are coming down with lice and cocci in our goat herd, so not much time for other things right now

(our bantams have defense, you should see them go, they survived "The great Fox attack of 2011" when 40 others died, they made it.