A Careless Mistake

[JimyCrakKorn]

do not ever relax your guard against the coons, after killing all the coons at my place, for a whole year, coon free, a troop of four found my chickens, out of
13 chickens, they killed 10 in one night, we moved the last three into another coon proof coop, and started trapping, my husband caught four and killed but still afraid more will come, my husband leaves the trap out, set all the time now just in case

I am so sorry for your loss. I lost 5 in two attacks and was devastated. I can only imagine what losing 10 in one night must have felt like. Congratulations on getting the troop of 4.

You are very timely in your post. I recently heard something that convinced me of the truth of what you said. It is obviously a running, ongoing battle that will never be over. Coons will occupy an area where there is no competition and after taking out the competition, the woods are clear for the next batch. My best hope is to never relax, as you say.

I looked out the window yesterday morning and saw one of the largest hawks I've seen around here sitting on the chain link fence that is around the run, maybe 5 ft from the pen. No way he's getting in, 1/2 inch hardware cloth surrounding it all, but the girls didn't come out of the coop until I went up there. When I walked away, they went back in. They've never done that before. So coons, hawks, foxes, possums, snakes and all other varmints will make the work load a bit more but the joy in having the ladies, will always be worth the effort.

Thanks for your post.

Mitch

 

[dominiques]

Thanks for all these tips. So far so good but my guard is always up. Night Guard lights are helping (I think). I'll get some deer netting as I don't have that. Thanks again.