Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[laura877]

30 yrs ago I started losing my hens. I'd find them with their heads gone. One night after dark I went out to the coop to collect eggs. As I was reaching into the nesting box to get the eggs, I thought one of the cats was in the box until I looked and realized it was a possom. That possum met my 12 guage real quick.

A few weeks ago I lost one of my meat birds that I held back from butchering. I found it on the other side of the indoor arena where it stayed at night. It was dead and half eaten. I then found out it another possum and that one too met our .22. This was the first hen that I had lost in 30 yrs. I had lost lots of chicks to rats, but between trapping and poisin, I haven't seen signs of rats in months and months.

Never trust your dog..no matter how small. A chick that had been hatched in the loft of our barn, fell 8 ft down to the ground. I came in to do chaores and could hear it. I started chasing it around and beore I could get it, my yorkie ran in, grabbed it, it squeaked, she thought she had a new squeakie toy, and then she ran off with it, biting it all the way. Needless to say her squeaky toy was dead and had to be disposed of.

I must say that I never locked my chickens up on the coop. I didn't see the need. wrong. All last week I was on vacation and had the neighbor girl doing chores. I came home at 11pm and went to the barn to put away my new Araucana chicks that another BYCer gave me. I walk into the aisleway of the arena and ther are 4 kits (baby raccons) perched on a shelving unit. Hubby comes down and does away with them. Next day I realize abt 8 or9 of my 13 hens are gone and some of my 12 wk old pullets and roos that roost on an old trailer parked in the arena. That night we trapped a male coon. The last 2 nights I haven't gotten anything in the trap. I know momma has to still be out there so after reading about marshmellows, I will be going to the store tomorrow.

My brother used to trap coon and he used apples with anise flavoring. He said they would go crazy over them and cats didn't bother them. I've tried it here but no one was interested.

Its really sad in the morning to lok out my bedroom window and hardly any chickens out there doing what chickens love to do best. I had mine so that they would come when I called. boy do I miss them.

 

[cherylkanuck]

We are new to chickens and thought our coop and run were safe. Big mistake my 6 month old puppy pushed through the bottom of the chicken wire and killed two of our four chickens in just a matter of min. we thought attaching the wire to the frame with zip ties would keep her out but she went through that like butter. we are now putting electric wire along the bottom so I hope that works. It was way more devestating than I thought it woud be and don't want it to happen again.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

People who actually love their chickens have no choice but to build a predator proof home for them or prepare yourself for heartbreak. Take pictures of your setup and post them here. Many helpful people will point out any weakness your setup might have regarding predators.

 

[laura877]

Has anyone tried Nite Guards? I had a lady in Tx who runs a million dollar operation and is a judge, tell me that she swears by them.

http://www.niteguard.com/

I think I am going to try some.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Well, it sounds interesting, but, a couple of things, one, my coop is where the chickens are at night, that is the fortress. Two, I have all kinds of pics on the game cam and no way does a flash of light scare any of them away. Three, I can barely stand the yard light, no way I want that stuff flashing all over the meadow at night...besides, after awhile the predators will realize it's no threat and move right on in. Ask the judge what other safety precautions she has in place...hot wire, strong buildings..etc.

 

[Heat]

Here is the page I started about my fortress. I building a run out of broken pallets, lining it with protective screen and covering with chicken wire and hardware cloth.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-cluckers-fortress

The problem is not everyone has the same situations. At my moms our chickens live in an old goat barn and roam in a large fenced in (4 feet high horse wire) with tall grass and small trees. We have only lost one to an unknown predator (during an ice storm and we had been frozen a few days), and one to our dogs (on accident... they guarded over her injured body until I got home... she dies from the injuries later), but aside from that they have been unharmed by any predators. However, at my home we have lost one to our neighbors dog, forcing us to build the fortress. I have also noticed at least 3 coons hanging around, none near the coop yet, but I know they are there where I never saw them at my moms.

You just have to look your situation and house the chickens accordingly.

 

[kimberly_kodiak]

We have had chickens for about 7 years and have had two attacks. The first one was on my two Orpingtons that we free ranged. They were killed and not eaten. We believe either one of our dogs or our neighbor's dogs. Lesson learned, we no longer free range our chickens. Our second attack was almost a total loss. We had ten chickens and nine were dead by morning. We believe it was a fisher cat. The chickens aren't locked in at night because their run is totally enclosed. The fisher cat must have come in either from gap in the chicken wire or a rusted area in the run and walked right into the coop. Some of the chickens were partially eaten but most were just killed. We are in the process of reinforcing our coop and run. We had no issues for four years between the first incident and second which gave us a false feeling of security. We believe the same animal has returned two weeks later and tried to get our three week old chicks. The coop is setup like Fort Knox so the only evidence is many scratches and claw marks on coop sides but we are still planning on trapping the invader and getting rid of it.

Always important to never get too comfortable and lazy about protecting your flock. Even after this last attack, my husband feels that the chickens will be fine once the run is reinforced. I, on the other hand, will be locking them in every night and hopefully setting up an electric fence around run and coop. I miss looking out the window and seeing my chickens happily foraging around and don't want this to happen again.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Its much easier to build a predator proof coop and run than it is to catch or kill all of the predators. The world will never run out of predators no matter how many you eliminate.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Here is the page I started about my fortress. I building a run out of broken pallets, lining it with protective screen and covering with chicken wire and hardware cloth.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-cluckers-fortress

The problem is not everyone has the same situations. At my moms our chickens live in an old goat barn and roam in a large fenced in (4 feet high horse wire) with tall grass and small trees. We have only lost one to an unknown predator (during an ice storm and we had been frozen a few days), and one to our dogs (on accident... they guarded over her injured body until I got home... she dies from the injuries later), but aside from that they have been unharmed by any predators. However, at my home we have lost one to our neighbors dog, forcing us to build the fortress. I have also noticed at least 3 coons hanging around, none near the coop yet, but I know they are there where I never saw them at my moms.

You just have to look your situation and house the chickens accordingly.

My neighbor lost all of his chickens in one night to a coon that chewed thru the chicken wire to get into the run then chewed thru the chicken wire again to get into the coop.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

yes, and sometimes you just don't 'think' about zipping the lid shut on the brooder box while you run out to put more gas in the generator before it quits and you have to pull and pull the cord to start it...like me, while all the dogs are just sleeping and haven't even looked at the chicks sound asleep...it only took a minute for two of them to get eaten...not even a puff of fuzz left..darn dog.