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

[MamaDoodle]

I never knew anything but chicken wire when I started. The first two days, nothing happened. The third, I awoke to find an empty chicken tractor. My dog brought me the bodies one by one from the woods, nothing wrong but the heads missing. We mourned until my husband bought me some more. There had been three holes, one dug under, and a huge dent in the top. Now, I replaced the sides with hardware cloth, the roof with aluminum, and the bottom with double chicken wire.

My run had no roof, with my new flock. Why would it? It's nearly 8 feet tall. But my favorite hen flew out and was caught by one of my other dogs. I had no way to save her. It also nearly cost me my best rooster, who got out to try to save her. I put wire over the run too late...

My final, and hopefully last, mistake was nothing around the bottom. Same dog rammed bottom of fence and got in. No losses, but now I have a tree trunk cut to lay around the outside against the fence.

No mishaps since...but still...

 

[cheeka]

MamaDoodle, we learn as we go along, sometimes the hard way... I think it's weasels that rip off heads and drink blood... but coons do it too... (the head thing) I'm so sorry for all your losses and trials, but it sounds like you've covered all the bases this time!

 

[tenhens]

The bright side of today's experience is I feel less guilty about keeping them in their run. I used to feel guilty when they were in and nervous when they were out. Since this mornings event I'm just content to know they are safe and in a very comfortable coop and a nice sized run.

Thanks for the info cheeka on the run. I do have them in run with a heavy net roof but I think a tractor in the spring could be very enjoyable for them.

They had a fabulous lunch of plain yogurt bananas, grapes and green beans and then went in their coop for a mid afternoon nap on their perch! I think we all could've used a nap today after such a close call!

 

[sueiris]

I need suggestions for baiting traps for raccoons or possibly possums? best goodies (besides chicken) I read that it's not best to get rid of possums as i'll end up with rats? is there truth to that? so far we have mice but no rats that i know of. sigh. Our rooster was killed last night and a small hen missing. some predator climbed onto our covered coop and got through a weak area in the wire. he was a big black copper rooster. very sad day. I keep thinking that i need to get a shotgun ( and learn how to shoot it.......) will be refencing with wirecloth and possibly electric around the larger uncovered fence. (our coop is small, and the fenced area covered......)

 

[cheeka]

some suggest marshmallows, i used (storebought) chicken legs. all I trapped was my own cat.

Good luck... sorry for your loss(es) hope the hen turns up from a good hiding spot.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Cat food or tuna is good bait too for coons and possums. The marshmellows are good too if you have cats around because cats won't eat them. Peanut butter for rats and mice. Shotgun works on all of them.

 

[sueiris]

shotgun is on the list........

....will try a trap and new fencing and a closed door on the inside coop in the meantime.......expensive hobby for a few eggs, lol!

 

[laadeebug]

We have had chickens for years with a family of Hawks that lived and raised babies every year in the trees adjacent to our property with no problems until recently an idiot neighbor that moved in kept shooting at them and I think killed all but one. I always expected that if one of the hawks got a chicken I really couldn't get mad because it is in their nature. Mine have always free ranged during the day and get locked up at night. What happened now is there is a new hawk hanging around and this one is VERY BOLD! We just got some chicks not too long ago and I have been letting them play outside in a rather large critter cage, about 4 feet long, but totally enclosed, right in the yard where I can keep an eye on them. The bars are less than an inch opening but vertically longer. One day one was just missing. We thought somehow it was just us and how could we have let one slip by somehow, and then a couple of days later, I heard a chick start screaming only to turn around and see a hawk was pulling it through the bars and trying to eat it. By the time I got over there to chase away the hawk it had done enough damage that I had to do the unthinkable. My first time. I can't describe how I felt. But the thing was that there was also a decapitated carcass still in the cage that apparently the hawk had to have spent a while doing his thing. Well, lesson learned about the cage so they are now in a cage INSIDE a pen. But now the hawk knows where he can get an easy meal apparently and he is back ALL DAY LONG, every day and will stand right on top of the coops until I get like only 5 feet away from him. Yelling and all. Today we caught it trying to get one of my silkie babies the same way, but through the BIG pen! (chain link) Is he getting them to come up to him the way a stranger entices a child with candy somehow? Has he got a little worm under his wing?All the chicks and silkies usually stay away from the big hens because of getting picked on. Why would they just get so close to the hawk? I don't get that part. Anyhow, plans for building a new coop are being edited as we speak. My poor little silkie is so tramatized. And I don't like learning the hard way. And BTW if anyone has any suggestions for this hawk who is so bold, I would appreciate it. My poor girls don't like lockdown but what can I do?

 

[cls82]

For anyone who says that possums are just a nuances, they are scavengers, just go after the eggs, etc you are wrong. We had a possum break into our coop and attack 2 of our 6 chickens. One is fine, the other, a silkie, is probably going to die. We scared him off (we live in a residential area) but less than 30 min later he was back trying to get thru the roof/gate of our coop again. I did not sleep that night or the next at all, and still am having trouble sleeping a week later although we have done things to reinforce the coop (like adding more wood and some hardware cloth) and have been keeping all 6 lights on in our backyard. There are still areas about an inch to 2 inches wide open which I know should be addressed but not sure how just yet. We bought a trap and baited it with jelly but as far as I can tell the possum hasn't been back. Now we have hawks out everyday, and have lost one in the past 4 months (we free range ours), but living in the city never even thought about possums.

 

[dozer183e]

Hello, I am not only new to this forum I am new to chickens. We are looking at getting our first hens as soon as I can finish making a home for them.

See my first thread for more info about my shed renovation to a coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/834170/complete-newbie-here

I did not consider until now the fact that we have mongooses here, so now I am concerned about what to do about them.

There is already chain link fence half way up and on some of the sides of this shed. Is that not good enough? Then I was planning on using chicken wire for the rest, but after reading many posts on this thread, I think I better go to the market to see if wire mesh is available. Even then, this shed is old and probably will have areas a mongoose could squeeze through. Ie., the wood posts along the stone wall will be hard to seal.

Lastly, I am not sure about the ability of the mongoose to dig under the fence and get in that way. I suppose I could put out the 2' of wire mesh on the ground as others suggested. Would this do the trick?

Other things I need to consider?

dozer