As anyone who might have read my post from last fall through now (on either here or on my blog) know I've had major problems with raccoons. Last fall I had 42 birds, I give away 2 roosters and a 2 birds died naturally (one last fall, one this spring) and then I had raccoon attacks. It looks like I lost another hen last night taking me down to 7 birds.
Honestly I'm sitting here trying not to start crying again after looking at those numbers.
So last Tuesday when I had a eggs smashed and eaten and paw prints on my cars hood I set the trap and caught a young male raccoon. Here is part of my Wednesday blog post:
So last Tuesday when I had a eggs smashed and eaten and paw prints on my cars hood I set the trap and caught a young male raccoon. Here is part of my Wednesday blog post:
Paw Prints and Broken Eggs...
..are what caused me to set the trap last night. On the hood of my Jeep where paw prints, too smeared to tell what they came from. In the chicken coop for the first time since the last raccoon attacks I had a nest of broken and eaten eggs. So to calm my worried mind (I don't think I can deal with another coon attack). I set the trap last night.
This morning when I got up and headed out to check the trap and let the chickens out, I had caught my prey. A young male raccoon. Who probably would have spent a few weeks eating eggs, before moving on to eating chickens. But I was not giving him the time to build up to that.
So when I had a day of no egg stealing I thought we where good but when eggs went missing again I set the trap last night at dusk and awhile after dark I heard metal hitting metal (I had put my broken cage next to it so they couldn't reach in and get the food) so I went to check it out and found a trapped raccoon . After seeing that it looked fine for the night, I decided to wait until morning due to the fact I can't shot a 22 and hold a flashlight at the same time.
So this morning when I woke up I grabbed the gun, shells (bullets), and a trash bag and headed out to the coop. And found part of my trap's bottom ripped out, the raccoon gone, and my beautiful BA/EE (and last BA/EE) hen is missing and thought to have been killed.
So now I need a new trap and I'm down to: 2 BR/EE rooster who I need to find homes for, Red my EE rooster, 2 WL/EE hens, a CM hen, and Kernel a WL/EE rooster blinded due to a raccoon attack in one eye and blinded in the other by a rooster going after him.
I've need to figure out how to keep my birds safe because I've given up on my coop being any help. So I need to see if I can through together a small coop, box thing to keep them safe until I can kill the raccoon and get a new coop.
..are what caused me to set the trap last night. On the hood of my Jeep where paw prints, too smeared to tell what they came from. In the chicken coop for the first time since the last raccoon attacks I had a nest of broken and eaten eggs. So to calm my worried mind (I don't think I can deal with another coon attack). I set the trap last night.
This morning when I got up and headed out to check the trap and let the chickens out, I had caught my prey. A young male raccoon. Who probably would have spent a few weeks eating eggs, before moving on to eating chickens. But I was not giving him the time to build up to that.
So when I had a day of no egg stealing I thought we where good but when eggs went missing again I set the trap last night at dusk and awhile after dark I heard metal hitting metal (I had put my broken cage next to it so they couldn't reach in and get the food) so I went to check it out and found a trapped raccoon . After seeing that it looked fine for the night, I decided to wait until morning due to the fact I can't shot a 22 and hold a flashlight at the same time.
So this morning when I woke up I grabbed the gun, shells (bullets), and a trash bag and headed out to the coop. And found part of my trap's bottom ripped out, the raccoon gone, and my beautiful BA/EE (and last BA/EE) hen is missing and thought to have been killed.
So now I need a new trap and I'm down to: 2 BR/EE rooster who I need to find homes for, Red my EE rooster, 2 WL/EE hens, a CM hen, and Kernel a WL/EE rooster blinded due to a raccoon attack in one eye and blinded in the other by a rooster going after him.
I've need to figure out how to keep my birds safe because I've given up on my coop being any help. So I need to see if I can through together a small coop, box thing to keep them safe until I can kill the raccoon and get a new coop.
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