Hi, I'm new here, and was inspired to search out a forum like this after discovering today that two of our pullets had been killed by a raccoon. I HATE RACCOONS. We're lousy with 'em out here, too. They raid our horse feed, poop in the back of our pickup, and have even cut off our power in the middle of the night . But now they've gone too far. We have trapped and relocated several, and have even shot a couple. Additionally, they're now being suspected of having joined 'possum as a vector for Equine Protozoal Myelitis. In other words, I hate them.
We have a small coop that sits inside of a good-size "yard," which is fenced with chicken-wire up to the top, and covered with bird netting. Live and learn--the 'coon climbed the fence to the top, and pushed through the netting. It got the birds when they were out in the yard, probably in the early morning. ARRGH. So today, we put three strands of hot-wire, at 6", 12", and 24" high all around the enclosure, plus another hot-wire along the top. If anyone has additional suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Would motion-sensor lights help at all?
Anyway, I was just shocked that we didn't have all our bases covered--we really thought we did. Before the chicks even arrived, my husband set up a motion-triggered "game-cam" on the fence opposite the side of our property where the chicken-yard sits. He baited the area, and left the camera up for a couple of days and nights, just to see what kind of predator activity we had going on. Amidst the squirrel, crow, and deer activity, here's a sampling of what we saw:
Fox, raccoons, feral cats, 'possum, and loose dogs. It's the dogs that make me angry more than anyone else. There's no "leash law" out here, and we are the ONLY people in this area who keep our dogs (we have 6) on our own property. GRRRR. But it wasn't the dogs who got our chickens. Since the hatchery sent us 4 extras, and we only lost one tiny baby at the very beginning, we still technically have one more than we bought...but darn it, they got my prettiest "Araucana" (hatchery version)--she looked like a partridge or a pheasant, and was my favorite of all. Of COURSE the 'coon got that one.
We have a small coop that sits inside of a good-size "yard," which is fenced with chicken-wire up to the top, and covered with bird netting. Live and learn--the 'coon climbed the fence to the top, and pushed through the netting. It got the birds when they were out in the yard, probably in the early morning. ARRGH. So today, we put three strands of hot-wire, at 6", 12", and 24" high all around the enclosure, plus another hot-wire along the top. If anyone has additional suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Would motion-sensor lights help at all?
Anyway, I was just shocked that we didn't have all our bases covered--we really thought we did. Before the chicks even arrived, my husband set up a motion-triggered "game-cam" on the fence opposite the side of our property where the chicken-yard sits. He baited the area, and left the camera up for a couple of days and nights, just to see what kind of predator activity we had going on. Amidst the squirrel, crow, and deer activity, here's a sampling of what we saw:
Fox, raccoons, feral cats, 'possum, and loose dogs. It's the dogs that make me angry more than anyone else. There's no "leash law" out here, and we are the ONLY people in this area who keep our dogs (we have 6) on our own property. GRRRR. But it wasn't the dogs who got our chickens. Since the hatchery sent us 4 extras, and we only lost one tiny baby at the very beginning, we still technically have one more than we bought...but darn it, they got my prettiest "Araucana" (hatchery version)--she looked like a partridge or a pheasant, and was my favorite of all. Of COURSE the 'coon got that one.
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