10 chickens killed

[CANDLE98]

Well first of all my husband and I are in the military and I just left to go to florida for a month and he calls me the night before last and told me that we had a slaughter in the coop. We have NEVER had any problems neither has my neighbors, so we let our chickens free range and we don't lock them up, but i guess it bit us in the butt. He called to tell me that 8 chickens had been killed. Some had their guts eaten out and then some had their heads bit off. Well he took our kids trick or treating last night and when he got home he grabbed his .22 just in case and went out to the coop. it was only like 930pm or so. well he foung 2 more chickns dead in the coop and a freaking racoon in the coop!!!! The racoon took off and my husband shot and got him! he said the thing weighs about 40lbs! he want to taxidermy it! ha ha! i am so proud of him! i just though i would share!

 

[gsim]

A fitting end. Preventative measures worth every penny it seems.

I have an electrified pen and I close up my coop every evening at dusk. Drop-down guillotine doors for the chooks and lock the entrance door to make it harder for two-legged preds. Ventilation is maintained. Open pen towards sky, so I may yet get hit some day. A chicken hawk landed on corner post of pen just this week. Resident crows nowhere to be heard or seen for once. Up to now, I depended on them. May need to criss-cross pen with poly twine and pie tins, CD's to discourage 'swoop & grab'. I figure coons most prevalent around here in E Tenn in my locale. Coyotes bad too not far from here. Possums and skunks galore everywhere. Black bears towards mountains too, rip a pen or coop apart.

 

[gottalovemychickens]

THATS so bad ass in so many ways , sorry the chickens were killed thats really a bummer , and to the coon , now he will only be able to see the chickens , while he is dead and on the wall or the fireplace mantel LOL HAHHA

Pics of the coon please after taxi . PLEASE PLEASE

 

[the Old Rebel]

I may have some bad news for you. Coons can scale walls and go over the top. That's how one got into our coop that has a roof. He came through the vent holes at the top. Had to cover those with poultry wire.

I noticed that you're in East Tennessee. I'm in the mountains of Western North Carolina close to Asheville. For the first time ever (in 10 years), I'm dealing with a weasel or mink. They are destroying so much habitat everywhere that the predators are showing up everywhere. Believe me, you might want to take a second look at your coop. One weasel can wipe out your entire flock.

I'm just now learning that a weasel can fit through anything larger than 1/2". I pray to God you don't have them in your area. But if you do, please take precautions now to avoid much greater heartbreak later.

I'm soooooooo sorry for your losses. Congratulations to your hunter husband.

 

[ellieroo]

We killed four raccoons last nite Four!! Our dobe had them up two different trees!! My husband grabbed the gun and got all but the gun he grabbed was the 243 and the neighbors thought a war had started right here! Next time the 22! So sorry for your lost.Until one has chickens you have no clue how many or how destructive those cute little bandit faced imps there are!

 

[kartking22]

I'm sure glad that he got your killer.
I had a similar experience when a large male coon ripped through the netting of my pheasant coop. He killed 14 pheasants in all plus who knows how many that escaped through eight different large holes that he ripped in the netting. I shot him a few days later when he decided to return for round two. Rather than putting him on my wall, I butchered and ate him. It was actually really good and reminded me alot of beef roast.
I had hard wire on the bottom of the coop to deter digging predators and woven 1" aviary netting on the sides and top at the time. I added 1" chicken wire on the sides after I saw that coons can rip through the netting. They started grabbing them through the wire on the bottom and eating as much as they could before leaving the rest. Electric fence around the bottom slowed them down a little until they figured out how to climb over it and get in through the netting on top.
A tip from a friend solved my problems. I put some old corrugated roof tin all around the bottom about three feet up. This keeps the coons from climbing up the sides and keeps the birds from getting spooked if a cat or other animal runs past the coop. I also bought the 1" knotted netting to replace the woven netting that I had. The knotted is alot stronger and is doing a great job so far. It may be a little more expensive but worth every dollar if you have predators running around. The 2" knotted netting is cheaper also but I have predatory birds in my area and owls are known to spook the birds until they fly up and get thier heads caught in the 2" netting. The owls then grab thier head and eat as much as they can. They might just get a partial meal but a dead bird is still a dead bird whether it was half eaten or just the head gone.
All predators are very crafty critters. These are just a few ideas that work for me to keep them out. I sure hope that this helps.