So I have been having problems for the last couple of years with chicks disappearing.
in the last 3 years, I have bought 200 chicks, all but 2 or 3 have mysteriously vanished.
I thought maybe it was a predator, so, I went and cleaned out the coop really, really well.
I got every last piece of straw out and moved everything,
I checked all the tiny spaces where a chick could squeeze into, and nothing.
fast forward to mid April:
a local teacher decided to teach her class a lesson about the life cycles, and she used chicken eggs.
she hatched 5 of them, she cared for them a couple of weeks, then her kids lost interest.
she handed me the chicks, got in her car and left.
I got them all set up in the nursery and watched them flourish and grow like crazy.
Yesterday, I put them in the big coop.
around 8, I went and did a head count, after making sure everyone was accounted for, I closed it up for the night.
about 2 am my hubby comes running in "babe, wake up theres a skunk in the coop and it has one of your chickens in its mouth"
he grabbed his rifle, a spotlight and ran towards the coop, I was right behind him.
he opened the door and began cursing up a blue streak.
I had a hen that was MIA, and 5 corpses.
I went around picking up the bodies, by the time I got to the last one, I realized it was bleeding really badly, and in seriously rough shape.
so I brought her back to the nursery to help her recover.
The only ray of light in this whole situation is that I now know what is happening to my chicks.
now I just have to figure out how to make it stop.
I do not want to use a live trap, I have no desire whatsoever to take tomato juice baths and sleep in the bed of my truck.
any good repellants available that you guys have had success with?
in the last 3 years, I have bought 200 chicks, all but 2 or 3 have mysteriously vanished.
I thought maybe it was a predator, so, I went and cleaned out the coop really, really well.
I got every last piece of straw out and moved everything,
I checked all the tiny spaces where a chick could squeeze into, and nothing.
fast forward to mid April:
a local teacher decided to teach her class a lesson about the life cycles, and she used chicken eggs.
she hatched 5 of them, she cared for them a couple of weeks, then her kids lost interest.
she handed me the chicks, got in her car and left.
I got them all set up in the nursery and watched them flourish and grow like crazy.
Yesterday, I put them in the big coop.
around 8, I went and did a head count, after making sure everyone was accounted for, I closed it up for the night.
about 2 am my hubby comes running in "babe, wake up theres a skunk in the coop and it has one of your chickens in its mouth"
he grabbed his rifle, a spotlight and ran towards the coop, I was right behind him.
he opened the door and began cursing up a blue streak.
I had a hen that was MIA, and 5 corpses.
I went around picking up the bodies, by the time I got to the last one, I realized it was bleeding really badly, and in seriously rough shape.
so I brought her back to the nursery to help her recover.
The only ray of light in this whole situation is that I now know what is happening to my chicks.
now I just have to figure out how to make it stop.
I do not want to use a live trap, I have no desire whatsoever to take tomato juice baths and sleep in the bed of my truck.
any good repellants available that you guys have had success with?
