A confrontation with a masked bandit....

[feliciamckee]

Same with our coons. We have trapped 14 as of yesterday morning. The coons here are so brave they came out on the Fourth of July when my kids were shooting off fireworks! We even had all the lights on outside and a huge fire going. One was right next to us and we didn't even notice it until my daughter turned in his direction. He was trapped that night though and taken to the animal shelter the next morning and was put down.

I think they are so overpopulated due to the fact ppl aren't hunting them as much anymore and they are coming out more and more for food.

 

[Ole rooster]

Saving Uno is good news for sure. But she did learn for a predater to mess with a baby means they must pay by the rath of the mama. You're a good mama.

 

[Amethyste]

Quote:
So true!!!

That's how we lost our beloved Boo <a Barred rock hen>. Nasty bugger of a coon had the NERVE to come out in the middle of the day when the girls were inside the coop doing chicken things we assume.

He was sneaky it seems, and sat there quietly, till they came out again and they saw him motionless against the edge of the run. We had no hardware cloth at the time on the run, only the dog kennel galvanized wire which was enough for the coon to stick his foot and arms into. They came to investigate, and Boo gave her life to keep her flock safe

We managed to get out there in time to save the rest, but not in time to save my Boo. We happened to both be home that day, and heard her alarm call in the run. We saw the coon as we looked out the window and ran to get outside. Before we could, we got a glimpse of her rushing the coon at top speed and screaming at the top of her lungs and wailing on it with her wings. By the time we were able to get to the coop (maybe a min or possibly 2), the coon was taking off for the hills with my husband screaming at it. Boo was left headless against the fence, with the rest of the flock in shock looking on in the corner where she had herded them farthest away from the coon before she attacked to protect her sisters.

So yes, the darn coons can and WILL come out in the daytime. We only ever saw them and heard them at night, so it never even dawned on us that they would do a brazen daytime attack on our girls.

We learned our lesson the hard way.

We now have hardware cloth and skirting all along the bottom of the run, and it is a veritable Fort Knox. I wish we had thought about that earlier, but, hindsight is always clearer.

I still miss my sweet Chicken Boo. She was a fantastic head hen...and is missed greatly still today, several years later.

 

[SallyF]

Quote:
Glad I read this, Imp. I've lost four chickens in the last three days. One was an 11 week old, which I think was taken by a rat at night in the coop, since I found the remains and evidence of a rat. Three hens have just disappeared during the day while free-ranging (one each day). I never see or hear anything. Didn't know coons would hunt during the day; DH shot one at dusk a week or so ago, but hadn't seen any since. The rascals have outsmarted us, I guess. I told the chooks tonight that they were on house arrest tomorrow. They will not be happy, but at least they'll be alive.

 

[chicknmania]

They are terrible this year, the worst I have ever seen them. They have no natural predators anymore....except people and cars.
I feel sorry for them in a way as they are so overpopulated they are starving. This afternoon I surprised one in our barn...DS had left
the lid off the feed bin and, fortunately, that was what the coon was after. All the flock was outside free ranging except three setting hens and one Silkie roo, and apparently the coon didn't see them. It was 3:00PM, and in the 90's...probably over 95 in the barn,
even with fans on.

And yes, they have been coming earlier in the evening too but we haven't lost any yet, knock on wood. At least not that I know of,
though we have a hen missing..

A month or so ago we had one break through the screen in our kitchen window...fortunately went back out that way too when my DS turned the light on....Coon was in ths sink!

 

[chicknmania]

All predators will hunt during the day, whenever they are hungry enough. We had a hen dissapear too but when one dissapears with no trace,it isn't necessarily coon...could be a lot of things.


Quote:
Glad I read this, Imp. I've lost four chickens in the last three days. One was an 11 week old, which I think was taken by a rat at night in the coop, since I found the remains and evidence of a rat. Three hens have just disappeared during the day while free-ranging (one each day). I never see or hear anything. Didn't know coons would hunt during the day; DH shot one at dusk a week or so ago, but hadn't seen any since. The rascals have outsmarted us, I guess. I told the chooks tonight that they were on house arrest tomorrow. They will not be happy, but at least they'll be alive.

 

[chicknmania]

Sorry for your loss, it is hard to find a chicken who will protect their friends, to that extent. We lost our best roo Whitey to a weasel that way. We know he was trying to protect his friends. He was ten years old.

Quote:
So true!!!

That's how we lost our beloved Boo <a Barred rock hen>. Nasty bugger of a coon had the NERVE to come out in the middle of the day when the girls were inside the coop doing chicken things we assume.

He was sneaky it seems, and sat there quietly, till they came out again and they saw him motionless against the edge of the run. We had no hardware cloth at the time on the run, only the dog kennel galvanized wire which was enough for the coon to stick his foot and arms into. They came to investigate, and Boo gave her life to keep her flock safe

We managed to get out there in time to save the rest, but not in time to save my Boo. We happened to both be home that day, and heard her alarm call in the run. We saw the coon as we looked out the window and ran to get outside. Before we could, we got a glimpse of her rushing the coon at top speed and screaming at the top of her lungs and wailing on it with her wings. By the time we were able to get to the coop (maybe a min or possibly 2), the coon was taking off for the hills with my husband screaming at it. Boo was left headless against the fence, with the rest of the flock in shock looking on in the corner where she had herded them farthest away from the coon before she attacked to protect her sisters.

So yes, the darn coons can and WILL come out in the daytime. We only ever saw them and heard them at night, so it never even dawned on us that they would do a brazen daytime attack on our girls.

We learned our lesson the hard way.

We now have hardware cloth and skirting all along the bottom of the run, and it is a veritable Fort Knox. I wish we had thought about that earlier, but, hindsight is always clearer.

I still miss my sweet Chicken Boo. She was a fantastic head hen...and is missed greatly still today, several years later.

 

[patvetzal]

A dog doesn't have to be big, or fast, as long as he is noisy enough to put the coon up a tree until you get there .....

 

[bobbi-j]

It only has to be big enough to defend itself if it corners a big, mean, angry coon. They don't always go up a tree.