A funny story....

[chicknmania]

Went out to pick up eggs this morning after feeding breakfast. One of our hens favorite places to lay is a (clean) plastic converted trash can filled with straw. This morning there was only one egg in the can. When I reached down to get it, I noticed a weird patch of black and white fur and realized it was a skunks tail sticking out of the straw; the skunk was asleep. Soo..I thought..well, i'll just wait til the skunk leaves for theevening, then move the can for a few days. I was a little concerned about the hens, but, it seemed they knew the skunk was there as they'd been laying in other nest places; just one egg in the straw. But, as I watched in horror, a hen we call Shadow jumed onto the can edge, getting ready to lay her egg. NoNO! I whispered, trying to shoo her away. She ignored me, jumped in, and STOOD on the skunk for several minutes as she thought about laying! No response from the skunk.
IThen Shadow sat down. After a few minutes, she decided something definitely wasn't right, and got out again. Stood on the can edge raising cain. Then she calmed down, jumped in again, and sat in a part of tthe can unoccupied by the skunk, where she laid her egg, then left. I did, too. Later, I came back to find both eggs gone. Room service. :/
When I came back in the evening, hoping to find the skunk gone, I found her gone alright...and a burrow full of baby skunks in the straw!

 

[GardenGal]

Oh no! Glad no chickens were injured (or made stinky) in the making of this story!

 

[theoldchick]

Baby skunks? YIKES!

 

[Desirai]

oh my goodness!! Baby skunks?

I bet they're so cute!!

We have skunks here but I've NEVER seen one in person ........ alive.

Maybe you should move the nest away somewhere so she can raise her babies in peace.

 

[chicknmania]

We thought about moving the nest, but she might have beat us to it. I haven't been out there today, but my son fed this morning and said
he didn't see them. They might just be more buried in the straw....either way, out of sight, out of mind, for the time being! We set up some more nest cans for the poor confused hen and her friends,. We have skunks out there frequently. They seem to coexist peacefully with the chickens, though they are certainly capable of kiling one, for the most part I think THEY think its too much work. We had one skunk about seven years ago kill a hen on the nest. At least we were pretty sure the skunk killed her, but not positive, she could've died from something else and the skunk just found her.. Anyway, just for fyi, they also coexist peacefully with us. They control rodents much better than our barn cat, and they leave us alone. So, if they want to steal an occasional egg, I'm not complaining. The babies ARE awful cute and in years past we have watched babies playing on the barn floor in the sunshine. I'm hoping to get a pic of these...if so I will post.

We think they are about two weeks old now.....