AHHH! Skunk keeps getting my chickens! Update We got it have ?

[Love my Critters!]

Two nights ago we lost 6 chickens (mostly young ones) to a predator. Then the next night we though everyone would be safe and we lost 3 more. The darn thing even had the nerve to poop in my coop!

Well last night we put the baby monitor out in the coop and the plan was when I heard chaos I would wake up my husband. He had a light mounted on his 12 gauge and his shoes by the door. Well wouldn't you know it rained last night and that darn skunk never showed up. I have silkies and some prefer to roost on the floor of the coop. I kept going out and putting them up in the nest boxes and one mom with about 6 little babies was getting pretty paterved at me.

Anyway we will be setting a live trap tonight and will put the baby monitor outside again so wish me luck.

Does anyone know if skunks can climb fences. I didn't see any digging around the coop although I found a very small hole between the baseboard and concrete foundation so I fixed that. Also we think it is a young skunk. We had some born near by this spring.

 

[Uppity Peon]

Skunks are quite agile, almost like cats. Thay can go over fences and burrow too.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

You sure it was a skunk that killed all your chickens?

I have NEVER had one kill a grown chicken...they do eat the eggs and will take a very young chick now and again....and we have had whole families of skunks here at times.

Maybe look to a racoon or some other predator if that many are being killed and if any were adults.

 

[Love my Critters!]

GOT IT!!

It was a skunk and he returned last night about 1 am. I heard the squaking and woke up my husband. My DH went out had the light on the skunk and racked the shot gun and he said the skunk never quit chasing the 6 month old roo it was after. Anyway new problem... is there any trick to getting rid of the skunk smell inside the coop? My poor chickens stink too

My coop has three walls, a ceiling, but the fourth wall is only about 5 feet high so there is some ventilation. My baby monitor smells terriable too.

 

[2boxers]

I can tell you what we do for the dogs when they get sprayed (at least twice a year.) We mix a gallon of water, a box of baking soda and a pint of peroxide plus a squirt of Dawn dish soap. If you have a sprayer, you could spray down the walls of the coop. Douse them real good and let the stuff dry on the inner walls for about an hour, then rinse it off real good. You might have to do it more than once. One of my dogs never fails to get sprayed right good and it usually takes at least three coats of the stuff to make him tolerable.

You could dunk the chickens in the mix. It doesn't completely eliminate the odor, but it makes it livable.

*If you dip the birds, the mix can just dry on them. I don't think it will hurt them. On second thought, maybe call an Av-vet or the local extension office & ask just to be sure.