Apparently I'm a bad poultry owner

[Peepsi]

Had to lock the birds up due to a raccoon wandering around the neighborhood. Well I posted a picture of our birds in a chicken group on facebook and almost all the comments were 'Why are they locked up?! They should be running around free' and 'You're really terrible for keeping them locked up'

I'm thankful that a mod of the group commented 'Maybe there's a predator in the area'
I replied to their comment to confirm this but I'm still a little hurt that people thought I was terrible for keeping them locked up. I had even wrote at the top of the post that they're locked up to keep them safe for a couple days.

UGH. These are the same sort of people who let their dogs and cats roam free outside 24/7 with no fences, and then rant and act like it's someone else's fault when their pets get hit by a car.

Seriously, you are doing the RIGHT thing. Keeping your pets/livestock safe from predators is one thing a responsible animal owner always does. Ignore the haters, or better yet, quit Facebook. That place is toxic!

 

[featherhead007]

Crushing: the act used to castrate cattle, sheep, goats, to nueter using banding or emasculators.
Burning: dehorning, branding.

OUCH!

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Just wanted to update everyone
Our neighbor shot and killed the raccoon which turned out to be pregnant. He got in trouble though for shooting off a gun within city limits.
Before this happened though, I'd been letting the birds out to free range while our dogs were out to keep watch and they kept them safe.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If there was only one raccoon, how did it get pregnant?
I rest my case.

My game cams show that it is a raccoon, opossum, coyote superhighway at night here.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

If there was only one raccoon, how did it get pregnant?
I rest my case.

My game cams show that it is a raccoon, opossum, coyote superhighway at night here.

I'm just glad it's dead. If I were braver, I'd just beat it to death many times over.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I feel you and this is just a word of caution. I see posts in this forum all the time where people say they got IT. Predators are not in the singular, they are them as in plural.
I catch raccoons at the rate of a couple a month. That would be impossible if there was only one. If time allowed and I set traps every night I'd catch a lot more. I caught 2 in one night a few days ago.

Around here we may have only one bear or one mountain lion. But for things like fox, coyote, raccoon, opossum, mink, etc. there are lots of them. They aren't spontaneously generated. They have huge widespread families and there are multiple families.
Removing one just makes room for another to move in.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

This is the first raccoon we've seen since 2013 when we caught one in a trap that clamps down on the paw(Forgot the name of it)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

This is the first raccoon we've seen since 2013 when we caught one in a trap that clamps down on the paw(Forgot the name of it)

I wish I could say that.
I'm not trying to be mean here but raccoons (and most other predators) don't wander around during the day in plain sight. They skulk around in the dark. If they hear you or any noise, they scurry into the brush.
Unless you are outside all night hiding with night vision glasses - or stake out several game/trail cams. You aren't likely to see any no matter how many are lurking about.
Most of them will go into hiding long before dawn.

The trap you are referring to is probably the Duke style dog proof foot hold trap. They beat any box trap in effectiveness. You just have to figure out what to do with an angry vicious creature that is not in a box.

 

[sdm111]

I didn't think we had many fox around my house till a couple chickens got killed. When I stayed up to see what got my chickens I learned we had basically herds of fox using the ditches and culverts to make their way around undetected

 

[2hotchicks]

Crushing: the act used to castrate cattle, sheep, goats, to nueter using banding or emasculators.
Burning: dehorning, branding.

Thanks

Crushing: the act used to castrate cattle, sheep, goats, to nueter using banding or emasculators.
Burning: dehorning, branding.

Thank you for the clarification. As a city slicker, I was thinking that meant crushing or burning the animal itself, which sounds horrid.