Arizona Chickens

[Hermits Garden]

We're lucky up here--I have a pretty big herb garden and nobody, not even the deer, have touched it. The squirrels liked to dig into the pots on the porch (not eating anything), and took great chunks of nesting materials out of our patio chair cushions, until I started putting ceyenne pepper all over the plants and porch.

Maybe it'll change, I dunno. It might be this year was safe because we had a really wet monsoon season.

SpringValley--when we lived in Prescott Valley, it was just off the golf course (behind the Maverick) and I watched several times as gophers came up under my irises, started munching, with the poor rhizomes and leaf blades thrashing like a shark attack. I hate gophers.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

For those of you who live with ground squirrels, did you do anything special to prepare the ground underneath your coop? We have a LOT of burrowing ground squirrels here and we're wondering how best to prevent them from burrowing into the coop and feasting on eggs and chicken feed.

We have a sheet of plywood on the ground to keep the squirrels out, we eventually plan to pour concrete or lay pavers cause the wood will break down faster sitting directly on the dirt so raising it just enough to get it off the dirt will make the floor wood last longer, we we're limited with finances so we just made do with what we had. The squirrels moved in under my husband's tool shed and after 2 years of trying everything we were unsuccessful at getting rid of them. They never came out at night, always during the day and would sneak into the run daily for feed. They can start stealing eggs and if desperate or have babies will kill chickens and eat them, ground squirrels specifically are the only ones that will kill small animals and are cannibalistic. They can tunnel more than 20 feet so hardware cloth is limited unless you completely enclose it below ground or they can tunnel below aprons. My biggest concern was mites or diseases they could be bringing in to my chickens, relocation is illegal most places therefore we opted to dispatch them with a bb gun, we're down to 1 maybe 2 left after 3 months of trapping and dispatching. Dozens can live in a single burrow so you have to keep at it or the few left behind will reproduce quickly and the issue will start over. Good bait for traps is peanut butter and chicken feed. If I had other options I wouldn't kill them but I also won't give someone else my problem relocating them.

 

[BlueBaby]

I wouldn't kill them but I also won't give someone else my problem relocating them.

I feel the same way about that. I also do not relocate the snake's for the same reason.

 

[CaroleW]

I feel the same way about that. I also do not relocate the snake's for the same reason.

Snakes (most times) are a tolerable part of the ecosystem for me. Our fields have so many burrowing creatures (rabbits, moles/voles, field mice...) that I welcome them to take care of any rodent problem. Also hawks and other raptor types feed on some of those same critters. I just watched vultures gather yesterday morning during chores - very interesting birds.
Nothing dead around here that I know of, I guess vultures have to be somewhere.

 

[Hermits Garden]

Snakes (most times) are a tolerable part of the ecosystem for me. Our fields have so many burrowing creatures (rabbits, moles/voles, field mice...) that I welcome them to take care of any rodent problem. Also hawks and other raptor types feed on some of those same critters. I just watched vultures gather yesterday morning during chores - very interesting birds. View attachment 2842376View attachment 2842377
Nothing dead around here that I know of, I guess vultures have to be somewhere.

Wow--it must be Vulture Week. Yesterday we sat on the back porch and noticed a huge swirl of hunting vultures high above us, and they'd circle, but move, covering a wide swath of the mountain. This morning, when I went to walk the dog, I encountered their roost (at least this morning's roost) way up in a dead pine...there were at least fifteen of them! They're welcome to all the squirrels they can eat, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[BlueBaby]

Snakes (most times) are a tolerable part of the ecosystem for me. Our fields have so many burrowing creatures (rabbits, moles/voles, field mice...) that I welcome them to take care of any rodent problem. Also hawks and other raptor types feed on some of those same critters. I just watched vultures gather yesterday morning during chores - very interesting birds. View attachment 2842376View attachment 2842377
Nothing dead around here that I know of, I guess vultures have to be somewhere.

It's funny how they can circle up above and smell something that's dead from mile's away.

 

[CaroleW]

Wow--it must be Vulture Week. Yesterday we sat on the back porch and noticed a huge swirl of hunting vultures high above us, and they'd circle, but move, covering a wide swath of the mountain. This morning, when I went to walk the dog, I encountered their roost (at least this morning's roost) way up in a dead pine...there were at least fifteen of them! They're welcome to all the squirrels they can eat, as far as I'm concerned.

They can have all the skunks too!

 

[BlueBaby]

This say's that the vulture's can also go after live chicken's and egg's too.

http://www.poultrydvm.com/predator/vulture

 

[BlueBaby]

They can have all the skunks too!

Another member is having chicken's killed by skunk's:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/skunks-killing-chickens.1493758/

 

[CaroleW]

This say's that the vulture's can also go after live chicken's and egg's too.

http://www.poultrydvm.com/predator/vulture

Wow - very interesting info. Thank YOU!
I think their size estimates on that page are low - these (turkey?) vultures appear to have at least 3 or 4 foot wingspan and weigh more than 6 lbs (guessing).

I do have covered runs - some hard roof, some have chicken wire (older heavier kind), and some aviary netting with flag tape to show predators there is something between birds and them. SO FAR no losses due to aerial predators. But it is a game, adapt or die...