Arizona Chickens

[CaroleW]

We're less than an hour from the border, too close for my tastes. We know what they took, we gave a list to the police in our report. It was stuff you'd keep in a garage: tools, a shop vac, car stuff, fuel cannisters, fishing gear, gardening/lawn stuff, etc. I guess we'll be buying a lockable shed later. I need to be able to use my office again at some point.

I know there are lots of transients around that are looking for certain things and we have lots of break-ins to cars/back sheds/occasionally houses so I just leave something like a dollar or 2 beside the door on the counter as a sacrifice to keep them from going thru my house that has jingle bells on every door handle.

Your motion sensors lights are a good first step and if you can't be there armed all the time (which you can't - and what happens if you are and have to shoot, etc...) I'd think of other traps/sacrifices/deterrents. I hope you get your locked shed soon too.

I don't know what they value most but some kind of cheap sacrificial item outside the fence, then prickly pear or cholla along your most vulnerable "borders" of your property, then a dog who can sound alarm so you don't have to spend the nite outside - you just have your arms ready when he sounds alarm.

 

[CaroleW]

NOTE: I looked into this a couple years ago and I legally can't put razor wire on top of my block walls in Mesa. That's why I say cholla or prickly pear or even bouganvilla WITH thorns. You can put pigeon spikes on a wall though I THINK.

 

[BlueBaby]

We're less than an hour from the border, too close for my tastes. We know what they took, we gave a list to the police in our report. It was stuff you'd keep in a garage: tools, a shop vac, car stuff, fuel cannisters, fishing gear, gardening/lawn stuff, etc. I guess we'll be buying a lockable shed later. I need to be able to use my office again at some point.

A local man who pulls a cart around and digs aluminum cans out of the trash told my roommate that he saw two men he didn't recognize hanging out in the alley where our fence was cut earlier that day. We gave their description to the police. We don't expect to get any resolution but I know it's important to report it for crime statistics and department budgets and so on. We have a good police department but they can't be everywhere.

I'm so angry, what do you do with the anger about something like this? I keep looking at everyone I see: are the one of the guys who took our stuff? Why did you take it? Why did you choose us? How can you live with yourself?

Sorry this happened to you! They must have known that the stuff that they took was there, so they had already cased the place before they did it. It's bad when you have to look at so many other people and wonder if they were the one that did it, and you can't trust anyone no more.

 

[BlueBaby]

I know there are lots of transients around that are looking for certain things and we have lots of break-ins to cars/back sheds/occasionally houses so I just leave something like a dollar or 2 beside the door on the counter as a sacrifice to keep them from going thru my house that has jingle bells on every door handle.

Your motion sensors lights are a good first step and if you can't be there armed all the time (which you can't - and what happens if you are and have to shoot, etc...) I'd think of other traps/sacrifices/deterrents. I hope you get your locked shed soon too.

I don't know what they value most but some kind of cheap sacrificial item outside the fence, then prickly pear or cholla along your most vulnerable "borders" of your property, then a dog who can sound alarm so you don't have to spend the nite outside - you just have your arms ready when he sounds alarm.

I was told year's ago that a lock will only keep an honest person out.

 

[CaroleW]

I was told year's ago that a lock will only keep an honest person out.

Yes that's one reason for all my jingle bells on every door handle inside my house. I saw an interview of a former burglar addict turned security advisor who said something like he was always jumpy at any sound when he broke in, and he was just looking for something easy to fence (why I leave a couple dollars out - no pawning required).

Also talking to your local everyday scavengers like the aluminum can collector is great - they know the neighborhood and who is usually there and relatively harmless or not. One guy I know has a car and a home but usually rides his bike and does odd jobs for anyone - he knows what's up. He just can't spend the day at home with his 'old lady' harping at him!

 

[BlueBaby]

Yes that's one reason for all my jingle bells on every door handle inside my house. I saw an interview of a former burglar addict turned security advisor who said something like he was always jumpy at any sound when he broke in, and he was just looking for something easy to fence (why I leave a couple dollars out - no pawning required).

With the food shortages happening, I'm starting to think that hungry people may start eyeing the flock's as a food source. I may have to start a batch of hatching egg's going as soon as I see that my egg's are fertile, and then keep them in the house for my own food source?

 

[CaroleW]

With the food shortages happening, I'm starting to think that hungry people may start eyeing the flock's as a food source. I may have to start a batch of hatching egg's going as soon as I see that my egg's are fertile, and then keep them in the house for my own food source?

That's a possibility. One reason I have multiple pens/coops and don't mind giving away older but still great layers to friends. If something happens to one coop (by ANY kind of predator, 2 or 4 legged, etc.) they probably woouldn't take all my coops or my friends coops full of birds.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

With the food shortages happening, I'm starting to think that hungry people may start eyeing the flock's as a food source.

I dread this. My roommate and I have talked about the possibility of sleeping outside by the coop if it came to that. I didn't know I'd be sleeping outside even before we got the coop set up! I think someone stealing our hens would be far worse than someone stealing our stuff. Stuff is just stuff but hens are living creatures that I'm responsible for.

 

[BlueBaby]

I dread this. My roommate and I have talked about the possibility of sleeping outside by the coop if it came to that. I didn't know I'd be sleeping outside even before we got the coop set up! I think someone stealing our hens would be far worse than someone stealing our stuff. Stuff is just stuff but hens are living creatures I'm responsible for.

We are certainly living in uncertain time's now, and with thousand more people coming across the southern border every day that we know nothing about or what their intention's really are. We also have many homeless people because of fire burning their homes down.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Sorry this happened to you! They must have known that the stuff that they took was there, so they had already cased the place before they did it. It's bad when you have to look at so many other people and wonder if they were the one that did it, and you can't trust anyone no more.

We have the chain link fence with privacy slats and a smaller block wall inside that, but if you're tall enough you can see over the fence, unfortunately.

Years ago I caught a guy checking out the contents of the yard. I was sitting in a chair and quietly reading and he didn't see me. I stood up and asked him what the $#%^@ he thought he was doing. He jumped and his eyes got big as saucers and he mumbled something about yard work. I told him we didn't need any and he needed to move along. He walked around to the front of the house and kicked over our mail box. We didn't have much stuff in the yard back then and we figured it was just a one-off. I think we should have gotten a shed then. I know a locked shed isn't a perfect deterrent but it helps when things are out of sight.

What kills me is that most of our neighbors don't have garages either and they store all kinds of things in their yards out in the open. They don't have dogs AND they have working gates that open right into the alley (our alley gate is covered and doesn't open). So WHY did the thieves choose us??

(Edit: I don't wish ill on any of our neighbors! I'm just trying to understand something which is probably not understandable.)