Back to back hen deaths in 24 hours

[OhZark Biddies]

Just open 2 cans of sardines, toss those in the cage, shove that in a cardboard box and mail it to roosterhavoc... easy peasy...

I’ll message you with his address, lol

 

[Kris5902]

Glad you caught the little monster.

 

[50-45-1]

The 22 will work fine. I have dispatched things in cages dozens of times.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Oh god, so the next question. What's the best way to take care of it? We have a .22 but that seems like overkill and I'd be worried about ricochet on the cage.

This is one advantage of using a “snap trap” or “body grip” trap... those style traps do the dirty deed for you and are quick.

On this site it’s popular to suggest cage style traps and turn right around and say never release a trapped critter ... it always seems more logical to me to let a kill style trap do the deed if that’s the final goal... but the cage style does give incidental catches a second chance I guess.

As for the .22 if you can slip the barrel into the cage it might be safer, other common maybe safer methods would be a pellet gun, submerging the cage, or wrapping the cage in plastic painters drop cloth, and running a hose from the car exhaust into the wrapped cage....

... be discreet, and be safe no matter which method you choose...also be aware of local laws ...using the car exhaust is forbidden in some places, for example

 

[briteday]

My husband dispatches our catches by placing the cage in a plastic garbage bag (smallest one the cage will fit in) and then filling the bag with a lot of starter fluid spray. Be sure to find one that has diethyl ether as the main ingredient. Quickly tie off the top of the bag and go have a cup of coffee. It takes about 10-20 seconds (depending on size and amount of spray you used) for the animal to become unconscious and just a minute or two to die. But we leave them in there for 30-ish minutes to be sure. Empty, rinse, repeat.

On the same note, if you ever need to euthanize a chick or a hen (or child's pocket pet...yes we have euthanized sick hamsters, etc) this works for them as well. But I will usually hold the bird or pet in the bag while my husband sprays in the starter fluid, to calm them and keep them from flapping around in the first 15 seconds or so. And being in the medical field I check pets and chickens for a heartbeat before burying or disposal. I have never had a misfire. Every one has been dead when I checked them.

It is actually illegal where we live to re-home rodents and pest animals. In our area rodents are vectors of diseases like plague. So moving them from one area to another is forbidden. Also, studies show that rodents who are re-homed within 2 miles will find there way home and rodents re-homed farther away will die (usually from starvation and exposure) in the wild within 48 hours because they have no support system. I would rather e responsible for a quick death for them.

If we find a skunk in our traps we fill a 55 gallon garbage can with water and submerge the trap that we pick up with a long rake or 2 x 4, so as not to get sprayed. Ewwww.....

 

[woodmort]

Sorry I got to this thread late but it sounds about like my experience last fall/winter. I had several killed before identifying the perpetrators using a trap camera: a weasel and a mink. The most discouraging part was I kept covering access(rat) holes with pieces of hardware cloth and they’d discover more. Long story, shortened, I lost over 2 dozen hens before I got the coop secure. I’ve eliminated the weasel but the mink is still out there someplace. I’ve got pictures of him avoiding the trap.

BTW. I have a little,single-shot .22 that I use with .22 shorts. Not overkill and messy. Fits through cage grid and place it behind their ear. Just make sure the trap is on soft ground. Works for weasels, coons, foxes and rats.

 

[lamanash]

you could put chicken wire on the ground, it will protect from all unwanted guests.

 

[Mary Chapman]

Do you have a wood floor or a dirt floor inside the coop? I found that a wood floor keeps predators from digging under and getting in with my poultry at night. You can also put chicken wire flat on the ground right outside of the coop and pen and cover it with 2" of dirt and even flat rocks or patio blocks. If the barn siding is old and has gaps, maybe instead of replacing that, go inside and either line walls with plywood or chicken wire.

 

[woodmort]

Do you have a wood floor or a dirt floor inside the coop? I found that a wood floor keeps predators from digging under and getting in with my poultry at night. You can also put chicken wire flat on the ground right outside of the coop and pen and cover it with 2" of dirt and even flat rocks or patio blocks. If the barn siding is old and has gaps, maybe instead of replacing that, go inside and either line walls with plywood or chicken wire.

In my case the coop is raised off the ground on a cinderblock wall with 1” plywood floor, walls are framed with outside cedar siding, fiberglass insulation and interior plywood. The problem was rats dug under the foundation, ate their way up through the walls and then made holes where they could get under the litter. Ideal entries for weasels and mink. The rats did pay for it though, they went first.
I have now covered the walls from floor to ceiling with 1/2 inch galvanized hardware cloth then covered that with quarter-inch plywood. That should slow them down. My coop, by the way, is 20 x 40.

 

[ecorso]

I highly suggest buying or borrowing a trail camera, perhaps from an avid hunter to see who is getting into the run and how. There are so many possibilities. Finding out for sure what kind of predator is the problem is key to the solution. Our run is not predator proof, but the coop is and all hens get locked up at sunset. One of our neighbors was losing hens to a bobcat. (She found out by putting out a trail cam). Another lost hens to a dog. We lost rabbits to a raccoon. I think we lost a hen to a snake, (constrictor), only be ause she was in the way of the eggs.snakes don’t usually kill osmething larger than they can eat, but are capable of squeezing a hen to death if they are in conflict over eggs. Our owls, opossums and coyotes hunt primarily at night when our hens are in lockdown. I have lost two large roosters to a hawk in the daytime, but was blind in one eye. The hawk did not attempt to get into the run. They like to be able to fly in and fly out easily ir don’t risk it. Securing your hens at least temporarily so you can catch the predator on camera, will make it easier to defend against.