Banding birds on a loosely-managed flock

[aart]

I have mixed birds, hatch from the coop every spring.
I need bands/zipties.....pretty soon they all look so similar.
This year I haven't banded the youngers yet,
and they are getting big enough am having a harder time telling them apart,
but at 10-12 weeks I shouldn't have to change them out as they grow.

 

[Folly's place]

I have a hard time keeping the plastic bands on the chickens, and my white Chantecler hens look so much alike, I'm no longer at all sure which age group each bird belongs in, and maybe the zip ties would be better. Mary

 

[HCB]

I think I should mention that I probably didn't post this well; I should have somehow identified that this was in response to Mrs. K's post.

Before I say something about predators, let me say this: I do not work for anyone. I'm self employed and sometimes I don't show up for work.

I say that because: I've run across a few people in my area who have chickens and complain that raccoons are a problem; apparently, raccoons kill chickens (what does NOT kill chickens??!??). I've told them, and I'm going to mention them here, about traps I use to catch raccoons. I don't want to come across like I have an agenda or like I'm a salesman.

So, if you're having problems with raccoons, read on. If not having problems with raccoons, you can skip the rest of this post.

I've not had a problem with raccoons and chickens (or anything else)....because...

In late 2015/early 2016, months before I got sheep and goats and about a year before I got my first chickens, I had barn cats to kill rodents which might damage my farm vehicles (I was trying to clean the place up to sell; no livestock plans at that time). But, the #$#&^# raccoons would come in and eat all my cat food and tear into the feed bags (I had game camera pics). Also, I had a deer feeder going (I shoot deer with the game cameras only) and the raccoons were eating the deer corn in the barn and trashing the feeder in the field. Hmmm, so I tried a "hav-a-hart-style" trap. The raccoons ate the bait by reaching through the sides of the traps, it appeared, and did not get caught. And, I seem to recall that it's illegal in Texas to transport trapped 'coons to "re-home" them. I wasn't worried about that little legal thing...but I was miffed that I couldn't catch them.

Introduce the Duke's Dog Proof Raccoon Trap. Remember, I don't work for anybody; this isn't a sales pitch. Since the 'coons liked eating my cat food, and since I had a bunch and it smells strongly, I baited the traps with cat food. Since February of 2016 I've caught: 2 cats (one wild stray which I had to kill, one of my cats which I simply released and has survived fine), 4 opossums, 5 skunks, and 74 raccoons (I have also shot one raccoon out of a tree, and caught one in a snare, for a total of 76 kills since the aforementioned date). Nothing else, not even the neighbor's little rat terrier looking dog...it's some kind of terrier...it knocks the traps over, it seems, but lacks the "grab-n-pull" action that the other mentioned critters have.

You can bait the traps with floating catfish feed (or mix it with corn) and probably not catch cats at all. The place I buy the traps from online sent me a "free" sample of their bait along with each of my orders of one dozen traps. It seems to work well, but I can't say it's any better than the cat food and cat food (dry, of course) is easier to come by.

Buying a dozen at a time, I get them for about $10 each (just under). I've since told two other people in my area who have then tried them and love the traps. They can be tough to set if you have small/weak hands but a screwdriver, used as a lever, can help. I've seen a tool to help set them, also. Spraying the mechanism with WD-40 helps to keep things moving smoothly and the raccoons don't seem to care about the smell.

The caveat is this and it is important: ANCHOR THE TRAPS WELL! I killed two 'coons this year which had 3 legs each. I lost a number of traps when I started last year and, apparently, these weren't smart enough to not come back and do it again. The traps need to be anchored well or the raccoons WILL walk off with them. Check out "earth anchors" or "wolf fang anchors".

Hope that helps. I don't want to mention where I buy the traps online because it'd sound like a sales pitch. Just know you should be able to find them by a dozen or so for around $10 each (at least that's the best price I recall finding for them).

--HC