Coons,Snakes,Foxes,and Hawks, ....Oh My

[broomgal]

Thanks Dav- I don't think I am focusing on the negative per say I just know that I get upset when a pet passes away and with chickens I have my work cut out for me as opposed to a dog.

I have read up ALOT and done my best however I was thinking that so many posters here have lost chickens even with secure fencing etc.. so I know that it is a strong possibility that it can happen to me as well.

The chickens only bring me joy and I want to keep it that way

Yes my views have changed- I have thought raccoons were cute until I realized they will try to kill my chickens. I understand they need to eat as well- just part of nature.

Thanks for your input- the sun is shining today

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Wasnt there a song about the Circle of Life, or something like that?

One must remember that wild or feral creatures have but a few things on their mind: Food and breeding.
They are very determined in these things. If you've never seen the havoc a dog can wreak on a fence, you just dont know.

Deterrents are can help save your chickens from predation. Things like electric fences are just one method you can use to deter predators. But the better, ultimate goal is to make predators avoid your place altogether, not just linger around the chicken fence drooling, waiting for an opportune moment.

Let me share something with you inspired by our friend, Bob Plamondon (www.plamondon.com). His problem this time was crows. They were robbing his nests and eating all the eggs!

"Maybe trickery and deterrents work if predators have a lot of equally good places to go. Suppose everyone in the neighborhood has ripe cornfields, but only ONE field had scarecrows. The crows might leave that one field alone -- since there are plenty more fields to choose from.
But when you are one of the only people around running a 24-hour egg buffet, what then?

I'll tell you what worked for me - shooting them. After shooting two crows on my main pasture, they've kept away. The back pasture has fewer crows but is still something of a problem, since it's much harder for me to sneak up on them over there.

Boring solutions work; colorful ones don't. This is my usual exerience. People love colorful solutions because they make a great story, and they'll repeat the story to other people even if they dont know for certain that it works.

Simple, direct, unaesthetic solutions, like shooting predators, have nothing going for them except that they DO work. But, they don't get repeated so much because they're not very interesting to a general audience.

Okay, so how does this apply to predators? One of those things not often recognized about predators is that they are both smart and observant. It's what allows them to prey, after all, as opposed to simply go about grazing. I rarely hear people mention this, but predators are smarter and more observant than people give them credit for.

Now that I've killed two crows, at least a hundred are avoiding my farm. I've seen the same effect with four-footed predators: when the farmers and the district trapper are on their toes about livestock-eaters, the predators not only get the message, they pass it on to their young, and a balance is struck.

The predators go about thier business of eating wildlife rather than livestock, and so both predators and livestock get to have a normal
lifespan. But if you don't kill any predators, their caution fades.

After a couple of generations, the mothers stop teaching farm-avoidance to their young, and then the clueless young predators
kill a lot of livestock before inevitably being killed themselves."

Employ deterrents, by all means. They should be a part of a layered scheme of defense. But often enough, in our rush to be humane, or "nice," we fail in our responsibilities to those creatures which we have stewardship over.

The answer to the predator problem is often far simpler than we allow it to be. In essence, "The best defense is a good offense."

 

[IggiMom]

The worst problem we have ever had was with coons, second worst was the neighbors' dogs. But coons are WAY up there--we lost 20 chickens in one night to them.

The best luck we have had is trapping them. If you like, I will find out from my husband what kind of trap. They are NOT all equal. Or you can borrow a trap from the Dept. of wildlife, at least here you can.

And then when you trap one (again, if you want advice on how, let me know) SHOOT it. Don't drive away and turn it loose, now trap wise, to eat someone else's chickens. Or give it to some neighbor to train his coon hounds with, or something.

We have lost some to foxes; I have a small revolver that I have and if I can shoot one I will, but I would say the chances are slim. We have also lost a few to hawks, but the fine for shooting a raptor is I think $500 so I won't be shooting one soon, if I could, which is doubtful.

A good LGD can be invaluable. I will probably be getting another one soon.

Good luck. Yeah, it is frustrating. I still like having chickens.

 

[scooter147]

I put the locks on my pop door on the inside of the coop. I have yet to see a coon stand on it's hind legs and kick one in

The lock on people door is a regular door knob with a dead bolt.

 

[Sallyschickens]

We rescued a St. Bernard/Pier mixed adult female dog from death row. She prefers to stay outside. She keeps everything that doesn't belong off of our fenced in 5 acres. (We call her the bouncer.) I wish her old owners could see her now! She is so happy!! Anyway...

Our chickens are in a run about 20x20 with 8 foot high field fencing. The top is crossed hatched with wire and string (like a giant spiderweb). We had to do it this way because there are 3 apple trees that are taller than 8 feet high..so we couldn't use chicken wire. We have never had a problem with flying preditors. We see them esp. bald eagles, owls and crows, but they NEVER try to fly into the run.

Our chickens are oblivious to the security measures we have in place. They are happy and peaceful.

I know these measures are never fool proof, but to us, it is worth the risk. The chickens give us so much joy, and we would never have rescued "Kate" (Kate, as in Kate Moss because she was skin and bones when we got her from the shelter) if we didn't have chickens. She gets an egg a day for pay.