Damn two legged pests

[rubyrogue]

I am waiting on a warm day so that i can pour the concrete to set the post for my gate to my run. Right now i have a piece of welded wire as a gate. There is only one way into my coop and that is through the run. I checked on my hens a few times today and collected the eggs that had already been layed. Checked on them again right before leaving for dinner. There was an egg in each nestbox. I had already locked up the house and figured id grab them when i got home. Well i got home and the wire gate was unhooked and open. None of my girls were missing but the only egg left was the one in the nest that a few of them made UNDER the nestbox. GRRRRRRRRR We live out in the country but there are houses around us. My coop and run are to the side of my house in our pasture. there is no fence around the pasture. I have read other posts on here about people/neighbors taking eggs, What in the hell are they thinking? that we wont notice??!! I mean seriously i know how many eggs i should get a day. I just got my hens about 2 weeks ago, today is the first day that i had saved enough extra to give my aunt and uncle. My girls are just starting to lay so i could see them skipping a day but i saw the eggs in the nestbox!!! Time for a trip to home depot for locks and electric fence. and here i was worried about stray dogs and wild critters. I planned and properly protected against them.....

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Oh No!! That's ridiculous. I have come home and found people inside my gates feeding the horses. I've moved the corrals away from the fence then one morning saw a woman with 4 toddlers inside the gates and she was attempting to put one on the horse.

I have found the best deterrent is a big black dog. People change their minds quick and move onto the next property when they have a 100lb menacing looking dog charging the gate with it's hair up on it's back. I've also found potatoes in my corrals...my guess is someone was shooting potatoes from their car at the horses. I have already planned on putting locks on all my entrances because if it can happen it will happen.

 

[nzpouter]

a rat trap under the nesting material works well.... do it when your chickens are free ranging...

 

[littledel]

A well hidden game camera with infra red will get you all the evidence you need to take to the cops and get someone in a lot of trouble. Good Luck

 

[rubyrogue]

well i got the post in today and put a lock on it but i like the idea of a camera too.

 

[alabamachick]

Quote:
If I EVER saw someone doing this to one of my geldings, I'd shoot at them! NO WAY IN HECK is ANYONE going in my pasture without my permission...

Whats WRONG with people these days?

If I find out that my neighbors are stealing eggs.... Theres going to be some culling goin on..and it AINT going to be the chickens.

 

[rufus]

Unfortunately, a lot of people see open land as park land. They don't care that it is owned by someone. I have had people steal tomatoes and chilis from a garden. I had a three hundred pound woman climb up into a pecan tree and shake it while her kids picked up the nuts.

Her answer was "the good things in life belong to all of us." I wonder how she would feel if I stole her welfare check and food stamps out of the mail box?

Rufus

 

[esthermgr]

Trespass issues aside, that woman putting her toddler on the horse without permission was just plain stupid. I feel for the kid. She had no way of knowing the horse's training or temperament. That child (or one of the other children standing in the way of the horse's kicks) could have gotten really hurt. I would never dream of putting my kids in that situation.

As for the egg, pecan, tomato, etc. stealing- that is just crazy! You would think that people, especially in rural areas, would recognize that work and energy go into producing that food and that you can't just blithely trespass and steal it. I grew up in a rural area and can remember someone stealing ALL our neighbor's produce from his large garden. He was devastated- he was an older man and had planned to feed his grandkids from that garden. I would like to think that only starving people would steal an old man's garden vegees, but the quantities they took makes me assume they intended to sell it from a roadside truck. Besides, in most rural areas if a neighbor was hungry we would gladly give them more produce than they could carry if they had only asked. People who don't even bother to ask and just steal farm products are just wrong and deserve to be prosecuted.

 

[rufus]

I was told that to have produce visible from the road was an "attractive nuisance." It is the same as having a swing or a swimming pool in your yard. I guess I was lucky the lady didn't fall. She would have sued me big time.

Rufus

 

[Daidohead]

I have found that a garden hose on full blast is a great way to stop those who would feast on the labor of others. It may be rude but it works. I don't even greet them anymore, just spray.