Darn coon!!! Baby monitor saved my hen

[bayouchica]

It's my fault though,I thought I counted everyone last nite.

I feel so guilty.

A coon plucked the tail feathers off of one of my bantam hens.

She was laying an egg late in the evening & stayed on the nest.I know I checked all the nestboxes,but she must have gone in after I checked.
I just got a baby monitor for my coop,thank goodness.It's hard to hear outside when the window a/c is running so I got one.The dogs had aleady came back in the house for the night.
Woke up at 1 am to my little hen screaming trying to get into the door of the coop. I ran out there to find her missing all her pretty tailfeathers & scared.I brought her in the house for the night.Thankfully she doesn't have any cuts on her.She's eating & drinking,but kind of stressed out I guess,just sitting around today.
Hopefully she'll be herself again soon.
Oh, that that coon is going to regret messing with my flock. un

 

[Wynette]

Oh, goodness! A baby monitor is a really good idea - thanks for sharing the tip!

I was wondering about your nest box set-up as I read your post. You have your nest boxes in a different lcoation from the coop? How does that work for you, and why did you set it up that way? I'm getting ready to add another run & small coop, and am curious for new ideas! Thanks, and I'm glad your little hen was okay!

 

[PoultryPedia]

102 is a lot of beaks to count--I can understand missing one!
That's great you came up with the monitor idea and were there to rescue your hen

 

[bayouchica]

Hi Wynette,
I have two different nestbox areas.The one where my hen was is a part of the main coop.See where the big square board is leaning by the coop?

That's a walk in to nestboxes & two coop doors.I've been wanting to enclosed that area,now seems like a good time.
SpeckledHills,
I'm so glad I got the monitor when I did. I leave it on during the day,too.I'm listening to the cackling chorus now,lol.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Are there monitors that work over a longer distance? Our coop is a couple hundred feet from the house, and the baby monitor we have won't reach. Our wireless phones will, though. We do have a motion sensor, but it just signals when something moves.

 

[Wynette]

Bayouchica, what a NEAT setup you have! So very different from MY boring setup! Hopefully, some day, I'll have a really interesting chicken area like you do!! Thanks for sharing the pic.

 

[bayouchica]

Hi ninjapoodles, the one I have is a Fisher Price 900 MHz long distance monitor.It says on the box up to 900 ft. (permitting weather conditions).I got it at Wally World for under $ 40.
thanks so much Wynette, it's all a bunch of recycled stuff.. we could never afford it otherwise.My hubby worked at a job that would burn gigantic pallets & he brought them home. It's all what you can luck out & get.
I had to bring little hen inside.I'm noticing she's favoring one leg... nothing broken,hopefully just had a sprain. She's enjoying the mealworms & a/c in here,lol.

 

[Wynette]

I just noticed the line under your posts...no wonder your roosters are happy! That just cracked me up - thanks for the Tuesday laugh, Bayouchica! Hope your hen's feeling better, soon. But....A/C and mealworms....she just may play sick a bit longer than expected!

 

[ruth]

Hi Miriam - warmed my heart to hear that the baby monitor saved your hen's life. I'll have to look into getting one or two of those myself for our hen house and duck house because many nights I lie awake trying to hear over the a/c units which is virtually impossible. I had no idea they worked over such a long distance.

 

[lovemychicks9]

Count me in too! Even though my coop is backed up to my house with about 10 feet in between I am definately getting a monitor. I want to KNOW what is going on in that coop all night. I worry so about the girls and luckily my "Bully " sleeps in a cage right by the outside wall and he did alert me to a rackett one night and chased off a coon. I still want a monitor though and thanks so much for the information. Trudy