Dead chicks. Trapping advise needed

[ThaJuicyJuice]

I live In a very urban area, so I am guessing coon or opossum. There were no wholes in the chicken wire only blood and feathers. 7/10 made it put 3 did not. I consider myself lucky but don't understand the physics of how a three week old chick could be squeezed through the holes of chicken wire. Hatched these myself and learned a lot from that experience, now learning to never use chicken wire. I know the predator will be back so I need some trapping ideas from someone with experience. Thanks

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Awww, I'm so sorry!

But you know, you're in Miami. Have you considered it might be drug dealers?

Just kidding, I used to live in Miami too. And what you described sounds like classic raccoon activity. Their populations actually increase along with development, just like rats & squirrels. Things that can help discourage them from your neighborhood is if everyone keeps their garbage cans bungee-d shut and does not put dog or cat food outdoors overnight. And certainly do NOT feed raccoons on purpose!

You can get Hav-a-Hart traps at the Home Depot. Here in Palm Beach County there are fire ants that swarm the bait, so I dig a shallow depression to fit a small bowl, put a can of smelly cat food or sardines in oil in the bowl, put water up to the lip of the can, set the trap over the bowl (the bowl is below the back half of the trap), and set a cinder block on top of the trap. You can even shield the trap with cardboard or something so it looks like a cave with something tasty in back.

DOOOOOOOOOO NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT RRREEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE THE RACCOON "INTO THE WILD" I don't know if Miami-Dade County Animal Control will take them, but you can ask. Or get other ideas from folks here. You may already have a good plan.

Now you know that your chickens need a safer place to sleep in at night. Something more solid with hardware cloth battened over the windows & ventilation. Chicken wire is all right for around their pen, but their coop must be better protected. Those raccoons can reach their little clever hands right through the chicken wire and pull their dinners out, whole or a bit at a time.

I'm sorry for the losses, I hope you catch the culprit(s) and can make safer accommodations for your new chickens.

 

[fishman65]

fill a garbage can to the top with water and drop the trap into it and just walk away. come back in five minutes and it is all over. nice, quiet and clean.

 

[mtngrl812]

I have found that raw eggs in a trap work well. Just break one egg and set a couple more in the back of the trap. I never caught a cat or dog, although I was out to get skunks and got plenty of them. I would thing a coon would like the same thing. You shouldn't get as many ants either.

 

[aprophet]

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or you can throw /put a body grip trap over its head same result dead and quiet it is probably frowned upon to shoot in Miami

 

[aprophet]

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and on a regular basis I shoot animals it is generally quicker for them dieing to shoot them in the heart/lung area, coon shot in the head are quiet dramatic in the thrashing about etc etc

 

[La Mike]

Best thing to do to fix the issue at hand is to wrap your pen 2 feet high from ground up with 1/2 hardware cloth. Then nothing can reach in and grab sleeping chicks in the first place.

 

[Tat2d]

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Just trap it and call animal control or trap it and then shoot it.

 

[sourland]

I would suggest that some of the responders need to read the sticky at the top of this sectiion.

 

[aprophet]

all over the state you live in USDA nuisance trappers catch beaver, nutria etc and drown them every day year round and your tax dollars support them, doing this among said trappers IS SOP there are devices sold to allow a trap to travel one way down a cable leading to deep water the weight of the trap drowns the animal for a home owner/ flock keeper to use the same methods that gov trappers use is nether inhuman nor cruel