Dragon was Killed EDIT: Pip Killed

[Kedreeva]

I agree with Kev about protecting that corner with something like hardware cloth (or chicken wire) if she's sitting close to it.

And the small pen looks like plenty of space for her and a few kids for a while. I don't know how large those gaps are between the wires of the fencing on the small pen, but you might want to chicken wire the whole bottom of it for the little ones so nothing can reach through and grab and so they can't slip out... the gaps look like cattle fencing gaps (but I'm currently not wearing my glasses)

 

[chickenzoo]

I'm so sorry hun, we all know how much you love him................

It sounds like a coon to be, they are horrible about reaching in and grabbing or breaking into something. I would do like the others suggested with the hardware cloth, that is the only thing small enough to keep them from reaching in. I would also put a line of hot wire or hot tape around the bottom and top line of your pens to help keep things from climbing up to the netting.

 

[NateinFL]

So sorry to hear you lost Dragon, he was a beautiful bird. I wish you the best of luck in getting whatever it was that took his life.

I know you will work hard to reinforce the pen so it never happens again.

Nathan

 

[Frosty]

You might also consider putting chicken wire over the top of the pen Ice is in. I am not sure that a tarp alone would keep a predator out.

 

[little blue]

i have a pied peachick i wish you were closer i would give it to you.i keeped it just so the white chick had someone to hang with.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

I just checked into the forum & read this. I, too, greatly enjoyed reading about Dragon & your beautiful photos of him. I am so sorry; I am crying for you. I know how close you were to him - I am the same with my peacocks & esp. my Vishnu.

My husband built me some "night-eyes" after I lost my oldest hen Myrtle to an owl a couple of weeks ago-- it got her at the very door to the coop but when it tried to fly off, dropped her body on the wire we have over the peacocks' pen. (We have chicken wire over the top of our peas pen).

The night eyes are working very well--I have not yet heard Eagle, my rooster, crowing at 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning whereas he was before.

Jim is going to modify the night eyes and add a radio to them this weekend, so we will have the red laser lights and also sound at night.

A radio out there might help, and also if you can get something like the night eyes, that might help too. I know the original ones Jim built, he found the blinking red lights in the bicycle dept. at Walmart. They run off of batteries. The one he built has six red lights flashing.

 

[MinxFox]

Well we went back over to work on the pen some more. Once again it rained on us. The trap didn't catch anything but something tried to eat Dragon through the wire because there were pulled out feathers all outside of the trap. Then I noticed Alto was missing feathers on his neck, so much that I could see some of his skin. He wasn't acting like he was in pain and actually started displaying while I was trying to get a good look at him through the fence. I walked around to enter the pen to find fresh feathers in the small run that connects the big pen to the small one Ice is in. Since it rained last night and wasn't raining at the time I was taking pictures I knew these feathers were fresh, and the size of them is perfect for being from the place Alto is missing feathers. This did NOT happen the night Dragon was killed, it happened last night. When we checked on the peafowl at night Alto was on a perch alone with the two two year old peahens on another roost behind some bamboo. It looked like something tried to pull Alto through the fence but Alto survived. I got out some sunflower seeds to get him to eat out of my hand. The peahens are spooked but he hungrily pecked at the food and I stared at his neck. I could see what looks like maybe bite marks one isn't very deep more like a nick and the other is crescent shaped. There is a small sliver of skin hanging there but it isn't very much. It isn't very bloody either but we need to know what to do about his neck. He seems fine do we need to catch him and put something on his neck? My mom was talking about getting a bottle of peroxide and spraying his neck with it. Alto has been with me since he was a yearling and I really hope he can make it to three. Now were Alto's neck feathers were the wire fence that was connected to the small pen my dad pointed out that all the zip ties connecting the fencing were broken. No kidding every single zip tie was broken in the same exact spot and the fence is pealed back a little. We are hopping a person isn't visiting our pen...My dad said that when his friend was working on fixing our barn behind the peafowl pen that he noticed someone was stealing things around the barn but we never knew who did it or if the friend was just misplacing things. We are hopping Dragon wasn't killed by someone and then the raccoon came and just ate on the already dead Dragon. We are going to put up a trail camera to see what is going on. We set four traps around the pen in different locations one between the pen and the grave I dug and put the rest of Dragon in. We used canned sardines as bait for all the traps. My dad said the coons just love stinky fish and he always uses sardines for catching raccoons. We need to catch this raccoon soon or else we might have another dead bird. I am worried since Alto had that close call. Well here are some pictures, some are not very pretty so you might want to skip over the photos.

Dragon in the trap:

There were some bees on him and other bugs, so ignore those...All the neck and head were gone when I found him yesterday.

This is a quick outline of where he was and sort of what position he was in when I found him. Note the mass of neck feathers on the other side of the fence.

This is outside of the pen.

Here is Alto, I didn't get a good close up of his neck but he was displaying so I guess he isn't feeling too bad.

I noticed these feathers near the pen door from Alto.

Right there were the feathers were the fence was broken. You can see some of the white zip ties broken here. Perhaps Alto slammed into the fence and broke it?

We are not sure if we should go back over today and set up a trail camera or just leave things alone for now...Should I spend the night at my Grandma's to listen for any noises if something happens? My Grandma can't hear the peafowl back there at all cause she doesn't have the best hearing. Also do we need to treat Alto and with what? Thanks for your help.

 

[little blue]

that sucks you can sprinkle flour on a board or card board around the coop an see what kind of tracks you get.i would def say you have a coon we lost a few ducks an some pullets to one eirlier this year till we trapped him an killed him.it sounds like you have a smart great dad an i am sure he will catch what is doing this an take care of it.with our coon we put the trap in side a dog house so they cant see the trap an cant get the bait unless they go in works real good for us.i am so said about dragon i cant imagine how much you must miss him

 

[Glenmar]

I would spend the night there.

 

[MinxFox]

Okay...I know they all know how to honk and Pip is more weary than the others and will honk first so I will think about spending the night and listening for them.