Last weekend, I made an error in judgment. My decision alone - told husband we'd be back in time to lock the girls in the coop and he thought we should lock them up just in case. I was sure it would be fine and I was wrong.
We got home after had been dark about 1 hour and one of our girls was dead in the yard. he thinks I threw the light on and scared it off, whatever it was. She was still warm and her the back of her neck had been chewed off. There was nothing else eaten. I cleaned up feathers from several areas the next morning. It appeared to me they had gone into the coop at dark and whatever got her grabbed her from the roost.
Our other barred rock was missing but my husband found her hiding in a corner near the fence. So we locked them all in. We locked them in early every night since then as well as kept in a larger fenced area instead of free ranging in our backyard (also fenced). This weekend we were out of town, and have a neighbor who comes over to help. Tonight we got home late due to travel delays and I went out to check on them. My heart stopped when I got near the coop - there were feathers everywhere. I shined the light into the roost and the remaining 3 girls all there. We checked them all over and they seem fine.
Our neighbor left message that she put them up at 530pm (gets dark right at 7pm right now) and that she had found the feathers and thinks something attacked them and to call her when we get in. it was so late when we got home I haven't talked to her yet. We have a trap so we got it out and set it up out in the yard with some cat food.
Our coop isn't really large enough for 3 birds to stay full time but I don't know what else we can do until we find out what's going on. it's a mini- coop with a small ladder to nest box and a 5 x 7 run that we built on the front of it. It's pretty secure I believe - it's all covered in hardware cloth, with a 12" section lining the part with open dirt. The original coop sits on pavers - so I hope secure against digging.
My thoughts - originally I assumed it was a raccoon or opossum - but now I am sure it has to be a raccoon. What else would dare come back during daylight but originally strike at dusk? We lost our first group of birds last year due to our own ignorance and now I'm feeling being too cautious is not cautious enough.
Are we on the right track?
there are no weasels or things like that here. We're in north Florida - in town. We have coyotes and fox in this neighborhood but have never seen in our yard. we have opossum and raccoons - not seen coons in the yard but in the street coming and going at night for sure. I haven't seen a opossum in our yard in several years but i know they are around. Hawks and owls. So there are tons of things here - but daylight has always seemed pretty safe time.
and - um - what do we do with anything we catch? I know a place we can go let things loose, but I am pretty sure I read if you dump a raccoon, they will just keep coming and filling the void.
We got home after had been dark about 1 hour and one of our girls was dead in the yard. he thinks I threw the light on and scared it off, whatever it was. She was still warm and her the back of her neck had been chewed off. There was nothing else eaten. I cleaned up feathers from several areas the next morning. It appeared to me they had gone into the coop at dark and whatever got her grabbed her from the roost.
Our other barred rock was missing but my husband found her hiding in a corner near the fence. So we locked them all in. We locked them in early every night since then as well as kept in a larger fenced area instead of free ranging in our backyard (also fenced). This weekend we were out of town, and have a neighbor who comes over to help. Tonight we got home late due to travel delays and I went out to check on them. My heart stopped when I got near the coop - there were feathers everywhere. I shined the light into the roost and the remaining 3 girls all there. We checked them all over and they seem fine.
Our neighbor left message that she put them up at 530pm (gets dark right at 7pm right now) and that she had found the feathers and thinks something attacked them and to call her when we get in. it was so late when we got home I haven't talked to her yet. We have a trap so we got it out and set it up out in the yard with some cat food.
Our coop isn't really large enough for 3 birds to stay full time but I don't know what else we can do until we find out what's going on. it's a mini- coop with a small ladder to nest box and a 5 x 7 run that we built on the front of it. It's pretty secure I believe - it's all covered in hardware cloth, with a 12" section lining the part with open dirt. The original coop sits on pavers - so I hope secure against digging.
My thoughts - originally I assumed it was a raccoon or opossum - but now I am sure it has to be a raccoon. What else would dare come back during daylight but originally strike at dusk? We lost our first group of birds last year due to our own ignorance and now I'm feeling being too cautious is not cautious enough.
Are we on the right track?
there are no weasels or things like that here. We're in north Florida - in town. We have coyotes and fox in this neighborhood but have never seen in our yard. we have opossum and raccoons - not seen coons in the yard but in the street coming and going at night for sure. I haven't seen a opossum in our yard in several years but i know they are around. Hawks and owls. So there are tons of things here - but daylight has always seemed pretty safe time.
and - um - what do we do with anything we catch? I know a place we can go let things loose, but I am pretty sure I read if you dump a raccoon, they will just keep coming and filling the void.
