I am soooooo close to giving up.. Graphic story warning

[LunaMarieWolf]

I have been having multiple problems with chicks/eggs/baby rabbits being killed and eaten straight from the cages and coop!

I just recently got 10 chicks from My Pet Chicken. And put them outside in a unused rabbit cage. This rabbit cage has wiring around it that is 1/2 inch by 1 inch. Plus all the doors are latched and even I have troubles unlatching the darn thing.

I put them in the cage last night. Showed them the water dish, food dish, plugged up the heat lamp, wired the doors shut and closed the door.


Woke up this morning to a horrid mess. Only 3 chicks survived. My two baby bantams were torn apart and pulled through the wire. The other chicks had broken necks and there was blood everywhere..

We just moved to Oklahoma. 147 milies away from where we were living. Where we moved from, we had rat problems. Them ripping chicks and baby rabbits apart, just for the fun of it.

Rats love to rip apart baby bunnies and eat their eyes.. gruesome thing to wake up to before heading off to school.

Also had snakes, cats, and even ants consume chicks and rabbits (with the ants the rabbits were still alive)..

Now I have put out traps, tried using deterants (Mint does nothing for the mice and rats here), and even live traps, but I don't want to use poison for I would hate for the cats to eat a dead rat who ate the poison.


I honestly have no idea what to do. The past month I have already killed 3 5ft-7ft black chicken snakes out trying to size up the rabbits and eggs.

Anyone else know what to do?

 

[LunaMarieWolf]

I've even had dogs break into the chicken coop by CLIMBING OVER the 7 foot wire I had up!! I only had one surviving chicken because of that mess.

Note: the dogs were feral and my Dad disposed of them. We have had packs of dogs take down a baby calves and eat them.

I have also been attacked by a pack of dogs here as well.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I think that's a weasel, but I'll tag @A_Fowl_Guy.

I'd start by using 1/4" hardware cloth to make your cages and locking up every spare bit of food you posses. Chickens get fed twice a day around here, and I haven't seen a rat or a sign of one in six months now (judging by the poop, the mice have begun to return, so the traps have just been put back out, but at least mice are pretty stupid.)

Have you used electric fence? We used it to keep goats in when I was a kid (not many marauding dogs in PA, and the coyotes know better) and a lot of people swear by its ability to keep out larger predators.

A .22 is a good thing to have.

Deterrents rarely work. Strobe lights are easy to get used to, wooden owls are unconvincing, and some people use peppermint candies as treats for their pet rats. Mothballs have been proven to not deter snakes by several pest-control companies.

 

[Sequel]

I have been having multiple problems with chicks/eggs/baby rabbits being killed and eaten straight from the cages and coop!

I just recently got 10 chicks from My Pet Chicken. And put them outside in a unused rabbit cage. This rabbit cage has wiring around it that is 1/2 inch by 1 inch. Plus all the doors are latched and even I have troubles unlatching the darn thing.

I put them in the cage last night. Showed them the water dish, food dish, plugged up the heat lamp, wired the doors shut and closed the door.


Woke up this morning to a horrid mess. Only 3 chicks survived. My two baby bantams were torn apart and pulled through the wire. The other chicks had broken necks and there was blood everywhere..

We just moved to Oklahoma. 147 milies away from where we were living. Where we moved from, we had rat problems. Them ripping chicks and baby rabbits apart, just for the fun of it.

Rats love to rip apart baby bunnies and eat their eyes.. gruesome thing to wake up to before heading off to school.

Also had snakes, cats, and even ants consume chicks and rabbits (with the ants the rabbits were still alive)..

Now I have put out traps, tried using deterants (Mint does nothing for the mice and rats here), and even live traps, but I don't want to use poison for I would hate for the cats to eat a dead rat who ate the poison.


I honestly have no idea what to do. The past month I have already killed 3 5ft-7ft black chicken snakes out trying to size up the rabbits and eggs.

Anyone else know what to do?

I'm awfully sorry to hear of your troubles! OMG that is just awful! Can you post some pics of your setup? I live in a predator heavy neighborhood, and after reading post here on BYC I set mine up in a sort of compound. I have a perimeter fence which is 6' woven wire orchard fencing, a hardware cloth apron and running 2 1/2 to 3 feet up all the way around. Just above the hardware cloth we have a single electric wire. I've tried to have a buffer around the chicken area so that no animal passing by (especially at night) can see them. So far so good.

Oh except for a few mice that the chickens "sent to college" and a rat that I "sent to college"! Good luck to you I hope you can figure something out.

 

[centrarchid]

I think raccoon. Time for picture of setup. Can birds be moved into house for the night? Leave wet feed for bait. You can replace birds after sun up.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry!
Predator proofing is something that many of learn the hard way; we certainly did!
Chickens, unlike bunnies, need solid floors with bedding. Chew proof floors, and 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere, no openings larger than 1/2"!!!
Pictures will help here!
An actual building, or shed, with solid walls, a dig proof floor, big window openings covered in well secured hardware cloth, and a safe daytime run are essential. Electric fencing helps a lot with ground predators, although not with rodents, snakes, or weasels. Raptors can be managed with roofing or netting.
Traditional rabbit cages just aren't safe!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

If a child can open a latch, so can a raccoon. My coop has locks on each door!
Mary

 

[LunaMarieWolf]

 

[LunaMarieWolf]

That is my coop setup a few weeks ago.

We have put wooden boards along the metal bottom, so nothing can dig under.

We haven't had any problems with things getting the adult chickens, even though they free range most of the day and get put up at night.

 

[centrarchid]

I do not see cage used to keep chicks. If it is a small cage I would suspend it by our corners from ceiling in one of the larger pens. Make so it is at least 2 feet from closest point a raccoon my try to jump from which should exclude all but largest Black Rat Snakes. Then work on tops of pens, especially above doors. Chicken wire is not best material for keeping out raccoon but there is still room for improvement as you need more attachment points to stiff materials. My barn which is similar to yours in many ways has a hotwire perimeter which at closest is about 10 feet from structure.

Once you make structure raccoon tight, you can place small cage in a more practical location.

Can you show a picture of cage chicks kept in?