I got cleaned out last night !!!!!! This is now war!!!!!!

[Country4ever]

I agree Pete.........keep your eyes and ears out for some that may have survived. Don't assume they are all dead because they are gone. You should tell your neighbors to be on the look-out too, and check out the woods. Good luck!

 

[Jajika]

I'm guessing this was a night time raid?

I have about 20 Nite Guard solar lights. The are about 3" square and blink red at sundown. The flashing red lights (are are pin-point) and frighten night time predators. I have not had a Coon attack since I installed then eight years ago.

For whatever reason, they work for me real well.

I believe in multiple methods of protection. You can add this to your arsenal.

(No, I'm not a sales person for Nite Guard. Found them in my poulty magazine. )

Geri in Northern California

 

[can you hear me now?]

You can usually find electric fnece supplies at the same stores you get your chicken feed. I know I have seen supplies for them at MFA. I just used a pet fence size, only costed about 15 bucks. Same goes with the wire to do so. IIn order to put ours up we bought T-posts and the yellow insulators to go on them to feed the wire to it. On the power supply to the box you will have two spots for wire. one side will be your power side and the other will be where you need to put a wire on for a ground. If it isn't grounded it wont work. Hope this helps anyone reading.

 

[skeeter03]

So sorry for you chicken loss I know how much it sucks
coons or coyotes - something got into my run about a week ago and took off with 5 chickens and injured 4 more. we lock them up now at night and have the dog tied on next to the coop. nothing again so far but still.............PARANOIA lol

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Thanks everyone for your concerns. I'll try to answer as many questions as I can.

1) I'm sure it was coons. Scratch marks on fence post/gate and feathers are 3 ft off the ground on wire. They seem to have used one spot to haul the out. Has the most feathers.

2) Electric fences can be bought at any farm store. Put one wire 6 inches off the ground and the other 12 inches. 6 inch wire gets animals that may dig underground and 12 inch wire will get the climbers. I believe low impedance fence is the best but I would make sure with store. My uncle told me(raises 25k+ pheasants) but I need to call him to check.

3) What led to coons getting in I'm not sure. I've had chickens for 2+ months with no trouble. I'm putting a top on the run for full inclosure.

I'll post some pics of the improvements I'm going to make for everyone to see.

 

[Country4ever]

Hi Pete,
How big is your run? What do you think you'll use on top?
For 6 years I had double netting over the top........TopFlight and birdnetting. I never had any problems. But several weeks ago, the coon got up under that and got in. The top of my run is about 6 and 1/2' tall.
I think one of my problems was low hanging branches from a tree over the run. So if this is your case, you might consider cutting those branches down.

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Just got home from my camper to find "miracle" as wife named her GONE!! The coons went through the inside door which has chicken wire with fence staples securing it. The one outside door my wife put chicken wire in front of but didn't secure. So tonight they'll find some nice chicken breast laced with POISON!!!!! or I may make a trip to my uncles house for the live trap and shoot the SOB right where it stands and will continue this until all of them are dead. Hmmm coon skin hats for the family. Stay tuned for tomorrows report

 

[Country4ever]

Pete, please don't use poisons. All the carion-eaters (like turkey vultures) will be poisoned too. Really.

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Going with live trap and then send them to meet their maker. I talked to my uncle and he said one night he lost 2-300 birds. I"ll be picking up the trap from him tomorrow. Then off to Tractor Supply for supplies

 

[keystonepaul]

chicken wire works far better at keeping chickens in than predators out. Good luck Keystonepaul