Last night was my turn

[swift4me]

Here in France we have both pine martens and beech martens. After a month of no problems with the numerous foxes around my farm, a marten got in through one of the small holes where the roof hits the stone walls. It is a 200 year old stone outbuilding, so making it predator proof has been a challenge.

Anyway I had 9 chickens and luckily I still have 3.

Revenge will be served shortly.

Pete

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I've spent the last couple months renovating a 75 year old pig barn into a chicken coop, so I can commiserate with your issues in making old structures predator proof, it can be a real pain. Do you have pictures of your 200 year old coop? That sounds very interesting!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

What a horrible way to start the day. Dang varmints

Also would love to see photos of your wonderful building - if those walls could talk.

 

[rancher hicks]

I am sorry for your loss. Sometimes the only way we know there is a problem is when they strike. Be encouraged and remember, "Hens say , never give up , never surrender".

Wishing you the best

rancher

 

[swift4me]

Here is a picture of the old stone building and the run I built.

I was so concerned about the foxes, that I didn't think about the martens here. The two species are called martre and fouine. I never thought about closing the holes in the eaves, but this morning I got them taken care of with more chickenwire. The carcasses are in the freezer for bait. I feel bad for the chickens, but I doubt the whole deal lasted very long.

Fortunately, we don't have raccoons, or egg eating snakes.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Pete

 

[ChooksChick]

I'm sorry for your loss. I wonder if you could roll up balls of chickenwire and stuff them in the eaves.

Whenever you get around to shipping me the stacks of roof tiles outside your coop, I'm ready for them!

 

[PhilErvin]

You might want to reconsider the chicken wire. Chicken Wire is ment to keep chickens in but not keep pedators out.

 

[noodleroo]

Your coop and run are so beautiful! I'm sorry about your loss. I'm guessing that martens are like weasels? I was also wondering about the square, looks like 'metal' box to the left of the stairs; what is that? The rolled up and secured chicken wire sounds like it might work for you. Thanks for sharing the pics....

 

[swift4me]

The metal box is our mailbox. We don't get much mail there though... and I like that. No phone either.

I think the chicken wire is fine as we have no predators around here that use their front paws like a raccoon. No bears either, although they are re-introducing brown bears from Slovakia to the Pyrenees.

The soil is so full of medium and large rocks, that the foxes are not accustomed to digging. I appreciate the advice on the wire, and will most likely do it soon. I only wish I was up there tonight to set the traps, as I'm sure he'll be back.

Funny that they kill, and do nothing more than drink blood. Not one gram of flesh was eaten. I understand that when they find eggs, they make a tooth hole and then suck the egg out. I've never trapped them before, but they have a reputation as a very easy animal to trap, compared with a fox.

Film at 11.

Pete

 

[Orchid]

I'm so sorry about your chickens. What a beautiful coop, though!

We have pine (American) martens here in Minnesota, but they are a different species than you have there I believe. Noodleroo, the ones we have are like big weasels.