Lost 4 young'uns and am sad and mad at myself

[chooniecat]

Had 6 appx 4-5 month olds in a pen with outside roost(my actual chicken pen has inside roosts) and I believe a raccoon was able to get its dexterous fingers thru and pull chix out thru fencing. MY very bad bad. My son was in barn loft awaiting a raccoon to aproach bait so he could shoot and he heard a chicken scream in pain and called into house but it was too late and this last chic had a broken leg so we killed her immediately.YES I was negligent and all 5 were taken/harmed in seperate incidents(I have been overwhelmed with issues) but have agreed/encouraged son to take out all raccoons we see/trap. Let me state I am still not mad at raccoons for feeding their families but there ARE too many in this area and we will kill them quickly(unlike some people that seem to find pleasure in drowning/slowly hurting coons) He is going to process the skins so its a good learning experience for him.And again not 100% it was coon so we are setting last chix body out as bait tonight by the pen they were in. Have 1 remaining pullet and unfortunately this will probably make me bond too much with her and grrrr.....stupid chickens(I jest, PLZ)(oops-I realize I put "4" in subjectmatter but yes it was 5!)

 

[nova022]

Had 6 appx 4-5 month olds in a pen with outside roost(my actual chicken pen has inside roosts) and I believe a raccoon was able to get its dexterous fingers thru and pull chix out thru fencing. MY very bad bad. My son was in barn loft awaiting a raccoon to aproach bait so he could shoot and he heard a chicken scream in pain and called into house but it was too late and this last chic had a broken leg so we killed her immediately.YES I was negligent and all 5 were taken/harmed in seperate incidents(I have been overwhelmed with issues) but have agreed/encouraged son to take out all raccoons we see/trap. Let me state I am still not mad at raccoons for feeding their families but there ARE too many in this area and we will kill them quickly(unlike some people that seem to find pleasure in drowning/slowly hurting coons) He is going to process the skins so its a good learning experience for him.And again not 100% it was coon so we are setting last chix body out as bait tonight by the pen they were in. Have 1 remaining pullet and unfortunately this will probably make me bond too much with her and grrrr.....stupid chickens(I jest, PLZ)(oops-I realize I put "4" in subjectmatter but yes it was 5!)

Sounds like the way racoons operate. They are so cruel in the way they kill their prey. I have never liked them since they tore a litter of kittens to shreds. Raccoons carry so many diseases here that it is illegal to relocate them so there is really no alternative but to dispose of them in a humane way. Sorry you lost your chicks.

 

[chooniecat]

I realize there are too many and we have killed quickly before but we have been pre-occupied and didn't address this situation quick enough.And my son/I disagree on the anger towards raccoon thing(I realize they are , more than likely, feeding babies and are just hunting for their kids)I had great luck b4 w/just setting livetrap/spray painting and scaring the hell out of any coons trapped and this year I neglected to get traps in place soon enogh and blah blah blah. I know. TY.And coons don't understand kittens are considered(supposed to be considered) cute little pets so I don't allow any breeding of pets here. SO stepping up the process and will take out every raccoon we catch/see.(that makes me sad too!!!) onward.

 

[chooniecat]

10 pm and 1 less male raccoon in our vicinity. He went for the bait(chick that was injured last evening) and was taken out quickly. Owning chickens can be a hard hobby.