Moderators, please delet this thread - no one knows the exact stituati

[Theapplechicks]

the trouble w/ drugging is a cat or dog or something might get a hold to it also? I know our neighbors cat was always trying to get my bait. (not that I would mind too much!) We also caught a few stray cats that the pound came and collected.

 

[eggcited2]

Quote:
They would not have any stomach bleed. It is not like rat poison or such. It is a powerful pain medicine when overdosed, the victim goes to sleep and never wakes up. No pain, no suffering. Like an overdose of sleeping pills.

I have been trying to trap them. It is not working. I am totally about humane killing. I would prefer to shoot and have it over right away. Since they are some how able to grab the food and get away with it, then I need to find someway to kill them. I figured going to sleep (with no pain involved) and not waking up would be ok.

Just like when a dog or cat is euthanized: it is given an overdose of strong pain med or such. It goes to sleep and then dies.

 

[eggcited2]

Quote:
I do not know of any dogs that run loose near us or within and local distance. As for cats, I had asked on here about a month or two ago about baits for live traps. It was suggested that sticky buns/sweet rolls are not that attractive to cats. If I remember right, most people said that the cats were not attracted to those sweet baits.

If the raccoon or possum dies in the woods and other scavengers eat it and in turn is affected by the medicine (lortab is not a poison, but a powerful narcotic pain medicine), it most likely would be fox, or other such animal that I would want killed off too.

I am tired of my chickens being killed over and over. The coon and possum some how are getting out of the live traps (I have 4 live traps). I know they are set correctly, but the predators are getting out of them. What else do I do? Continue to let them kill and eat my chickens at will?

They are also getting into my bags of feed and destroying it. My own barn cat is almost starved, due to them running him off and eating his food. We have put all food in metal cans, but the raccoons can get the lids off the cans. Put something on the cans to weight the lids down - they managed to still get in. If anyone on here lives in northern Minnesota and has ever dealt with the raccoons, you must know that I am talking about. Any resort owner I know of up there has put rocks on the can lids, the stretchy cords over the lids and attached to handles, and the raccoons still manage to get into the cans; night after night after night.

I am desperate. The live traps do not hold them, and they are killing off my chickens. And destroying all kinds of stuff in my shed/barn.

 

[Imp]

I'm so sorry for your losses eggcited2, and the difficulties you are having. I hope things get better.

Imp

 

[birdlover]

Egg, read what The Apple Chicks wrote. That sounds like a good plan. Put the bait UNDER the trap so they can't make way with it easily.

 

[AinaWGSD]

It is not like rat poison or such. It is a powerful pain medicine when overdosed, the victim goes to sleep and never wakes up. No pain, no suffering. Like an overdose of sleeping pills.

I have been trying to trap them. It is not working. I am totally about humane killing. I would prefer to shoot and have it over right away. Since they are some how able to grab the food and get away with it, then I need to find someway to kill them. I figured going to sleep (with no pain involved) and not waking up would be ok.

Just like when a dog or cat is euthanized: it is given an overdose of strong pain med or such. It goes to sleep and then dies.

No, itIS a poison. Just because something has a theraputic medical use for humans does not mean that it is not a poison. Animals often metabolize medications very differently from humans. Just last week we had a cat in at the clinic where I worked that was in acute renal failure and we weren't sure if he would make it or not. The owner found an empty advil liquid gel on the floor after searching her house from top to bottom for any kind of toxins he could have possibly gotten into. He was lucky that his owner noticed he was acting off and got him in in time (and was willing to spend the money on what could have been a long shot) to get him treated and is expected to make a full recovery. If she hadn't, he would have suffered a painful death from kidney failure. Ibuprofen is so toxic to dogs that it turns their blood brown. And even when medications do have similar effects on animals the dosages may be drastically different. Most people get drowsy if they take 25mg or 50mg of benadryl. In dogs and cats the dose is 1mg per pound...my 80lb dog takes 75mg of benadryl three times a day when his allergies are acting up and it doesn't even touch him as far as making him drowsy. An overdose of lortab may simply make a human "go to sleep and never wake up," but that's not to say that it will do the same in an animal. It could cause a lingering painful death rather than a simple drifting off to sleep never to wake again.

Personally I don't feel poisoning is the best or most responsible way to deal with predators. If the animal wanders off and dies in the woods and other scavengers/chicken predators find it and die also it may not bother you. But what if it just wanders to the edge of the field and dies just out of your immediate sight but still within your chickens' free range territory (this scenario is of course making the big assumption that you allow your chickens to free range)? Not only could it potentially kill one or more of your chickens, but it could cause that drug to be passed through the eggs or meat into your family members or customers. Just something to think about.​

 

[eggcited2]

Quote:
Already have done that. Put it under the trap, weighted the trap so it could not be turned over to get the bait.

Have put the bait in mesh bags and tied it inside the trap, so they had to work to get it out, and supposedly that would make the trap spring and close. I even purchased the metal mesh baskets that you put suit into for feeding birds. Put the bait into it, wired it to the inside of the trap. None of those worked.

I have used: canned cat food, dry cat food, sweet rolls/sticky buns, marshmallow paste, marshmallows themselves, tuna, sardines, raccoon bait I purchased from a place that professionally sells bait and traps. I have two makes of live traps, and both have not held the animal that got into it and took the bait.

As for humane: last raccoon I was able to catch in the live trap, went nuts in the trap and was eating it's own back leg off, at the hip area. You could hear the ripping of the skin as it was tearing it's own leg off. I got my gun and shot it as soon as I found out it was in the trap. Is it any less humane to have the animal fall asleep, with no pain at all, and just not wake up?

I am beyond frustrated about what to do to stop the killing. To get rid of the animals that are killing my chickens and and also causing so much damage. I know it isn't only raccoon, it is possum and fox and such things. I have live traps for all of those and still, they manage to steal the bait and get away.

 

[magicpigeon]

Really depends on how much they eat. Poison is a little hit or miss, I can definitely tell you that.

 

[eggcited2]

Quote:
No, itIS a poison. Just because something has a theraputic medical use for humans does not mean that it is not a poison. Animals often metabolize medications very differently from humans. Just last week we had a cat in at the clinic where I worked that was in acute renal failure and we weren't sure if he would make it or not. The owner found an empty advil liquid gel on the floor after searching her house from top to bottom for any kind of toxins he could have possibly gotten into. He was lucky that his owner noticed he was acting off and got him in in time (and was willing to spend the money on what could have been a long shot) to get him treated and is expected to make a full recovery. If she hadn't, he would have suffered a painful death from kidney failure. Ibuprofen is so toxic to dogs that it turns their blood brown. And even when medications do have similar effects on animals the dosages may be drastically different. Most people get drowsy if they take 25mg or 50mg of benadryl. In dogs and cats the dose is 1mg per pound...my 80lb dog takes 75mg of benadryl three times a day when his allergies are acting up and it doesn't even touch him as far as making him drowsy. An overdose of lortab may simply make a human "go to sleep and never wake up," but that's not to say that it will do the same in an animal. It could cause a lingering painful death rather than a simple drifting off to sleep never to wake again.

Personally I don't feel poisoning is the best or most responsible way to deal with predators. If the animal wanders off and dies in the woods and other scavengers/chicken predators find it and die also it may not bother you. But what if it just wanders to the edge of the field and dies just out of your immediate sight but still within your chickens' free range territory (this scenario is of course making the big assumption that you allow your chickens to free range)? Not only could it potentially kill one or more of your chickens, but it could cause that drug to be passed through the eggs or meat into your family members or customers. Just something to think about.

So what do I do???? The live traps are not working. More and more chickens are being killed. I have been battling this for months. Any suggestion I have tired it and done it and everyone has failed. It is a huge losing battle. I've tried every bait suggested. Purchased professional baits, paid money for expensive live traps (incase the traps I was using were "cheap", not good ones), I have tried everything suggested. And the coons, possum, etc are still killing and killing and killing. Good tight wire, secure fencing, strong wood housing for shelter, etc. I have done it all. I stopped free ranging, to cut down on the area that predators can get into. But still the killing goes on. So what do I do? What is your answer to stopping the raccoon, possum, fox, etc. ???

I fell like people are very willing to find fault with me, but who is willing to come stop the killing of my chickens? Cause there is not one thing I have done, or found that stops them. They grab the bait, get out of the cages (three sizes of cages, cheaper ones and very expensive strong ones), take the bait off, eat it, and come back and kill my chickens. And destroy the food I have to feed my chickens, goats, horse, cat, etc. Plus terrorise my cat. In addition to killing my chickens.

I feel as if I am being jumped on and this whole thread is not about saving my chickens, but how awful I am for trying to somehow finally find something that will stop the predators. They are not dieing and in fact, more and more killing and damage is happening, as if more predators are showing up. Not just one or two anymore, but it is becoming the local feeding grounds.

 

[babylotzahenz]

I am on your side.

But honestly, I don't think those meds would work. I PM'd you, hope it helps. HenZ