My house is predator central!

[ninny]

My poor birds. The last few weeks every predator in the area has found our house. We have a skunk that i've caught in the coop. A hawk who i'm sure will have a spouse come spring. And maybe a coon now. We finally shot all the possums and now the rest moved in. The hawk can't really do any thing about. The coons will be shot on sight. But what to do about the skunk? We bought a live trap yesterday, but all we caught was a feral cat. Every time we see it its in our garage. Don't want to shot it in there. It comes to here kitty kitty sometimes. But only at night if it sees the cats coming. Its friends with the cats. It trap my DH in the garage when it wandered in for its dinner. Ugh. Any tips? What danger is it to my chickens?

 

[BellLisamo]

the skunk will eat the heads off your chickens... i lost over 10 birds to this nonsense....

ive set a havahart trap, which i borrowed. wasnt my first choice, but im hoping to catch the nasty thing

 

[gkeesling]

I caught a skunk in my live trap that I had baited with cat food. I was able to throw and old sheet over the cage without it spraying. then I tied a rope to the corner of the cage and dragged it out into the yard. I stood back 30 yards or so and shot the skunk with my rifle. He never did spray.

 

[BellLisamo]

Quote:
O! great idea.

 

[Lollipop]

Everyone that has chickens needs a gun and a trap. Now that you have a trap, use a couple whole eggs as bait and keep it set. Most predators will go for an easy meal first(like eggs). With eggs as bait, you don`t have to rebait the trap when nothing is caught and eggs are good for a month. Talk about predator central, I moved to GA from south FL last year. I lived on a coon highway in FL. Many weeks I caught as many as 6 coons and on 2 occasions, caught 2 at the same time and in the same trap. Other things I caught using eggs as bait were possums and fox. Never had a skunk problem, but they like eggs, too..........Pop

 

[LynneP]

About the skunk (we have several on the property who are very casual and who also befriend the cats). If you are seeing him in a certain building then his burrow is underneath. Very tricky business as in winter he will be forced to move into your barn or coop if you destroy his burrow. Double whammy if a female, she will have a litter this spring most likely. I think you will need a pro for this animal, someone licensed to move the animal. Our, fortunately, is under the former chicken coop and has no access to the present one, in the barn, with a concrete floor.

Sadly, you are going to need some major renos, probably roofing your run and encasing your birds in hardware cloth with a gauge of 1/2". It's expensive and time-consuming, but really, the predators are now pressed for calories and will take the whole flock if they can.

 

[kooltex]

My mom had a problem with skunks living under the front porch. A Pest control guy told her to put out fox urine all around the porch area, it will repell them. It worked, the skunks have never been back. I'm not sure where she got that bottle of concentrated fox urine, maybe a sporting goods place. Might give it a try.

 

[PineappleMama]

Urine wise. That's what was recommended when we had rats in the attic. We found urine (donno exactly what 'flavor' it was) at the hardware store. It was some stinky stuff, but we put some on rags and tossed them into the attic. Scurrying stopped immediately. Found and repaired the hole. No more problem. We also made a point of diddling a little along the fence line/corners and that seemed to help with other critters. But you have to keep that up, since rain etc kills it. Maybe try putting that around the coop, and set the trap a ways away ... maybe the bugger will think a fox is scoping out the chickies so those easy eggs will look even more enticing than fighting for a chicken dinner?

 

[ninny]

Thanks for all the great ideas!! I'll show my DH when he gets home. I wasn't sure if the skunk would kill a chicken or just steal eggs. Hopefully he won't try with 4 large roosters all ways around.

 

[Chieftain]

If you have teenage boys around who are competent marksmen, you may try putting a bounty on skunks. Tell them a cellphone picture will do for proof, and no need to drag the dead body in...

$5 a skunk plus a box of .22 rounds ought to take care of your skunk problem...