Need advice on a Skunk predator!!!

[cw]

pics, pics, pics,
as far as the great danes i had 1 myself, pretty good dogs, but mine could swallow a chicken, as he eat every rhode island red we had

 

[tfpets]

Quote:
That is exactly how our skunk took our birds last year. And I know it was the skunk because it shocked us when we caught it inside what we considered a larger predator proof coop - reinforced chain link kennel wire - and the birds were on roosts, 3 feet off the ground. One by one, it knocked them off, killed them, and took the bodies through a little gap in the chain link. A very little gap. No feathers, no blood, just gone. Until we actually saw it happening.....it was sickening. But we trapped it and killed it. A skunk. And people still say skunks dont kill bigger chickens.

Then a couple of weeks ago I started losing more birds. Lots more birds. And then one night, on the front porch, was a skunk. We chased it....and it went OVER a gate....and then we found a smaller skunk inside another coop the same night!!! A different skunk! So we set a trap and caught one.

This year, when it's nice, we are sleeping outside on our raised deck. I heard the commotion, and was in the pet area in seconds - with the flashlight pointing right at the skunk, who had my headless cuckoo silkie in his mouth. He just looked at me and kept enjoying himself, until my husband got there with the gun and the laser site.

Unfortunately, we only have a PELLET GUN! I can give plenty of advice on how not to dispatch a skunk, if you like

. And we will keep on until the pets are safe again. Night after night. We set traps, we try to stay alert, we jump at the slightest commotion in the coops....

Good luck, and I still think your multiple loss could have been skunk....ours was and still is.....and I have caught them in the act. Until I actually caught the skunks doing it, it seemed like my birds were just Vanishing into thin air...I even suspected someone was taking them. I was shocked. And some people dont believe skunks will kill chickens. I happen to know different. They are, in some circumstances, like ours apparently, savage predators and a threat to poultry.

 

[Evermore Ranch]

This is Doobie Doo above

This was my baby Abel He passed away a couple of weeks ago

This is Bruiser (the pit mix) and Doobie Doo helping keep a close eye on babies I moved out of hatcher to the tub. When one chick passed away Bruiser just howled the saddest howl. My dogs love the babies!!!

 

[cw]

i hate to hear the one passed away, do you breed them ?

 

[Evermore Ranch]

no we ran a rescue for ears and a breeder brought Abel to me as a pup cause he was so scared of people they could not sell him; well he ended up being our spokes dog who went to schools and the fair all kinds of things. Then doobie was given to me by the same breeder because they had 2 litters at one time and abel had been great advertising for them.

 

[cw]

huh, so do you ever have pups for sale? or do you adopt them out

 

[Evermore Ranch]

no they no longer breed danes. we had to close the shelter a few years ago due to economy. we still do some rescue but my DH had a heart attack in April so we do very little rescue now.

we have our hands full with the critters that we have now. Occasionally we will rescue one or 2 at a time and place them, but the cost of meds have slowed down what we are able to helpas many strays. we also do wildlife rescue!

 

[cw]

wow, i hate to hear that.

 

[cw]

i could see how findin a home for danes could be tuff

 

[tfpets]

Your dogs are beautiful! And your work with the animals is admirable, what a great gift you are to them. I always wondered if Danes were good around poultry, pets. We had to put our 9 year old border collie mix in shelter after her past 4 years of killing our poultry/livestock, and our elderly border collie mix passed away shortly before that. No more big dogs here?

I just had to drop in an update - shortly after my last post, I turned off my laptop and went to find my husband....he had heard a commotion in the poultry yard and dont you know it, it was a SKUNK! It is no longer with us. No bird losses to that one tonight.

Take care,
Tina/tfpets