NY chicken lover!!!!

[LuvMyChicks1491]

Sorry for the absence. Chaos here. My nests were suddenly getting robbed. Lousette lost half her clutch, but was too far into incubation for me to move her. My muscovies decided to nest under the porch where I couldn't get at them,but have not been able to establish a nest. A few days ago I went out to the aviary to find most of the quail in pieces, everywhere. Penny the pheasant had abandoned her nest, as did the quail. There was no obvious point of entry anywhere. I grabbed the eggs and put them into the incubators, but I have no idea how long they had been cold. They filled all my reserved space and overflowed into the hatcher, but it may well be a total loss. The following day, Lousette hatched out her goslings, so I moved her, Aramis, and the family inside into the grow out pen... and waited. No alerts, but the next day the remaining quail were gone. Narcissus was now lame and neglecting his yard defense. I found a small hole in the corner of the aviary where the fence was not buried as deep and with as much overlap and placed a snare. It was small enough to easily catch a skunk. The next day, I looked out to see Prince loose and too terrified to catch. The snare was not tripped, and just below it was a tiny hole leading down. Penny was spread over 250 square feet of aviary. It was horrific. Skunks usually cannot catch healthy adult pheasants, so I am suspecting a weasel, especially with the miniscule point of entry. My half grown chickens are penned at night, but will have to be locked up, since they weigh as much as the pheasants and are now in danger. Over the course of a week, nearly my entire game bird population was destroyed.
But wait.... there's more... I came inside after the first quail massacre to find the power off on incubator 2 and the hatcher... Incubator 2, which held all my sebastapols, toulouse, and pilgrims. It's now day 31. No movement. No pips. They are larger geese, so up to 35 days' incubation is not unheard of, but I am not optimistic. I am pretty sure at least one sebastpol egg is definitely gone.

So, my week was marked by the death of all but three of my adult game birds, one of which is now AWOL, and I now have two incubators full of eggs, one likely completely full of dead geese, and the other, likely half filled with dead game birds. I am beside myself....

I'm so sorry. I don't know what I would do if I was you...We are all thinking of you!

You could water test the goose eggs to see if there is any movement?

 

[aalissa]

Okay I couldn't wait any longer. The chicks are here. this little (hopefully) lady is the only one that has a name "Chizty".

Got 3 of these.

oh...this one is so cute!!! There are 6 more but I wanted to keep them in the brooder because I wanted to make sure they stayed warm.

 

[aalissa]

Sorry for the absence. Chaos here. My nests were suddenly getting robbed. Lousette lost half her clutch, but was too far into incubation for me to move her. My muscovies decided to nest under the porch where I couldn't get at them,but have not been able to establish a nest. A few days ago I went out to the aviary to find most of the quail in pieces, everywhere. Penny the pheasant had abandoned her nest, as did the quail. There was no obvious point of entry anywhere. I grabbed the eggs and put them into the incubators, but I have no idea how long they had been cold. They filled all my reserved space and overflowed into the hatcher, but it may well be a total loss. The following day, Lousette hatched out her goslings, so I moved her, Aramis, and the family inside into the grow out pen... and waited. No alerts, but the next day the remaining quail were gone. Narcissus was now lame and neglecting his yard defense. I found a small hole in the corner of the aviary where the fence was not buried as deep and with as much overlap and placed a snare. It was small enough to easily catch a skunk. The next day, I looked out to see Prince loose and too terrified to catch. The snare was not tripped, and just below it was a tiny hole leading down. Penny was spread over 250 square feet of aviary. It was horrific. Skunks usually cannot catch healthy adult pheasants, so I am suspecting a weasel, especially with the miniscule point of entry. My half grown chickens are penned at night, but will have to be locked up, since they weigh as much as the pheasants and are now in danger. Over the course of a week, nearly my entire game bird population was destroyed.
But wait.... there's more... I came inside after the first quail massacre to find the power off on incubator 2 and the hatcher... Incubator 2, which held all my sebastapols, toulouse, and pilgrims. It's now day 31. No movement. No pips. They are larger geese, so up to 35 days' incubation is not unheard of, but I am not optimistic. I am pretty sure at least one sebastpol egg is definitely gone.

So, my week was marked by the death of all but three of my adult game birds, one of which is now AWOL, and I now have two incubators full of eggs, one likely completely full of dead geese, and the other, likely half filled with dead game birds. I am beside myself....

I'm sorry for all the destruction & death. I don't know what else to say. I am sorry.

 

[rancher hicks]

Sorry for the absence. Chaos here. My nests were suddenly getting robbed. Lousette lost half her clutch, but was too far into incubation for me to move her. My muscovies decided to nest under the porch where I couldn't get at them,but have not been able to establish a nest. A few days ago I went out to the aviary to find most of the quail in pieces, everywhere. Penny the pheasant had abandoned her nest, as did the quail. There was no obvious point of entry anywhere. I grabbed the eggs and put them into the incubators, but I have no idea how long they had been cold. They filled all my reserved space and overflowed into the hatcher, but it may well be a total loss. The following day, Lousette hatched out her goslings, so I moved her, Aramis, and the family inside into the grow out pen... and waited. No alerts, but the next day the remaining quail were gone. Narcissus was now lame and neglecting his yard defense. I found a small hole in the corner of the aviary where the fence was not buried as deep and with as much overlap and placed a snare. It was small enough to easily catch a skunk. The next day, I looked out to see Prince loose and too terrified to catch. The snare was not tripped, and just below it was a tiny hole leading down. Penny was spread over 250 square feet of aviary. It was horrific. Skunks usually cannot catch healthy adult pheasants, so I am suspecting a weasel, especially with the miniscule point of entry. My half grown chickens are penned at night, but will have to be locked up, since they weigh as much as the pheasants and are now in danger. Over the course of a week, nearly my entire game bird population was destroyed.
But wait.... there's more... I came inside after the first quail massacre to find the power off on incubator 2 and the hatcher... Incubator 2, which held all my sebastapols, toulouse, and pilgrims. It's now day 31. No movement. No pips. They are larger geese, so up to 35 days' incubation is not unheard of, but I am not optimistic. I am pretty sure at least one sebastpol egg is definitely gone.

So, my week was marked by the death of all but three of my adult game birds, one of which is now AWOL, and I now have two incubators full of eggs, one likely completely full of dead geese, and the other, likely half filled with dead game birds. I am beside myself....

There are many Youtube videos on how to make a Weasel trap. A baited rat trap is used. I caught this one in my garage this past winter. I baited it with a piece of KFC chicken. I'm sure you can figure out how to set up a trap.

 

[rancher hicks]

I won't be able to sell quail eggs unless I buy more eggs from another breeder and start fresh. I'm now a full year behind with the pheasants. I was already behind with the ducks, and will probably have to pen the Muscovies and Pekins inside if I want to keep collecting eggs. My moulard production slows things down because they have such a low fertility rate at baseline (40% or lower). Only 1/4 of my moulards hatched, and my 85 year old mother with dementia let a cat into the incubator room, resulting in the loss of one of those as well. I hate to pen everyone up inside, but it may have to happen. If I am lucky I can find some good pekin hens at the local swap this Sunday to swell the ranks. I thinned my flock down last year for the winter, but didn't compensate for catastrophic loss. Currently, the chickens are the only ones turning a profit for me, and I specialize in waterfowl!

I suggest you use 1/4" hardware cloth. Weasels make me nervous.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Heavens ! No Need to Apologize ! So sorry for your flocks ...I hope you get the bugger .
The hatches may still be okay ...Lets hope for the best

 

[Gramma Chick]

LadyHawkeAvry
Well the guy who has the White Muscovies & I traded eggs ..so I now have duck eggs ...he has chicken eggs .
Do you want some duck eggs ? We were just going to eat them ..he probably has another dozen ..

 

[Nuttyfrom6kids]

Sorry for the absence. Chaos here.  My nests were suddenly getting robbed. Lousette lost half her clutch, but was too far into incubation for me to move her.  My muscovies decided to nest under the porch where I couldn't get at them,but have not been able to establish a nest.  A few days ago  I went out to the aviary to find most of the quail in pieces, everywhere.  Penny the pheasant had abandoned her nest, as did the quail.  There was no obvious point of entry anywhere. I grabbed the eggs and put them into the incubators, but I have no idea how long they had been cold.  They filled all my reserved space and overflowed into the hatcher, but it may well be a total loss. The following day, Lousette  hatched out her goslings, so I moved her, Aramis, and the family inside into the grow out pen... and waited.  No alerts, but the next day the remaining quail were gone. Narcissus was now lame and neglecting his yard defense. I found a small hole in the corner of the aviary where the fence was not buried as deep and with as much overlap and placed a snare.  It was small enough to easily catch a skunk. The next day, I looked out to see Prince loose and too terrified to catch.  The snare was not tripped, and just below it was a tiny hole leading down. Penny was spread over 250 square feet of aviary.  It was horrific. Skunks usually cannot catch healthy adult pheasants, so I am suspecting a weasel, especially with the miniscule point of entry.  My half grown chickens are penned at night, but will have to be locked up, since they weigh as much as the pheasants and are now in danger.  Over the course of a week, nearly my entire game bird population was destroyed.
But wait.... there's more... I came inside after the first quail massacre to find the power off on incubator 2 and the hatcher...  Incubator 2, which held all my sebastapols, toulouse, and pilgrims.  It's now day 31.  No movement. No pips.  They are larger geese, so up to 35 days' incubation is not unheard of, but I am not optimistic.  I am pretty sure at least one sebastpol egg is definitely gone.

So, my week was marked by the death of all but three of my adult game birds, one of which is now AWOL, and I now have two incubators full of eggs, one likely completely full of dead geese, and the other, likely half filled with dead game birds.  I am beside myself.... 

I am so sorry I know exactly what you are going through to have your flock wiped out it sucks.

 

[myfivegirls]

So, my week was marked by the death of all but three of my adult game birds, one of which is now AWOL, and I now have two incubators full of eggs, one likely completely full of dead geese, and the other, likely half filled with dead game birds. I am beside myself....

Sorry for your loss.

Hope you're able to catch the culprit and able to re-build the flock quickly!

 

[jmdarrow]

I am so sorry for your loss! That is awful!