Last night a fox or bobcat, something small and on four legs, got into the tree my roosters and four of my hens sleep (they refuse to go into the coop with the "unworthy" younger chickens). We woke up to their screams and ran out to the thing dragging a hen and rooster off. It dropped my girl in a panic, but made off with my poor boy. We got her safely in the coop, no damage to her, but now we don't know what to do. The animal knows there's food in the tree now, and we won't be able to convince the girls and my now only boy to roost in the coop.
How would you suggest predator proofing an oak tree? The tree is sloped so it's fairly easy to climb up, so we were thinking some kind of tubed collar around the trunk of the tree. But We don't know how well the thing would be able to jump over it. Any ideas?
(We don't plan on killing the predator. I don't like killing things just for doing what nature intended them to do.)
How would you suggest predator proofing an oak tree? The tree is sloped so it's fairly easy to climb up, so we were thinking some kind of tubed collar around the trunk of the tree. But We don't know how well the thing would be able to jump over it. Any ideas?
(We don't plan on killing the predator. I don't like killing things just for doing what nature intended them to do.)
