$%&*@$#%* Predators!!!!!!

[Rammy]

Since Im sure we are not allowed to curse on here I used symbols instead in the subject head but it gives you the idea how TICKED Off

I am right now!!!!

I THOUGHT

I had secured my chain link dog kennel with wire ontop, a chain link panel, and wire around the bottom, 2 x4 inch welded wire and hardware clothe, only to find just a HEAD and a WING and some feathers outside in front of the entrance gate this morning. Now Im down to two RIR pullets and IM TICKED!

I think its a fox. Somehow its getting them thru the gate and I dont know how.

Im moving them tonight into a pen Ive NEVER have lost a chicken in in an attempt to save the remaining two.

Im so upset I could cry.

I couldnt do anything this morning to secure them as I had to go to work, but as soon as I get home Im doing what I can. How do you trap a fox? or could it possibly be a raccoon??

Rammy

 

[missred871]

If you get yourself a large trap (can be found at any sportsmans outlet type store or a bait and tackle shop may carry them) and bait it with rancid chicken if you dont have time to make it rancid then just toss in a big hunk of nasty skin on bone in chicken leg and thigh RAW. put it near the place where the fox or coon is getting into your coop. He will go for the easy meal rather than having to kill one of your birds. That should work. If it doesnt all I can say is I would hav a double alt buckshot with his name on it

really though, I have a fox roaming my property now as well. The best thing to do is trap it or kill it or both really because if you relocate it and it has already gotten into your coop chances are it will become someone elses problem. No one wants a fox in the hen house. See if you can get a hold to animal control today, they usually have traps you can rent for like a week. Here it is $16 to rent the trap for a week. If you trap something you call them and they pick it up and take it away. They will leave you with a new trap if need be. Until you catch whatever is eating your chickens. Hope this helps, sorry for your poor chicky poos.

 

[emys]

If you run half inch hardware cloth around the entire bottom 2 feet (gate included) of your run then the chickens won't be able to stick their heads out in panic. That's how they are getting killed. The predator arrives, runs around the outside of your coop trying to find a way in. The chickens panic, run around, feel they can't escape, want to escape, and finally stick their head out and something comes along and bites it off.

My vote is fox, since raccoons usually eat the head first.

 

[Preservation Acres]

I'd definitely get a trap. You can get a live animal trap pretty cheap at TSC.

 

[Rammy]

I have some hardware clothe leftover from the tractor I built that I plan on wiring around the outside and also lay on the ground. I need to fix the gate a little as its a little crooked and Im wondering though if the fox or whatever is squeezing in that way but that doesnt explain the digging outside the door. I also plan on moving the pen to the other side of the barn closer to my house and where my beagle, who barks at anything that moves lives< he has a 8 x 10 storage shed for a dog house, talk about pampered, heat lamp, heated water bucket for winter and treats everyday> so he better start earning his keep by protecting the chickens!!I cant put them IN the backyard because he thinks they are chew toys. Im just so upset because I was planning on raising purebred RIR's when they start laying and getting a rooster to put in with them. My next course of action is a ten mile electric charger for a 100 foot fence. Now that would stop a bull!! hehehe


Rammy

 

[Kajunbanty]

I'm thinking coon, a fox will carry the whole thing off and eat it where a coon will pull it bit by bit thru the wire. Set a trap and I bet you will get him.

 

[Rammy]

Thanks, everyone. I have a freind who has a trap big enough for a fox that he is going to let me borrow. I have my own trap for raccoons. Between the two, hopefully, I will get whatever is killing my chickens. I feel sorry for whatever it is, because its days are numbered. Thanks for listening< or reading> and for the helpful info.

Rammy

 

[Coralietg]

I'm sorry for your chickie loss

I hope you catch what did it soon, maybe the digging was an attempt before they found a different way to get to the chicks?

 

[Rammy]

Put my traps up last night. Used sardines according to neighbors recommendation and caught the same barn cat twice. The other trap I used marshmellows and something ate them but didnt spring the trap. I moved the RIR's I have left into a pen that Ive never had anything being able to get into so I hope they are safe there. I will just keep trying to trap whatever is killing my chickens and take care of it.

Rammy

 

[Rammy]

It happened again. I put my two three month old roosters in the new tractor that has only 2 x 4 inch wire last night. I KNEW I should of locked them up in a kennel but thought they would be ok. Well, this morning, I found the smaller one, a RIR/BO mix, with his head missing. The body was still in the pen. Whatever got him tried digging under first, but I have the bottom wired too. Somehow it got his head, probably when he stuck it out in a panic. Today, Im taking hardware clothe with 1/2 inch holes and putting over top the welded wire. Im also putting locks on the door. Right now Im just using a cement block to keep it closed but thats because the door is tight as it is. At least it didnt get my last two RIR hens since I put them in a tractor with the smaller wire. Its my fault. Do they make miniature hot boxes for little tractors? Maybe I should electrify it also.

Rammy