Raccoon found and killed one of my remaining hens

ChixFlix

In the Brooder
11 Years
May 13, 2008
44
0
22
Lake Worth, FL
I am just barely over the killing of 3 of my producing RIR hens by the dog next door.

Yesterday it rained all day, the yards were flooded and it was like nighttime from 5 pm on. You'd think I would have taken action then, but I was not paying attention.

I went out at the usual time, when the birds all go into their house without prompting (around 7 pm), to lock everyone up. Of course, it was pretty dark, so I saw nothing out of place.

This morning, when I let them out, I counted only 6 hens. As I looked around the gated circular run I found the head and body of #7 (Suzi) and large raccoon prints.

No sign of digging under the fence, so my guess is it went up a tree and onto the roof of the stilt house, and probably caught her before she went into the house.

Head off, some meat eaten, but what a total waste.

The prints I saw in the mud were pretty large - I'll be putting the live trap out this afternoon and see what we get. I know it will be back now that it has found the birds.

Gotta admit, we were pretty lucky since we put the young birds out in their house in April. The dog - well, that's another story. But now the raccoon.

What a sorry day.
 
I'm so paranoid about wild raccoons and about getting to the animals before sunset. My elder-gelding has me 'trained' to bring him in before (he's moon-blind at 37), so the birds are in before the sun sets. We have a LOT of foxes and coyotes too and endless raptors in migration this time of year. Even with a roofed run, I keep thinking how this or that predator might get access! Everything loves chicken...
 

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