MenachemEliyahu
Chirping
About an hour before sunrise the sound of my chickens in distress woke me up. I rushed outside and I saw four out of five hens standing out in the rain. As I checked the a-frame the fifth one popped out. I didn’t see anything in there. My daughter came out because of the commotion and said that she saw a rabbit in the run. I checked under the hutch and saw a raccoon looking back at me. I opened the side hatch and tried to chase the raccoon out, but it didn’t want to move. In the end I asked my wife to get the air rifle. After
shot it, the raccoon decided it had enough and left through the open hatch. It looked to be a young raccoon.
But the story is not over. About 10 minutes later my wife said that the hens sounded alarmed. Apparently she’s more in tune with them than I am. I thought it was an “egg song”. Just as soon as I got out another raccoon got in there and started to chase the hens. I called for my air rifle again and opened the side hatch. This time it ran out without incident, but this time I made sure there weren’t any more hiding in the overgrowth.
When it was light enough I went to check for an entry point and found where the raccoon pulled the chicken wire from the fencing and crawled under the fence.
In the end, I was left with 5 shaken up hens, and some work to secure them.
shot it, the raccoon decided it had enough and left through the open hatch. It looked to be a young raccoon.
But the story is not over. About 10 minutes later my wife said that the hens sounded alarmed. Apparently she’s more in tune with them than I am. I thought it was an “egg song”. Just as soon as I got out another raccoon got in there and started to chase the hens. I called for my air rifle again and opened the side hatch. This time it ran out without incident, but this time I made sure there weren’t any more hiding in the overgrowth.
When it was light enough I went to check for an entry point and found where the raccoon pulled the chicken wire from the fencing and crawled under the fence.
In the end, I was left with 5 shaken up hens, and some work to secure them.