quaasi
Songster
>>previous post for context<<
in short, all thirty of our birds were killed by something that got into our coop, except for one hen who managed to get away unscathed
a small update on that:
the fayoumi is doing great, a coworker hooked us up with some hens and the coop has been completely reinforced, new door, new hinges, new latch and padlock, the floor has been replaced and reinforced, the hatch door that led to their pen has been removed and sealed off with wood screwed over the entrance and soon they will have a temporary, roofed pen encased entirely in hardware cloth, then a new coop will be built in the spring when the ground thaws and their pen will get a complete overhaul with their current temp pen becoming temporary housing for any chicks we buy in the future
but!
in the meantime, the correspondence i’ve had with my roommates dealing with the problem has sounded like a horror movie plot
they’ve tried setting traps, baited with marshmallows, cheetos, liverwurst, chicken hearts, chicken feathers hanging from a string in the back, etc, with no luck, all that’s happened is it’s reached in from the back, pulled all the feathers out, tore them up, then tried to rip up the screwed in wood over the hatch door, failed at that because it’s screwed way in there you horrible little demon, then gave up and got in the trash bins instead
to my roommates it feels like they’re being haunted by something intentionally malicious like..... it’s been almost a month and this thing is still trying to finish the job
it also tore down the chickens old tire swing, like come on, why
at this point we’re pretty sure it’s a raccoon because it reached into the trap and grabbed the feathers and pulled them out and i dunno anything else around here with hands besides us and it
or it’s a cryptid lmao
i don’t know, is this normal raccoon behavior? has anyone else had this issue with a predator just going out of its way to maliciously wreck everything? i know it’s just an animal but it’s kinda scary how aggressively persistent it’s been
also, i cannot stress this enough, i’d love to hear any other baiting strategies, the more options the better i think
i just want them to be able to catch this thing and be done with it, i want to be able to rest easy at night knowing that there isn’t an incredibly dedicated little serial killer after the birds
in short, all thirty of our birds were killed by something that got into our coop, except for one hen who managed to get away unscathed
a small update on that:
the fayoumi is doing great, a coworker hooked us up with some hens and the coop has been completely reinforced, new door, new hinges, new latch and padlock, the floor has been replaced and reinforced, the hatch door that led to their pen has been removed and sealed off with wood screwed over the entrance and soon they will have a temporary, roofed pen encased entirely in hardware cloth, then a new coop will be built in the spring when the ground thaws and their pen will get a complete overhaul with their current temp pen becoming temporary housing for any chicks we buy in the future
but!
in the meantime, the correspondence i’ve had with my roommates dealing with the problem has sounded like a horror movie plot
they’ve tried setting traps, baited with marshmallows, cheetos, liverwurst, chicken hearts, chicken feathers hanging from a string in the back, etc, with no luck, all that’s happened is it’s reached in from the back, pulled all the feathers out, tore them up, then tried to rip up the screwed in wood over the hatch door, failed at that because it’s screwed way in there you horrible little demon, then gave up and got in the trash bins instead
to my roommates it feels like they’re being haunted by something intentionally malicious like..... it’s been almost a month and this thing is still trying to finish the job
it also tore down the chickens old tire swing, like come on, why
at this point we’re pretty sure it’s a raccoon because it reached into the trap and grabbed the feathers and pulled them out and i dunno anything else around here with hands besides us and it
or it’s a cryptid lmao
i don’t know, is this normal raccoon behavior? has anyone else had this issue with a predator just going out of its way to maliciously wreck everything? i know it’s just an animal but it’s kinda scary how aggressively persistent it’s been
also, i cannot stress this enough, i’d love to hear any other baiting strategies, the more options the better i think
i just want them to be able to catch this thing and be done with it, i want to be able to rest easy at night knowing that there isn’t an incredibly dedicated little serial killer after the birds