- Jun 9, 2011
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So we had a few losses last night. Our first unexplained losses actually.
First, an almost 6 week old white leghorn pullet.
Second, two of our five, 3 week old ducklings are missing.
Now we found the pullet she was half eaten just outside the barn door. But we havent seen the ducklings. So they may be hiding in the treeline or maybe dead. Our older birds sleep in the rafters of the barn at night and the little guys get locked up.
Now on to the Raccoon, this guy has decided to take up residence on our property somewhere. We see him at night in the barn about once a week but I know that he is in their everynight because the lid of one of our feed bins is always unhooked. And during the day its not uncommon to see him sleeping under the bushes with the chickens and ducks. He has been around for 6 months but hasnt killed anything or stollen any eggs. In fact he likes to sleep with our free range chickens and chicks and even lets them preene him. We have tried to get rid of him to no success. We have a trap in the barn that he just steals the food out of somehow but never gets trapped even though the door is snapped. We cant put poison down because of the other animals we have. He only runs when we try to catch him. So I dont know if it was actually him who did the killing or if an owl or other raccoon visited. Until this point we joked that he was becoming another of our pets, but if it was him that did the killing we may need to shoot him.
Anyways just venting cause its frustrating and I hate the thought of killing a raccoon who may not have done anything wrong.
First, an almost 6 week old white leghorn pullet.
Second, two of our five, 3 week old ducklings are missing.
Now we found the pullet she was half eaten just outside the barn door. But we havent seen the ducklings. So they may be hiding in the treeline or maybe dead. Our older birds sleep in the rafters of the barn at night and the little guys get locked up.
Now on to the Raccoon, this guy has decided to take up residence on our property somewhere. We see him at night in the barn about once a week but I know that he is in their everynight because the lid of one of our feed bins is always unhooked. And during the day its not uncommon to see him sleeping under the bushes with the chickens and ducks. He has been around for 6 months but hasnt killed anything or stollen any eggs. In fact he likes to sleep with our free range chickens and chicks and even lets them preene him. We have tried to get rid of him to no success. We have a trap in the barn that he just steals the food out of somehow but never gets trapped even though the door is snapped. We cant put poison down because of the other animals we have. He only runs when we try to catch him. So I dont know if it was actually him who did the killing or if an owl or other raccoon visited. Until this point we joked that he was becoming another of our pets, but if it was him that did the killing we may need to shoot him.
Anyways just venting cause its frustrating and I hate the thought of killing a raccoon who may not have done anything wrong.