Silkie gone. Nothing but feathers :( More raccoons, more deaths.

[Sunny Side Up]

That is a nice-looking pen, do you mind telling us how much it cost? Less than the $300 the wood & wire would have cost? It will be worth it in the long run, it will do a great job of keeping your feathered friends safe and give you great peace of mind.

I agree that you should also wrap the bottom with hardware cloth. Secure the gate with a good latch or lock that raccoons cannot open. You could make the roosts in the center so nothing could reach in to where they're sleeping, or construct a smaller house where they could be contained. You could set the roosts or container up on sawhorses in the center of the pen. Or there must be lots of photos, ideas & advice on the coop construction forum.

I don't know if a hawk would attempt to snatch a chihuahua. They soar overhead around my place, and often perch in nearby trees watching my flock like...well, like hawks. I may be wrong, but my personal theory is that they're looking for the easiest prey to catch, the weak or lame, the unwary, the very young. My chickens have a bird-word they say when anything flies overhead, and they use a very bad bird-word when the thing flying overhead is a hawk. The roosters start the alarm and the rest of them repeat it. They all run under the nearby bushes, patio furniture, & other shelters. With all that noise & advanced notice, I don't know how a hawk could make a catch unless the bird was really really slow. I put up the shiny moving things to further distract the hawks, hoping if ever they were to swoop down into the pens they'd be discouraged by the bright reflections shining in their eyes.

That's just my theories based on what I've observed, but there should be other info about hawks on this forum.

I wish you success with your new coop, show us photos when it's finished!

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Let me put all doubt about hawks and Chihuahua's to rest. YES hawks will grab and kill and eat Chihuahua's. I have 3 and I socialize Chihuahua's for a breeder and I have heard more horror stories about this happening then you can imagine.



Great job Boyd, glad you got that coon before it went too far. As far as I am concerned relocation is not an option.


You have a right to a different opinion but if you want to argue with me about it then post your full name and address and the next time I catch a coon I will be sure and bring him to your place to relocate. You shouldn't have a problem with that as your all for relocation so I will just make my problem yours.


Sorry about your hen we all live and learn. Thanks for sharing and glad ya caught him/her. One other note here keep your trap set because most of the time where there is one there is more.

 

[phoenixbantam]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I am definately going to have to run smaller wire around the base, had an incident last night

Came home late and couldn't find one of my polish hens, they were all roosting but her. Went back out with a flashlight and then found her hiding in one of the nesting boxes I made that they never use. Went back out there this morning and she was gone, feathers outside the cage. I have no idea what she was doing on the ground so close to the door at night when everyone else was roosting, she had been acting so strange lately. She also had a bad eye and can't see on one side so that may have been part of it, her whole face was covered with weird warts including one of her eyes, no idea what thats from. I never noticed all the warts when I bought her because of her crest covering her face.

I don't know if this makes a difference but last night and several nights prior I have been bringing the silkie roosters inside because they have been crowing at 4:00 am and I hate to bother the neighbors. Now I am wondering if they were crowing at such an hour because of a raccoon or something?

The weird thing is the havahart has been untouched, I set it a few days ago with a dead chick

My chicks have been mysteriously dying but I'll save that for another thread.

So I guess I am going to have to run wire around the whole thing like you guys suggested. How does the hot wire work? How do you keep the chickens from touching it? Does it use a lot of electricity?

I put a bunch of those big plastic doghouses stacked on top of each other and filled with hay for nesting boxes, but they don't seem to like them, so I am going to have to build them something I guess. They also haven't laid a single egg since I got them 2 weeks ago, I should probably research nesting boxes.

I also had a perch running at an angle through the kennel corner but now I am thinking of building one in the center so nothing can grab them while they sleep. My chicks are in one corner in a metal dog kennel wrapped with hardware cloth and nothing got them thankfully, we meant to build a small chick coop/run but we haven't had the time yet.

Sunny_Side_up, the pen was about $380 after the coupon, and the wooden pen was going to cost over $300 for 10x10 with a wire roof, floor, and walls, and since I rent and not own we decided it would be best to pay extra for the kennel because it is panels and can be disassembled in about 20 minutes when I move. I actually might be moving from Loxahatchee, having some landlord issues

He doesn't like the chickens or the dogs even thought I told him I had them before I signed the lease. If you know of any houses around here for rent please let me know

There was a house on 10 acres for the same price but when I called it was already rented. ::cries::

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm so sorry for your continued troubles! There are a variety of factors that contribute to predator attraction, your job is to continue to identify & eliminate those attractive factors & while increasing your security measures. Having your roost in the center of the pen will help, or making a secure enclosed house insie the pen for them to sleep in.

The bumps/warts on your hen's face might be fowl pox, which they get from mosquitoes, which we have in abundance here in the swamp. Your hen might have been weakened from it, which might have made her less wary & more attractive to a passing predator.

Keep your trap baited & set each night, and change the location & the bait if you're still losing birds but not catching critters.

And I'm sorry for your landlord troubles. Good tenents are hard to find, I'd think your landlord would want to keep someone who is considerate & conscientious, no matter how many animals were being kept in the yard. I hope you can either work things out with him or find another better place soon.

 

[AHappychick]

i am sorry for your second loss. you will need to put harware cloth 1/2 inch will do the botom 3 feet (and the hot wire if you really want to be safe at the bottom about 12 inches up and then again at about 25 inches. You could probably get away with one or the other but if I was to choose one it would be the harware cloth. also extend it outwards cause one day something will dig under otherwise and once they are in it is full devestation.

as far as the perching or being close to the sides I believe that the coons often work in teams while one frightens the chooks the other reaches in and grabs. Some how they are able to scare the chooks enough to wake up and run around, at least that has been what I have seen.

It certainly cant hurt to keep perches and things like that away from the sides though.

Good luck.

 

[Q9]

Quote:
OMG too funny I would have laughed so hard to see their faces. and no there is no humor in the system they would not have found it funny but I would have!!!

Good for you for catching it phoenixbantam I conduct trials for just about everything, my late husband started it you should see all the methods we came up with for the roaches in our first apartment lol (there were not many but the ones that tresspassed were sentenced with out mercy. he would be in the bathroom and I would be in the living room and hear him with the first part and come running in to chime in as the jury

It goes something like this and is best when there are 2 people but you can always act like you have a split personality as I do now that dh is gone.

" Racoon you have been charged with the unlawful act of tresspassing and murder. On all acts I find you guilty and ask the jury for your sentence, what say you jury? "

" DEATH BY ________ !" (drowning, fire, sqishing, fire range what ever you like depending on creature of course)


"the jury has spoken"

I too conduct "trials" for insects; I catch flies and the trial goes something like this:

"Okay... do I want to kill you by flushing, squishing, throwing onto a lightbulb, or feeding to my ants?"

Pheonixbantam, really sorry about your loss. Death penalty!

 

[b.hromada]

Quote:
Yeah, letting it out somewhere, could that be an option?

 

[AHappychick]

b.hromada :

Quote:
Yeah, letting it out somewhere, could that be an option?

no its not, often illegal, and you then put a smart nasty coon in some one elses area, oh and they will travel back up to 50 miles.​

 

[phoenixbantam]

ahhhhh I am starting to want to give up on raising chickens.

i found the decomposing body of my polish hen. somehow whatever got her, got her out of the cage IN ONE PIECE. impossible. I don't get it. the spacing of the bars is not big enough for a full grown chicken to be pulled through. I am bewildered. i had assumed it had pulled her out piece by piece.

I wrapped the bottom 2 or so feet of the kennel in chicken wire. I woke up this morning and my favorite super tame gold laced polish chick has been ripped to shreds.

Whatever got her ripped the chickenwire apart and reached through 2 sets of metal bars to get to the chicks. It didnt even touch the baited havahart trap several feet away. I thought the chicks would be fine because they slept in a box away from the walls of the kennel. i cant believe it.

I am really frustrated. I lost my favorite silkie and my favorite special little polish chick that I had been raising for over a month now. I feel like crying. This raccoon is smarter than the last one. why do they keep seeking out my favorite chickens? ughhhhhh. i feel like giving up. i am no good at this.

R.I.P.

 

[jjthink]

Misty/Phoenix - I am so sad about the horror your birds are going through, again and again.

I know it's distressing, and that that is really an understatement (I'm pretty heartbroken just reading about it), and I know you truly want the birds to be safe, but folks here keep giving of their time to warn you of what needs to be done to pred proof. Hardware cloth, not chicken wire. Preds rip chicken wire apart very easily, as you sadly saw this morning (it might be an okay daytime thing in some cases, depending upon the preds in an area, but for nighttime, no way). The pred will be back to score yet again and there will be more grizzly ripping apart deaths.

Please take every last remaining bird inside to safety until this situation is rectified.

You are being very polite and welcoming of advice, so I hate to be this frank, but if it saves you further heartache, and saves the rest of your birds, I hope you'll forgive me.
JJ