Skunk! Can chickens get rabies?

[Don31215]

For the past month something has been getting in our coop getting eggs. We tried everything to secure the coop but it kept getting in. Last week, it went after one of my chickens. She survived but its missing lots of feathers and has a bald neck.

We finally caught it in a trap and animal control came and picked it up today. Hopefully my chickens won't have anymore visits from preds.

I know skunks can carry rabies. Can a chicken get rabies if bit by an infected skunk?

I slept in my coop to find out what was killing my chicks. Thought it was a weasel. Nope I woke up to the chickens alarm and to my surprise a skunk… well. Cant shoot that at 2’ away so I hit the head lamp and watching it exit to the outside run, I was expecting it to climb my 10’ fence (2”x4”) live stock fence. Nope it went through a 2” wide gap… what. So i overlapped fence to 1” and have live traps set. Now its a waiting game. From my research they will not stop once they have sampled the spoils.

so fix any small holes as they can fit through anything their head will pass threw. Good luck.

 

[GCrumb]

Hm. Birds can get rabies. But apart from one report of a rabid chicken in India, it hasn't happened except when people experimentally infect birds with rabies. The theory is that birds seldom survive the bite that would give them the infection. Also, since they produce so very little saliva, they're not good at transmitting rabies.

Hopefully you'll get word back soon about the skunk's status.

 

[Penpal]

The presence of a dog will deter many predators. I'd let the dog out and see if that works. The skunks don't know he won't hurt a flea.