Skunk!!!... In Coop!

[midwestmilkmaiden]

Well, went out early this morning to check on the ruckus going on and at first didn't see anything and all chickens were ok.. so went to get the feed for them and when I came back saw a skunk running behind a pallet in the coop to hide from me...

So, there's the reason for the ruckus, but am wondering if it is in there to just eat the feed or if skunks will actually kill chickens. It seems to me to be a baby skunk.

Hoping it will mosey on out of there... and yes, I usually do lock up the coop up at night but forgot last night.

so, skunks.... harmful to chickens or just going to eat the feed.?????

 

[CMV]

Quote:
Both. Opportunists that will eat anything it can get its teeth into.

 

[Kennyog]

Skunks will kill chickens the same as coon,possum,fox.Better not forget to lock the door again.

 

[gsim]

CMV nailed it. They are egg-suckers and will eat chickens too. Lucky for you it is a baby. Good luck getting it out of there without incident. You might try coaxing it out with treats of some sort. May have to shoo chooks out first and secure them somewhere else . And here I thought scraping the poop plank was bad!

Could set a trap but best to get it out of there first and then do trap another day. Have to shoot it then or risk getting stunk up big time!

 

[Plain Old Dee]

Quote:
Oh Man! Have you got that right!

We had one get in our henhouse. Had to make a temporary divider in the chicken run to keep the girls away from the door while we tried to coax the skunk into leaving. Had things well in hand until the dang dog tried to "help." She got the skunk out of the henhouse, but it stunk for a month!

 

[Ibicella]

I guess I'm lucky in that I LIKE skunk smell.

Don't ask me why, I have no idea.

But yeah, skunks'll eat anything, so be sure to lock up!

 

[Wildsky]

We smelled skunk last night, toward dusk - we found funny little footprints in the snow.

I have one chicken on my patio because she was bleeding for no apparent reason, I found blood all over the roost and dripped onto the next box over night, I could not figure out what got her bleeding like that.

We always lock up our coop - I said to my hubby perhaps she got away from the skunk and ran into the coop before we locked up - and going out to lock up we scared off the skunk.

 

[midwestmilkmaiden]

Well..

Just went out myself to check if it had left and discovered DH was wrong.. no skunk.... an Opossum!

So, now all the chix are out of the coop and have opened doors to try and get him to leave..

Then, YES!.. I will be locking up the coop again!

My daughter had an earache last night and fell asleep with her before I had a chance to lock up.. Good mother to daughter.. not so good to my little hens!.. Won't neglect them again!.. although that little opossum is sooo cute!

HEre's to hopin' it gets on its way!

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Ibicella likes skunks smell ??? And here I was thinking I had been hanging around my chickens too long!

 

[gsim]

Quote:
How cute would it be if it was hanging on to your hand for dear life or if it had one of your chooks by the throat?