Skunk in the henhouse...

[gsim]

Jossanne. I loved your post. Am still laughing at the idea of a man grabbing a skunk by the tail (business end no less!). I think I would have taken the chooks to the garage for the night and hoped the skunk would leave in the AM. Guess you know that your coop and run need an overhaul????? Will the world miss one skunk? He was in your domain, and you were not hunting for him in his. Sleep well and fix that coop.

 

[jossanne]

The coop and run are fine, when they're closed. But they're open during daylight hours... and I want to keep it that way. I love having my birds free-ranging.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Then always be prepared for unwanted visitors whether skunk, weasel, snake, dog, etc, etc. Ditto for large scale mouse invasion. I forgot to mention starlings. Since it has to be that way, you will no doubt want to develop a plan for each and every type of invader that could drop in, uninvited. Of all I read about in this forum, the two people who had starling invasions were by far the worst.

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
Then always be prepared for unwanted visitors whether skunk, weasel, snake, dog, etc, etc. Ditto for large scale mouse invasion. I forgot to mention starlings. Since it has to be that way, you will no doubt want to develop a plan for each and every type of invader that could drop in, uninvited. Of all I read about in this forum, the two people who had starling invasions were by far the worst.

Luckily we're in desert country, and there aren't starlings here. We've never had a problem with wild birds around our chickens, except a roadrunner or two. In 5 years of free range chickens, this is the first time we've had problems with skunks. I know we've lost a few (4-5) birds to coyotes, but have never had a regular problem with them. We've had neighbor dogs in the past, but that was in a different house, and there aren't loose dogs around here currently. Thank goodness, because they're the worst nuisance!