Skunk! (Update)

[columbiacritter]

This morning I was watching a hen I suspected of having a hidden nest. She came out of a berry tangle about 8 ft behind the coop so I picked up a stick to move the berry vines and there were 4 eggs with a little skunk curled up right next them! Talk about breakfast in bed!

Well he can have those eggs, I'm not that needy or greedy.

My question is how much of a problem are skunks if I don't have peeps for themto nab and my girls are in a secure run when I'm not around? Obviously since one sat down and paid an egg right next to this one my hens haven't been frightened by them in the past.


Well when I went out this evening the skunk was gone and the eggs were still there. Strangely strange. I spent a while with my weed whacker opening up the berry tangle so it's not an appealing nap or nest spot anymore. We'll see if the skunk comes back. I'm not real worried, my run is fort knox with hardware cloth buried 2 ft down all the way around and the girls are all locked in a tight strong coop at night.

 

[MissJenny]

I have a soft spot for skunks, so my answer is coming from that direction. Skunks are scavengers -- they will eat carcasses that they find, but are not likely to kill anything. They are not fast and they do not see well. So your hens are safe. (I am not saying they won't kill a chick, but it is not their preference.)

Skunks are egg-eaters, so your little skunk curled up in the wild nest is definitely planning breakfast in bed.

There are those who will pass along the myth that skunks are heavy carriers of rabies. My information is that deer are more likely to be infected with rabies than skunks. Here's my thinking, I'd rather have a family of skunks nearby than a family of raccoons.

If you can snap a photo of this little guy I'd love to see it.

Jenny

 

[Emzyyy]

PHOTOS!

I agree with her^^^. If they can't get to your eggs its fine.

 

[chicken_boy]

skunks will eat chickens chicks eggs turkeys any fowl at all and should be killed just don"t get sprayed!!!

 

[columbiacritter]

Quote:
We're not the kind who kill an animal because is has the potential of doing damage, especially a native critter. If it was some introduced pest like a nutria or opossum I'd be all for blowing it away, but it's not so I won't.

Now if it was a coon that close to my coop then it'd be another story.

I will probably throw an old sock with so moth balls down into that spot later on to make that an unpleasant nest area. I've found if I put the mothballs in a sock it works as a stinky deterrent without th echickens getting to them and getting sick.

Sorry, he's pretty deeply buried in the berry tangle and I don't want to risk getting sprayed to get a pic.

 

[jhm47]

It's just a matter of time till the skunk gets around to killing your birds.

And---It's no myth that skunks carry rabies. They are notorious for it. Nearly 100% of them in this area are infected. Every veterinarian I have talked to in the past 25 years says the same thing, and now the virus has mutated to infect coons in the same way as skunks. It is a chronic form of rabies that doesn't kill immediately, but the animal can pass along the virus to others.

 

[abChicken]

Skunks will kill your chickens they are in the weasel family, They kill and eat chickens. I lost two silkie hens last week to one.

 

[columbiacritter]

Quote:
Ok, I just spent about 20 minutes studying my states Health departments rabies study site. In the last 10 years there has not been a reported case of rabies in my LARGE rural county. In that ten years through out the state there was 107 rabies positive animals, 105 were bats 2 were fox. Going back in 1960 there have been 2 rabid skunks, 4 rabid cats, 2 rabid dogs, many foxes, a frightening number of bats and not a single rabid raccoon.

If you are really worried about rabies I suggest you go to the right source before shooting an animal.

 

[nnbreeder]

As long as it doesn't feel threatened it won't spray. From what I have read they can only spray about once every thirty days so they use it as a last resort.

Here are some skunk pics that I have taken. They are of the same skunk and he has been around here since he was a baby. Getting close to three years old. At night he grubs and digs out mice around and under my pens and on more then one ocassion he has sent stray dogs home smelling funny.

I had to fix some pipes in the well house one day. I was three feet from him all afternoon.



He got into my live trap, had to let him out.




As with all my pics, just click to enlarge.

And no I have never had him take a bird or chick but he will go after eggs as long as they are in the open. If a broody gets after him he will run away and hide for awhile.

 

[jhm47]

Believe whatever you want. It certainly could be possible that rabies is not rampant in the skunks in your respective areas. If so, good for you. That is not the case for me, and I will continue my extermination efforts. Good luck!