Skunk vs. Asil

[varidgerunner]

Skunk burrowed under the horizontal apron screens extending for two feet around one of my portable pens. I was alerted by the dogs, (being hounds, they were kenneled) went out and couldn't find anything, but I could smell him. Heard a squawk and heard a chicken handing out blows. When I looked in the pen I saw an asil hen in the center assuming a ready stance and a skunk that had obviously sprayed trying to figure out how to get out. One of her young, a pullet was up in the top of the pen and her young stag was down with his mom. I rescued the skunk from his predicament, (he won't be returning) and put everyone back on the roost pole. I guess that skunk picked the wrong pen of chickens to tunnel into. That hen probably won't weigh over 4 1/2 pounds, but she thinks she is a lot bigger. There are stories of asil killing cobras, we don't have any of those, but I might have to call her line the "skunk" line now.

 

[centrarchid]

Mine will take on a skunk during the day and do well. After dark tables turned entirely in the skunk's favor. Skunks around here most active at night and usually encountered by dogs some distance from pens. Electrified poultry netting also appears to keep the at bay which is important when skunks come from direction covering little ground the dogs can patrol. With my ground nesting hens I have a combination of the netting and dogs,

 

[varidgerunner]

I'm sure if it hadn't been moonlit she wouldn't have fared as well. She could see good enough to tee off on his little noggin. I usually don't have too much problem with things like that, they very seldom make it past the boar hog, the mule of death or the crazy guy with the shotgun that walks out with a light every time the dogs bark.

 

[centrarchid]

Mine have a crazy guy as backup as well. I average 3X a night checking everything. Dogs provide most but not reasons to check. Bad case of sheepherder mentality.

 

[varidgerunner]

My dogs are more of the heritage style livestock guardians, which means they have to stay kenneled until the situation arises that they need to be unloosed, and then you need to go either take a post at a crossing or find out where they treed or bayed up. Kind of long range guardians. But they keep a very watchful eye or nose, and I can trust some to not be barking unless something is around.

 

[centrarchid]

I have employed the heritage style approach and moving back to it. We used to have a lot of kenneled black and tan coon hounds with a couple older dogs always out and about for in close guarding. Huntiing pressure with kenneled dogs was high enough predators other than owls seldom came into cockyard or barnyard. Occasionally the free-range older dogs would tree a couple hundred yards from house which resulted in a short hunt for kids and pups under controlled conditions. Recently I have employed free-range German Pointers which shut the bad guys down so long as two dogs operated. Two required for coyotes and sneaky foxes. Raccoons and oppossums where effectively eliminated. Owing to loss of male pointer I am moving to English Shepherds which tree and varmint kill according to accounts and potential is showing well in current young male. You will have hard time going more heritage than to use English Shepherds in the US. Eventually a trio will operate, two English Shepherds and one pointer. Shepherds stay with stock while pointer stays back near house providing communication link for me and backup to shepherds when a nutcase is needed to take on problem. The pointers very much have the give it all you got attitude even when foe fights back. They do not bluff even when bluffing might be more effective.

 

[varidgerunner]

I'm pretty steeped in heritage, canine wise, I can call on Virginia's state dog or North Carolina's and take care of vermin the way our forefathers did. Fortunate to live in a place that I can get away with it. From fox to bear, if it want's a free meal it better be prepared to run. Most animals around here know better than to go anywhere near a barking dog.

 

[centrarchid]

Dogs not as employable here as they could be. Too many non-trained dogs running about that cause more trouble with stock than they should. The dogs are purely pets or used as house guards but mostly for just biting kids and mailman.

 

[dekel18042]

Skunk burrowed under the horizontal apron screens extending for two feet around one of my portable pens.

Will skunks burrow? Sorry to be changing the subject, but something has been burrowing into our runs (Can't get into the coops.) My husband thought rats and set a trap baited with peanut butter which was sprung one night but hasn't been touched since. We do have bricking around under the fencing in the pens but it has been going under that. He thinks whatever it is is more interested in the spilled chicken food (We have the feeders in the covered runs but take them in at night so food isn't left out.) than in the chickens. We see nothing during the day and I haven't smelled any skunks. If we go out at night with the dogs we see nothing. Any ideas?

 

[varidgerunner]

Skunks are great at tunneling and they can fit through a much smaller hole than you think they would. Baseball diameter hole is free passage for the biggest skunk. Golf ball sized holes would be more indicative of rats. Sometimes voles will dig garden hose sized holes, depending on where you live their are gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks and similar rodents that will dig small tunnels near a grain food source