Something got my roo! I am just amazed. UPDATE-I GOT IT!! PG 9-GRAPHIC

[dixygirl]

ooh that is scary! I heard some nasty racoons growling in the woods last night when I went out to put everyone inside their wooden coops for the night. A new chick was missing. Fortunately when I went out this morning she was in the pen sitting on top of her dog house coop. I don't leave them outside loose in a wire pen at night. They need some sort of wooden box /dog house with perches and a door to securely close at night. I would put the wooden house inside your pen or attached to it to close them in at night. That would be really good.

I only have 2 chickens now. So i took a wooden dog house and put a perch in the top and hinged a door on the front. I wrapped 4 foot high welded wire fence around it in a circle about 20 feet wide so they could run around inside during the day. Then I got some deer netting and stitched it together to make it wider and pulled that across the top and tied it to the fence with wire around the edges. Thats the roof. A post in the ground in the middle makes it taller in there. If you want to keep them in a little run, I would at least nail together a tiny box to put in there for them to huddle in at night. Otherwise the same thing will happen again with all those raccoons you have around there.

They really need something more than just a cage in that situation.Or I think in all situations.
Good luck.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I'm so sorry the coons killed more of your chickens.

Mrs. Glassman :

with glee & malice

I'm going to have to remember that! That is a usable quote! Man, I'm feeling sorry (NOT) for the coons now!

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

I have been working all morning, and I'm still not done. I feel the blisters forming on my fingers.

dixygirl: The pen you are looking at is the same on all 6 sides. I think it used to be a small dog or rabbit pen. Even the bottom is wire. They aren't flipping it over, they are simply reaching through with their tiny Satan-hands.

Brindlebtch: Glad you like my phrase....PETA would weep as a collective whole, if they had any idea what I have in mind for these dratting coons.

Ok, break is over. Getting back to work.

 

[onthespot]

Go GET 'em!!!

 

[SC_Hugh]

Mrs. G,

Sorry for your loss.

Amazing that 1"x2" is large enough for Satan-like predators to reach in and pull out a bird. The Raccoons probably did it as a team effort and that is why there were so many chickens taken.

Raccoons like (wet or dry) cat or dog food.

Good luck,

Hugh

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

Well Guys,
I was hoping to come to you with pics of my own murder & mayhem. I failed.

After much work re-enforcing my pens, I got set up for nightfall. A comfy chair, a bit of light shinning on the crime scene, and a direct line of sight to the cages that seemed to be the most favored by my nighttime visitor.

After a brief nap on the couch under the air conditioner, I left to sit outside with my crossbow. I positioned myself between my rabbit pens & my large chicken coop. I was sure this was the ticket.

At 11:40 an opossum appeared. This dang thing was as large as a cinder block. I thought, "Man, I was wrong! It was this stinking thing the whole time!"
I raised my bow, ready to run the offender through. It slinked here, it slinked there, so quiet, so softly, always in the shadows & lucky for him...just behind a bit of brush. I couldn't get a clear shooting lane. It disappeared behind one of the recently struck pens, out of sight.

I waited, I watched, at the ready for it to emerge. The chickens seemed calm. They didn't seem to mind a bit except for a small cluck now & then. I watched them hoping I could gather a clue to the where-abouts of the monster by which direction seemed to interest them the most.

Then at 12:30 movement to my left caught my eye. I turned my head so very slowly, trying to adjust my eyes to the new darkness. A raccoon had rounded my rabbit pen and was headed straight for me, stopping only briefly to take in the scents of things around him. He seemed enormous. My bow is positioned in front of me! I'm not ready for a side attack! I watched with my heart beating in my ears..."How do I sling this bow around and take aim?? What do I do now??"
Softly & lightly, I crept my bow to the left. The raccoon was now only about eight feet from me, and closing in. I desperately wanted to shoulder the bow, but there was no way. Six feet away now, sniffing the ground. I tried my best to calculate a position from the hip, it was coming closer. Five feet now. There is no way to shoulder the bow, and it's coming closer! "Why did I not bring my knife??" I cross both fingers in my head & I FIRE. The bow snaps, the raccoon flinches, the bolt hits the dirt and the coon takes off like a scalded dog. I drop the bow in the softness of the compost pile and snatch up the flashlight and take chase. He's gone. I send a quick text to DH, and begin scouting out the tree tops, hoping he's taken refuge nearby. Smart coon, he didn't. He was outta there!
DH appears with a cold beer & a quick condolence.

An inspection of the area where the bolt hit, showed only a few hairs that I managed to knock off the wretched creature. I was so close.

It's not over, Coon. Not by a long shot. Until you are no more than a tanned hide, proudly displayed over my chair, I will not stop. You & I...we have a matter to resolve.

 

[AHappychick]

well there is always tomorrow night

you will get em. that I am sure of

good luck

 

[laughingllama75]

RATS! foiled again......

Well, better luck tonight. and bring a gun....you can shoot from the hip. Been there, done that. this week has been war with me and the skunks. Skunks, 0. Me, 5.

 

[halo]

Wow, a cross-bow totin' woman..

That raccoon need to be afwaid.....vewy vewy afwaid.....

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

Try living next door to a wildlife animal refuge. There is a lady in the next town who is a 'coon' sympathiser and rescues baby coons. When they get big guess where she brings them?

The animal refuge realeases them into the 'wild'. Guess where they come?

Coons do stay together in family packs. We have killed as many as 10 that were running together in a 2 night span.

I can't count how many chickens I have lost to them. Granted my own dogs (who are on chains) have had their share of suicidal KFC on the hoof. I know they will kill a chicken in a heartbeat, but until I can build a larger pen, my main flock free ranges during the day.

My current coon deterant is my German Shepherd, chained next to the chicken coop. He can't reach the wire but just him being there seams to keep the coons away from the coop at night.

I also have a friend at work who is quite interested in these coons (for dinner) and is busy building traps to bring out to catch them.