Squirrels gone bad.... Some graphic details

[chick rookie]

I seen a few discussions on squirrels already but none of them seem to fit my situation they're different kind of squirrels I guess I don't have squirrels that come up out of the ground and whatnot I don't know what else to but anyway hopefully this thread don't get booted I'm sorry if I'm going against anything.
I live in town so I can't have roosters, I have often found roosters are great predator deterrence depending on the predator of course LOL anyway I've always had a couple of squirrels that just hung around the house never been an issue they like to tease my dogs so on and so forth but now that I have my chickens and my coop up, the feed and all that I've got like 20 squirrels out here. I go out every morning and chase them off and sit there long enough to let my chickens eat their fill for the morning before I leave, ,because as soon as I walk out of the coop here come more squirrels and they chase my chickens out they've got my chicken so stressed they're not laying eggs anymore, they don't go into Coop during the day they sit outside. I went in and chased a bunch of them off one time and the squirrels one of the squirrel attacked me it chased me all the way back to the house.
I have since started taking my Australian Shepherd in with whenever I have to go into the run or when house, they don't like him coming with, they scatter.
I put netting all the way over the top of my run clean to the house, and around my outdoor weather station as I call it basically all it is is a carport with a tarp over the top so that they can get in out of the rain and such and still eat dry food without having to go in the coop during the day.
Well the scrolls chewed fist size hoes in that.
And before they did that I don't know how they was getting in there even with that netting through there I can't find any holes where they've chewed the hole in the netting I just I just don't get it they're costing me a lot of money I'm not getting any eggs and my poor girls are stressed BB gun well I'm not that great of a aim. I tried trapping I ended up getting chickens... So that's out.
Any ideas or suggestions would be awesome and greatly appreciated I got to figure out something to do about these squirrels.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Have you tried statues of birds of prey? Eagle, hawk, or Owl?

 

[Geena]

Once grey squirrels have access to chicken feed they will steal as much as they possibly can and then multiply like crazy. Luckily it's extremely easy to trap them in a hav-a-hart. Smear some peanut butter on the trip plate, top that with sunflower seeds and wait a half hour or so. Dispatch with a good pellet gun and reset the trap, rinse and repeat until you get them back down to a manageable more natural number.

 

[chick rookie]

One of my legbar mixes.... Who loves sitting on my arm.

Sorry this was not supposed to be here and I don't know how to get rid of it so we'll just skip that... Lol

Have you tried statues of birds of prey? Eagle, hawk, or Owl?

No I haven't I just kind of figured the squirrels would get used to it being there and here they come again LOL but I will try it I think they have solar ones that move their head or something maybe the ice flash I can't remember I'll try getting something like that. Thanks for reminding me they have those.

Once grey squirrels have access to chicken feed they will steal as much as they possibly can and then multiply like crazy. Luckily it's extremely easy to trap them in a hav-a-hart. Smear some peanut butter on the trip plate, top that with sunflower seeds and wait a half hour or so. Dispatch with a good pellet gun and reset the trap, rinse and repeat until you get them back down to a manageable more natural number.

I have tried trapping, always got a chicken... The are nosey little butts.... I guess I could try a trap on the outside of run, but don't think they would choose that over the grain in the run. ..
But maybe with a bird of prey it will make the choice easier... Lol
I think I'm going to try both ideas. I never had to deal with this on the farm. These city squirrels are brave.....
Thanks.

 

[townchicks]

Your best bet is to build a fully inclosed run, with hardware cloth. If you like to let your chickens loose in your yard, leave them in the run for a few hours in the am, then put away the food and let them out. Call them into the run in the evening, about an hour at least before sunset, and put the food out so they can fill their crops before bed.

 

[NatJ]

I have tried trapping, always got a chicken...

Can you put out traps at night?

I guess I could try a trap on the outside of run, but don't think they would choose that over the grain in the run. ..

If they've been eating grain, they might like a change, and many animals are quite attracted to peanut butter.

 

[chick rookie]

Can you put out traps at night?


If they've been eating grain, they might like a change, and many animals are quite attracted to peanut butter.

Didn't know squirrels came out at night? Is that a city squirrel thing? If so that would work so much easier.
I'm going to try the peanut butter.

 

[Geena]

I think NatJ means so that it will be there first thing in the morning before you let the chickens out. I just put the trap right outside and along the fence. It works best if you feed the chickens in the morning, then take the feed away while you are trapping, and put it back when you are done. I easily caught 2 or 3 in a couple of hours a day and haven't had a problem ever since, but I think the redtails are helping me out some too now

Don't forget the sunflower seeds, squirrels LOVE them, the peanut butter is just to glue them to the plate.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

Squirrels HATE chili powder, jalapeño powder and the like. We had a horrid squirrel invasion into the run ( which is essentially a large fenced free range area). We don’t like to kill anything. I looked online to see what squirrels wont eat! Chickens are NOT bothered by the chili powder. For a tester, Mix enough in their dry food to turn it a little pink and watch what happens. You may need to experiment with the amount. The powder isn’t cheap. We buy it at an Eastern Indian grocery in bulk for best price.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

Rats don’t mind ‘hot mouth’, though. We’re having a tough time discouraging them.