Squirrels?

[cutechick2010]

Our squirrels pounce on the feed bowl as soon as the chickens wonder off, so, of course, the bowl is empty when they come back. I think that it must be doubling my feed expense. They chewed through a rubber-made box I was storing feed in. They seem to becoming more and more bold, and I worry about possible aggressiveness, but, I can't seem to bring myself to killing any.

Put out less feed, and store it in metal barrels. Once the feed supply is gone, the squirrels will be too. Unless one were to contract rabies or something, which is incredibly rare, I very much doubt you will have to worry about any aggressive behaviors.

 

[cutechick2010]

I have had squirrels since our coop has existed ... we allow our chickens to free range in our yard all day so the door is open primarily for them to use nesting boxes because I rarely see them access inside simply to eat or drink. they have multiple outside sources for water and plenty of natural ranging wild food - compost, pasture, and healthy treats from us.

our dog tries his best to run them off ... but seconds later they are back. last spring/summer - I tried hanging their feed from the ceiling with tip lids on top ... we would still catch them (maybe they got less feed and they expended more energy) . This year I decided to use alternative deterrents I heard of from others: music/radio, pin wheels (movement), hanging stuff on the doors - nothing worked they still came and went as they pleased. I was very frustrated knowing I was loosing a lot of high-quality, high-cost organic commercial feed as well as whole seed.

Subsequently I think I have a much more serious problem ... I have been scratching my head with two new EGG problems. A decline when there shouldn't be ... I tried justifying with the extreme heat but others locally are not having that problem. Additionally when collecting we have been regularly finding eggs broken - cracked where they lay and more or less smashed in the nesting box (unable to tell how much and/or if eaten). When this started we thought it might have been a chicken. But with the shortage & broken eggs ... and now reading that squirrels can/will eat and/or take eggs. I think I found the source of two eggs problems.

Anyone with solutions that don't include me shooting or poisoning OR creating a lock-down prison for my chickens.

Do you have a game cam? If you are seeing smashed eggs, I would still bet on the chickens doing it. A squirrel would be more likely to make a hole and slurp out the insides.