Starting to really worry about the safety of my birds. :(

[luvmychicknkids]

I posted a couple of day ago that all of my eggs were missing for one day.....which is just strange since I KNOW they didn't all take the same day off. I was concerned that maybe a person had taken the eggs or possibly a large blacksnake I know lives here. Well, following is the story from last night.

I have 5 10 week old La Fleche I just moved into a small little home I have on my back deck. It said on the box it is a "chicken hutch". Anyway, the back has a small door held on by a screw and a wing nut. This door slides/rotates open to collect eggs. Woke up this morning with a REALLY bad feeling about the babies and rushed out to check. That door was completely off and there was just an open hole in the back of their house. They were visibly terrified and huddled together on the opposite end of the house from that hole. Thankfully all 5 were there and unharmed but now I am worried about how it came off. The wing nut had been removed and the screw taken out. The door was just lying on the deck beside the house. My husband thinks we might have a neighbor not too fond of our chickens. I just don't know but I am worried sick!!!

 

[byrandom]

Or a raccoon!

 

[sharp_shepherd]

Either way (neighbor or coon) get a shotgun and be ready.

 

[HennysMom]

Gosh, thats horrible to feel unsafe in your own home. I'm so sorry.

It could be a racoon - they're pretty nimble at opening things and unscrewing things - but....could be a person too.

Can you padlock it at all? If it were me, I'd padlock it and see how it goes from there. Also, if you have a video camera that has nightvision, you can set it up to face towards the coop before you go to bed and see what you catch.

to you hun...

 

[wegotchickens]

Or by an inexpensive motion-sensitive light that will come on if anything goes near the coop?

 

[mrsgibber]

Wow, can you stay up a little later tonight for some recon?

 

[mrsgibber]

Quote:
We purchased a solar one that sits above our coop and run. Works great and was about $30.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Thanks for all the replies.

Well, I am an insomniac and didn't go to bed until about 3 AM. So, it happened between then and 6 AM when I got up. A motion sensor light is something I REALLY think I need and a camera would be really great. I want to know what is happening.

I did think of raccoon but there were no claw marks of any kind on the wood and I kinda thought there would be?

One thing I didn't mention (it is totally NOT chicken related) a couple of years ago I had a litter of stray puppies on my deck. I had enclosed it where they couldn't get off unless I let them. I was at my Mother's house for Thanksgiving and someone poisoned them. Well, the vet thinks they fed them broken glass but we didn't have them autopsied. Whatever they used, they came into my yard, walked up to my deck, and gave something to the puppies that killed them. It was horrible.

Another of my neighbors had four of her dogs poisoned or shot very recently.

My gun of choice is my 9MM.

It is always handy but I would be hard pressed to use it against an animal unless I felt very threatened or thought it might be rabid.....I would just take extra security precautions for the chickens because I know I can make their enclosure secure against animal type predators. It is here mainly for the horrible possibility of a human breaking into the house.

 

[Bluemoon420]

I've seen raccoons open what we would consider a complicated lock. They will keep coming back until they figure it out too. We used to keep an old radio inside whatever we wanted them to stay away from. It worked most of the time.
They were also scared of my german shepards. I would periodically take my males out on a leash and let them "mark" it. That always worked well.

Another method, as crazy as this sounds.... My DH would also "mark" whatever we wanted them to stay out of. That also worked well.

Could also try hooking up a web camera or something similar, and see what you find.

May not be raccoons, but that would be my first guess.


Bluemoon

 

[LynneP]

Would it be possible to bring those chicks into a porch or other sheltered place until they're older? I think you are very right to be concerned, whether you are suffering a predator problem or a human visitor. Are there any individuals nearby known to act strangely? Have you discussed with neighbors? I'd be locking my coop, too. It's always a concern to keep animals especially when it's livestock and they're far from the house. With cams being far cheaper than in the past, same with security lights, please try to make your property a discouraging place to be.

A call to the local police for information on known trespass, B&E and vandalism incidents might alert you to anything currently happening and the patrols may make some sweeps for you.