Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[real_redhead]

I was just browsing this forum when my hubby left for work and he asked if the chickens were locked up for the night! of course YES. After a dog attack several months ago we built a coop/run that is better than the zoo (we were at the zoo today and I was surprised at some of the exhibits thinking my coop is more secure, I digress...) A few min. after hubby left the phone rang and it was him telling me he saw a opossum running across the street a block over (we live in the city) so out I go and I just set the trap with some cat food! Gotta get all those critters that like a chicken dinner!

 

[DianaMallory]

This my 3rd attempt at this. The first 2 times I lost my flocks to predators from my own ignorance! Before computers my 1st flock were free range. They roosted on top of my dogs box. When they started laying eggs I built a coop and penned them up and used chicken wire to keep them in and didn't think about having to protect them from anything getting in! They were better protected when they were with the dog! One night all gone! My second flock I did the same thing only this time they didn't even get old enough to lay eggs. Used chicken wire to pen them in a quantum hut and something dug under the hut and massacred the entire flock. This time I wouldn't let them go out of the house and into the coop until I felt it was safe enough.
Educated from reading on the computer this site and some others too, I used 1/2 inch hardware cloth, and buried it 6 inches in the ground all around the pen and I lock the girls in the coop every night! I have a motion light aimed at the coop and pen. I am thinking about putting an electric fence up too! Call it over protective if you want but I never want to go through what I have in the past! And a big help to me have been my neighbors, who started trapping coons. We have been over whelmed with them this year, and they have trapped and killed over 20 coons. Yesterday I went out and I always survey the pen and the coop to make sure nothing has been lurking around and something had tried to dig under the pen, but when they got to the buried fence they stopped. I am glad I buried the fence!
So my advise to anyone starting out is to educate yourself!

 

[bruceha2000]

I watched helplessly as the red fox stole chickens from my yard and surrounding neighbors yards, repeatedly until stopping after the 7th chicken, and then probably only because she ran out of room for them in her den.

OUCH!

While I'm not likely to buy a gunpowder type weapon, I wonder if an air rifle could have stopped the carnage. Of course, since this was a "first occurrence", if it happened to me, the weapon would be anywhere but on my person and therefore of no help anyway.

What "easy to carry" deterrents might work? Maybe an air horn? Still the same issue of course. Not likely to carry it around all day 'just in case' unless perhaps I've seen daytime predators hanging around. And if that were the case, I'd probably not let the chickens out even if I were going to be near by anyway.

It is a terrible predicament, keep them in Fort Knox all day or chance losing them to predators.

 

[bruceha2000]

My DH was outside early this am, about 4am, and will do the same tonight. With a spotlight and a shotgun, he saw what may be either a coyote or large dog, and shot into the woods where he ran.

Um, NOT an approved practice. If you can't SEE what you are shooting at, don't shoot. Lots of hunters get hurt or killed every year by other hunters for lack of "clear view of the target". Who knows what else might be in the woods that you do NOT want to become "collateral damage"

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I gotta agree on that bruceha, never shoot at what you can't see...weird stuff happens. We caught some poachers one night directly downslope of our target range. I did tell a neighbor (which is the broadcast system) how ticked off I was about it - not the poaching coons part, but the fact that he and/or his dog could have been killed while I decide to practice my night vision scope, and other than search near where he parked his truck, no one would ever find him. Who has time for that nonsense. People should know better to tresspass, but they don't. Predators are a never ending deal with chickens, and same for most livestock. I guess it why they hatch out so many at a time, even the ones that make it to adulthood may not last long after that. Some breeds of chicken are happy in small areas, some aren't...some has to learn the safety zone...I just lost a broody, her three chicks came back to roost, I heard the event and she was way down over the hill, deep in the woods. She's been acting very wild for her this month...none of the others go that way and she went off on her own. That area is slated for a fence but it's not up yet, I think it's so late into summer that the wild prey is grown enough to be a challenge...chickens are easier.

 

[kitten6566]

A few years ago. i was looking out my window at dawn. it was getting dark so i couldnt pinpoint what exactly i saw. i looked behind my shed through the window in my house. i look out and i see a large orange thing with something red in its mouth. once i figured out what it was i screamed at the top of my lungs, dad!!!!! foxxxx!!!!! it has red in his mouth!!!!!!. red was his favorite chicken in the world. i have never seen him move that fast. He was out the door in seconds chasing the fox out of the yard. we lost a chicken that day but not all of them.

 

[vtpenguin]

I did not have any firearms at the time of this incident. I do have a few now though. I did borrow the neighbors 10/22 after losing the last few chickens, but she was too fast, and I'm in a neighborhood, so I did not want to shoot it unless I was sure it would be safe to do so and the shot would 'count'.

(I was also not sure if I was permitted to fire in town, but would have if I could have gotten the fox in my sights, to save my chickens. I have since found my village has no discharge ordinance, and in vermont, as in many other states i'm sure, one is permitted to shoot and kill an animal taking live stock)

Our neighbors have chickens, frankly most people in my town do it seems, and no one reported ever had a problem with a day time fox invasion. So we did not consider needing to keep them in a run initially, they just wondered the yard. I was very much unprepared for a day time fox invasion, which after researching turns out is common when they have young to feed, they are desperate to supply nutrients to their offspring.

Since the chickens are not only pets, they are, or will be, a source of sustenance for my family, and a rather large investment, I did not hesitate to set up a trap. I caught a few coons, but not the sly fox.

They are in their fort now, protected from both neighborhood dogs and wild animals. I will not hesitate to shoot a fox though that I happen to catch attempting to break in to the fort though. I can't imagine one would try, as the charged fence certainly hurts like heck to touch...

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

A few years ago I had a visit from a fox, I had left a bag of garbage on the poarch, not wanting to walk it to the bin in te mud, the fox had pulled the bag off the poarch, and ran off when I came outside, it came back though, determined to get the prize, a t bone, it came right up to the poarch with me standing there...I grabbed a broom in case I needed to push it off...that's all I had...watched it grab the bone and trot off. Lesson one - never leave a bag of garbage out. Lesson two - always carry more than a broom. This was a very good looking fox, I assume it was eating regularly and maybe even being fed by someone, a wild animal would have waited for me to leave, never would have come so close. Unfortunately we have alot of weekend warriors that visit and don't bother to learn the habits of wildlife, they want to see it up close and personal and doing so only puts the animal in danger.. I did actually visualize that pelt hanging on my lodge pole...but that wouldn't have been very sporty of me would it? Only, now i have to decide if it is healthy, rabid, or just a pest...and it sure would come close enough t hunt my fat layers. So, I have alot of dogs...problem solved.

 

[dlockey]

Um, NOT an approved practice. If you can't SEE what you are shooting at, don't shoot. Lots of hunters get hurt or killed every year by other hunters for lack of "clear view of the target". Who knows what else might be in the woods that you do NOT want to become "collateral damage"

I am very aware of that, however, it is a 20 gauge shotgun with bird shot in it, not a rifle. . We live on 30 acres, surrounded by 1500 acres of woods, and there should not be anyone within 5 acres of my house!! Shooting into the woods with bird shot just to scare whatever it was .

 

[okallthis4eggs]

A few years ago I had a visit from a fox, I had left a bag of garbage on the poarch, not wanting to walk it to the bin in te mud, the fox had pulled the bag off the poarch, and ran off when I came outside, it came back though, determined to get the prize, a t bone, it came right up to the poarch with me standing there...I grabbed a broom in case I needed to push it off...that's all I had...watched it grab the bone and trot off. Lesson one - never leave a bag of garbage out. Lesson two - always carry more than a broom. This was a very good looking fox, I assume it was eating regularly and maybe even being fed by someone, a wild animal would have waited for me to leave, never would have come so close. Unfortunately we have alot of weekend warriors that visit and don't bother to learn the habits of wildlife, they want to see it up close and personal and doing so only puts the animal in danger.. I did actually visualize that pelt hanging on my lodge pole...but that wouldn't have been very sporty of me would it? Only, now i have to decide if it is healthy, rabid, or just a pest...and it sure would come close enough t hunt my fat layers. So, I have alot of dogs...problem solved.

If you killed a bear with a broom handle I think that would be very sporty and the rug would look nice in your home. But knowing you you would shoot him