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

[chickenreferee]

At the time of my first predator attack I had been keeping chickens and ducks for 6 years. Thought everything was under control and there were no problems. I had gotten comfortable and neglected some much needed upkeep and improvements. First raccoon attack came from the front of the barn and the buggar pretty much pushed straight through the 'chicken wire'. It tried to take one of my EE hens that miraculously survived but I didn't find her for two days- and she was really tore up. (Thankfully she recovered and lived for another 2 years afterward, but was never the same.) I didn't find Fiona (EE #1) and was clueless about the hole in the wire until the next night when the raccoon came back and this time succeeded in killing and eating my other sweet EE hen INSIDE of the barn. After that I moved all the birds to a secure area and proceeded to trap the assailants. It took 3 nights and I finally got TWO raccoons using marshmellows and what was left of the EE hen(bless her). One had been very well fed I'm assuming on the cat food my grandma left out every night. I swear it weighed 25 pounds. The other was a little smaller, but still huge compared to the squirrel sized trap it managed to squeeze itself into. When I began the barn security renovations I found another place up where the roof eaves met the walls they had been using as an entrance.

My advice: you can not be too secure and never become complacent. Predators will eventually come calling at some point or another. ALWAYS use heavy duty welded wire with SMALL openings, NOT 'chicken wire'. I prefer hardware cloth. Bring pet food in at night and secure your garbage cans. I read an article in Backyard Poultry today that said when it comes to predators, the best offence is a good defense.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Woah, hold the phone gatorchick, harmless to whom, all my sweet unborn chicks, or the ones due to hatch out...if I didn't have extra nest boxes with eggs...bye bye broody clutch. I had to kill it as I've got new chicks sleeping on the floor too, and I know it would just come back, they can travel for miles to GPS it home....I did use to catch black snakes and put them in the barn...never had another mouse problem....had big snakes though...

 

[okallthis4eggs]

They won't come back if you let them go inside Wal Mart. They have everything they need in there. Even eggs

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Ha

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I think I've lost one or two to each kind of predator..the first mystery guest took one at night, I blamed myself that the gate wasn't latched well enough, the next night, same thing, the next night I saw it, the biggest feral tom ever..he saw me and gone..I only saw for a second, and then questioned my eyesight, he could easily reach the four feet to fiddle with the latch...yellow eyes. The next day I saw him take a dump in the chickens dust bowl...war is officially on....shotgun. I bet he weighed 20 lbs., brazen idiot.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Not many replies regarding skunks or possoms. Anybody lost chickens to either of those?

 

[okallthis4eggs]

I really never considered a possom a predator. More of a scavenger I always thought.

 

[cluckychucky]

I lost two chicks to a hawk. I secured the bottom 12 or 16 inches of the tractor with plywood. That has solved the problem. The hawks sit on the edge of the clearing and eye up their approach to attack. I took away their line of sight, and no more problems so far. I also lock my flock in the hen house at night. I don't care what you are, you are not getting in there when it is locked. I run a bar right across both doors that is hard for me to get out. I would definitely agree that 1/2" HARDWARE CLOTH is THE only one good option for wiring your coops and runs. My next design will incorporate it. I do not let my birds free range because I am in a residential area, but they are safe in their run with a roof and plywood siding up the bottom 12"-16". I have not had racoon, or possum problems, yet, but I will deal with them when I do. I think that diligent upkeep is the key to success. Attacking problems as they arise, and going a bit beyond the necessary. Do NOT be disheartened, though, when nature beats you. Regroup and try again! C

 

[cuisinista]

Re Skunks:
I thought I posted here yesterday but maybe it was somewhere else.
We had lost 5 chickens to a predator. Pulled of head and ate part of back and breast and leg on one side on 3 of them. 2 of these were found outside, one inside, and 2 chickens were in an inside part of the coop that I don't check daily - completely eaten.
We shored up the coop as best we could and set several have-a-heart traps with dead chicken. In the morning we had one large (Pregnant?) skunk and one sub-adult offspring near where we thought they had been getting in, and in another trap on the whole other side of the yard another sub-adult skunk. We thought we were all done but this AM there was a dead half eaten guinea fowl in the locked coop.

So we added more wire, plugged every hole we could find and set the traps with the guinea. I will report tomorrow.

 

[featherz]

My neighborhood skunks so far have never bothered the chickens (we have a skunk living under the barn, has been there for years - or its offspring) but they are the first to get caught in the traps. =( Trying to catch my known predator (a fox that I actually saw), I seem to catch nothing but skunk. bleh.