The Never-ending Battle ( A Long Story )

[TinyBirds]

Feel your pain. We had the same thing happen here but no feral cats around here (coons would've eaten them too). We are adjacent to thousand acre wildlife preserve and have a creek behind our house which is likely the source. We had raccoons wipe out our covered pens of birds mid-day. They squeeze through small openings as if their body is jello. They are not just nocturnal like most people think. We trapped and killed one per night for 30 days and then gave up on chickens for 2 years after that. Now we have chickens again but use large steel greenhouse hoop frames 7 by 15 by 7 and cover in welded wire with half inch square openings from fencerwire, 16 gauge. Apron around bottom too. 16 inch Wheels added just when we move it. We have 6 of those and no problems so far. Free range for just an hour before dark while supervised, and in the morning before feeding if we have time. Knock on wood.

 

[sirrobyn0]

I can sympathize. I lost my first flock of around 15 entirely to predators. Felt pretty bad for sure but eventually got more. Like you we let ours out to free range during the day and no matter what we have done, we still have the occasional one disappear. I have eventually learned that it is the cost of letting them free range. While we do have racoons, our population is not as bad as yours for sure, but we also have bob cats, coyotes. The coop and run are about as close to predator proof as possible so there are no longer night issues for us at all, and fencing off our entire 3 acres has really helped. I won't go into the story right now, but lets just say that we are not gun people so shooting is not an option and the only thing I have ever caught in live traps when I use to use them was my chickens lol.

I would suggest that wild life is pretty damn smart. As long as they think they can get a easy meal from your place they will keep coming, but if you make it diffecult for them they will move on.

 

[DyingPhoenix]

what brand of cams are you using? I have a vanishing duck problem which is similar

I use a few different kinds. I have wildgame, moultrie and some cheapies from the local farm stores. The moultrie is the best by far and it takes really long-range night videos with sound. I'll have to go see which one it is, but it was pricey, I remember that much. You get what you pay for, though.

I appreciate all your stories! I am going to keep the defenses up for sure and not cut any corners, however, because they're nuisances by leaving piles all over my patio, making messes, and trying to get to my chickens every night I am going to continue trapping and killing them. If anything, it will help the wild turkey population, as they are major nest predators.

And also...trapping your own chickens in the cage traps? I can only imagine. Big idiots lol. I was terrified mine would try and eat the marshmallows out of the leg traps I have for the coons and get their head clamped and die. Instead they just eat the ones I sprinkle around the traps themselves. I cover the traps now, just in case.

 

[sirrobyn0]

Oh I forgot to mention, that I actually have gone so far as to install a security camera system. It's not just for the birds, but I do have one on the chicken coop, one on the pond and one on the geese enclosure. And I can monitor it live in my office and it records continuously for three days before overwriting, it has night vision as well. So the time the coyote got mama goose while she was sitting on eggs at 2:30 in the morning, yea I got on tape. I've learned two things while running the severance system #1. It doesn't prevent anything, it only shows you what has happened, what day and time ect. #2. there is no way to cover 3 acres, all you can do is aim the cameras at the places the birds are at the most. I actually have found the security system very valuable to see what happened. I was really happy when I picked up a good system on sale for a really good price, what I didn't realize is all of the coax I needed for each channel to get out to the chickens, geese, and pond would cost me more than the system did. But still I think it has been a great tool when something does happen, or something attempts to get in the coop I can see what was tried.

I went with live traps because I already had a few, and I was afraid any kind of a kill trap the chickens would get into and I guess I would at least get dinner out of that though lol. The good news is that my live traps have doors on both ends so at least I didn't have turn the hens around inside the live trap.

 

[Howard E]

A number of interesting observations in this thread, plus a potential learning opportunity.

First is the observation of coons out during the day. It now occurs to me that this year and last, I began noticing coons out during the middle of the day. Always in the middle/heat of the summer. Two possible reasons.......days are long and nights are short.....so not much time to forage after dark, plus parents feeding the little ones have high nutritional needs, so may need to hunt day and night to keep up?

Second, is in the world of trapping raccoons, the dog proof types work best. Which trap are you using? Duke or other? The Duke's have a one way trigger to prevent any dog, cat (or chicken) from getting nabbed. Varmint has to be able to grasp the bait and pull it out to trip the trigger. So not many critters who would try for the bait can trip the trigger.

Third is even if the trap is effective, in a high density setting, trying to trap them out is futile. If this were the fall an you were a fur trapper, you would have hit the "Bonanza". Perhaps save up the inventory and invite a fur trapper in next fall to thin the herd for you then? Let them put out 3 dozen traps for a month or so and really clean em out?

Lastly this is a golden opportunity to test the effectiveness of a hot wire electric fence. You know the tight coop works to protect them at night. Second line of defense is to establish a distant perimeter to move the predators out away from the coop by day and an electric fence is the tool to do that. With no deterrent other than instant death, which coons don't have to worry about because they don't know about it until it's too late (no learning curve option)......their instinct is to just keep coming and trying. There is no deterrent factor so why not try to walk in during the middle of the day and kill something? For all they know, you must be setting the table for them same as if you were setting out bowls of cat food yourself.

So do get busy to establish an perimeter of a hot wire electric fence system and let us know how it works for you.

My system is 4 hot wires (17 gauge aluminum wire) set at 5 inch intervals up from the ground. And an insanely hot fence charger like my Parmak 12 volt, which is tests out around 14,000 volts. An encounter or two from that and they go looking elsewhere for something to eat......and so do the buzzards who had been dining on all the dead coons.

 

[sirrobyn0]

I guess I should have mentioned my electric fence too. Just like Howard E I run a perimeter electric fence. My system is field fencing and two wires of electric. One I run very close to the ground, this keeps critters from digging under the fence. The second wire is near the top so critters can't climb over. Can predators get on to my property? I'm sure with enough work they could, however I have made it inconvenient, so they mess with my birds only very rarely now. I'm big fan of you can't keep watch the flock 24/7 and you can't eliminate all the predators. BTW my system 12,000 volts. My fence charger is 30 years old and has no visible marking so I can't tell you the brand, sorry.