Trapped a skunk in a chicken coop, now what?

[alex2083]

I heard some loud squawking coming from my chickens at around 2AM and went out to investigate it. All my chickens appeared to be ok, but my rooster had some feathers missing and had blood on his feet. I washed them and found that he had no cuts at all, so he must have gashed something with his spurs. suspecting a predator, I started looking around the enclosed run where they go at night. I didn't see anything there, so I looked in the coop and found a skunk staring back at me (with big cuts on his face). I moved the chickens into another part of the yard and tried to scare the skunk out of the coop (at a distance) to no avail. not knowing what else to do, I closed up the coop and trapped it in there (fearing that it might try to harm my chickens later). So the big question is "now what"? I'd prefer to kill it (one less of the little buggers to deal with later) but I'm not really sure how to do that without getting sprayed. Any thoughts?

 

[nchls school]

I heard some loud squawking coming from my chickens at around 2AM and went out to investigate it. All my chickens appeared to be ok, but my rooster had some feathers missing and had blood on his feet. I washed them and found that he had no cuts at all, so he must have gashed something with his spurs. suspecting a predator, I started looking around the enclosed run where they go at night. I didn't see anything there, so I looked in the coop and found a skunk staring back at me (with big cuts on his face). I moved the chickens into another part of the yard and tried to scare the skunk out of the coop (at a distance) to no avail. not knowing what else to do, I closed up the coop and trapped it in there (fearing that it might try to harm my chickens later). So the big question is "now what"? I'd prefer to kill it (one less of the little buggers to deal with later) but I'm not really sure how to do that without getting sprayed. Any thoughts?

I'd shoot the thing with a small caliber rifle; 22. However, if you do it probably will spray as it dies. Then it's dealing with the smell. You may wish to just leave the door open and go about life. The skunk will leave when it believes it is safe to do so.

 

[aart]

Duplicate thread....with OP's solution and good discussion..... here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1102765/trapped-a-skunk-in-the-coop-now-what