Ugh... A family of skunks moving into our backyard :(

[Nifty-Chicken]

Wow chickenwhisperer, I hadn't seen that thread... bad news for sure!

I know someone that had a run in with a predator which they thought had rabies and ended up having to get major painful shots over the course of a bunch of weeks.

The last thing I'd want to have to deal with is trapped skunks. I'd rather lay mothballs all over the yard before having to deal with a trapped skunk. BLAH

 

[aprophet]

I have not used a trap to relocate them but I have left food for them and steadily moved the food away from where I did not want them to a place more suitable . it is just one more way to get them away from your birds.

 

[ellieroo]

Nifty - Chicken see my post for best ever trap for skunks.Moth balls are a myth that don't work most of the time and are a hazard to other wildlife! Since we are just recovering from the latyest dog/skunk encounter

am not happy but waiting for another trap inmail as I loaned mine out

 

[klf73]

We have some skunks that hang around, found that out when they got to my broody who was blocked off under an out building that my son forgot to close one night. He didn't bother her, just started eating her eggs. I free range and the girls keep trying to make "nests" anywhere but in the coop. I keep finding egg shells around the property, no doubt it's them.... but on a good note, no one has been sprayed, even when I carefull chased him off her nest...

 

[LarryPQ]

Mmmm...dinner...

 

[grandads]

You can take rags soaked in amonia throw them under the building and they will find another place to live.

 

[stowellka]

wow,
i live in a very suburban area(tract home) in southern ca. and have had my dog hit twice in 1 yr. by skunks in my backyard! that smell of a fresh spray will stay w/you forever!
i have possums that hang out on my fence every night and just this morning @ 5 am had a stare down with a coyote. jeez!
now not only do i worry about my 3 peeps i have to check in my front yard for coyote's before i let my 2 small dogs out!
ques. do skunks climb fences . and will possums eat peeps? and how high can a coyote jump

 

[Brindlebtch]

We used to practice man tracking with our dogs west of Houston and a friend and friend's dog got seriously sprayed by a skunk one time. She had to call her husband to come pick her up because she was too busy barfing to be able to drive. Wife barfing, dog barfing, getting into your car freshly skunk sprayed. Talk about ruining a car interior.

 

[grandads]

skunks can get in any where it can get its head threw, possums will eat baby chicks, and the coyote would dig under fence to get in.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
It IS a terrible situation . . .

BTW- mothballs and amonia DO NOT work . . . old wives tale.
Also, the shots for rabies are no longer the big-needled painful shots to the stomach and spine, it is now a series of 5 shots, given on a specific schedule over a months time, in the arm.

A skunk needs to be able to raise its tail in order to spray, the spray proof trap doesnt allow that to happen.
I have 3 of them, and have caught many skunks in them, never been sprayed.

Worse I ever got was a stinky hand!

You need to find how they are getting in and block it off.