*UPDATE* Page 3 - Lost ANOTHER one today (graphic description)

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Egads. I've never had any problems with raccoons so this is all new to me. I never even SEE any. I did talk to my neighbor today and she said she sees them all the time; they sleep in her trees. I don't have any trees in my yard. DBF came over before I got home from work and locked everyone up. He said he'd do that every day but I feel bad. We do plan to set the live trap as soon as I get it back (my son borrowed it). Not sure I'm gutsy enough to try the foot traps quite yet.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

OK...this means WAR

DBF just called; he was at my house locking my birds up before it gets dark and found yet ANOTHER dead chicken - this time during broad daylight hours (or right after I left this morning around 8am). I can't believe it. He found it right by my back porch steps and believes that there might be something living under the steps. There's an area that looks like a small dug out entrance way and he found some white hairs. White hairs?? We're scratching our heads over this one. Can't be a skunk; I'd smell it. The big cat that I've seen around is black and white but that hole seems a bit small for it. Traps are going out tonight and tomorrow.

This chicken was killed just like the one on Monday - not totally demolished nor disembowled like a hawk would do. Just opened on the side into the abdominal cavity and the neck wasn't touched this time.

I am SOOOOO ANGRY

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I'll repeat what I said back on 11/30/09:

Poor thing. To prevent others from being picked off one by one, you know you need to lock them up in preditor proof run during the day and then lock them up tight at night in preditor proof coop.

With the shorter days, you'll want to use hardware cloth around the run to prevent your fuzzy butts from being pulled through chicken wire.

Best of luck to you in doing what you can to protect the ones you have left.

Your place is on someone's menu and they will stay there or keep coming back as long as they're getting fed.

Lock em up already.

 

[ErieSpurs]

Raccoons will leave greyish white hairs behind. As will Possums. I would set a trap near the hole you found. I know it sounds awful, but you can use the chicken's remains for bait.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I set a trap early Saturday morning; nothing so far although when I checked it this morning, the chicken neckbone that I used for bait was partially out of the trap from the end. I re-baited this morning with a raw chicken drumstick, livers, and skin so I'm anxious to see if anything is there when I get home.

The hairs that we found were white, no more than 1/2 inch long where the belly would rub going into the hole. They were pointy at the tip and widened as it angled towards the base of the hair. They were also thicker, not thin like a cat hair. More like a stiffer yellow lab dog hair (had one so that's all I have to compare it to). The hole was appx 2-2 1/2 inches round at the side base of my back porch steps.

I have kept the birds locked up although the ducks are making one heck of a mucky mess in my garage...only let them out for a little while last weekend, supervised.

 

[ErieSpurs]

The way you described the hair, it sounds like a raccoon. It may be a little more bristly than you labs fur.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

That wouldn't surprise me but is their belly fur that short? All the hairs were the same length and on the ground at the hole - we didn't find any longer ones, not even on the wood where the back would have rubbed as it went into the hole. I've never seen a raccoon that close up

I did find only a head in that area a couple weeks ago and I read that raccoons will rip the heads off. The other two had the heads intact and were eaten in the body cavity under the wings.

Nothing in the trap when I got home; will

it visits tonight.

 

[ErieSpurs]

Good Luck. I hope you catch it. What kind of trap are you using? In my experience, smarter coons and possums avoid have-a-hart traps. I've had success with foot traps, conibear traps, and snares. The only problem is if you catch something that you don't want dead. Once again, good luck.

 

[ernancy]

We recently had the same thing happen to 2 of our girls on 2 separate occassions 4 days apart. Very sad, we found them in the morning. They were ravaged. Something had pulled part of the chicken wire off the coop and got in. We boarded everything up real well and the remaining go inside a box in the coop that we also have boarded up for night. Last night my husband was outside covering some plants to protect them from the frost, and what do you think he saw on top of the coop? 2 huge raccoons. He chased them away and we let our dogs out there to bark at them. This was around 8:00pm. we went out there a few times before going to bed to check on things, and we didn't see them again, but we did see where they had gotten the wire off again and made themselves a small whole to get into. Luckily the chickens were in the boarded up box so nothing could get to them. We have had these girls for 8 years and have never had this happen. I know raccoons have been around for quite some time though. So mad. I love all creatures and don't want to see them get hurt, but when I saw them on the coop last night staring us down, I wanted my husband to shoot them. We live in the city so he can't quite do that. Anyway, box them up good at night , from dusk to after dawn.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I'm using a have-a-heart trap and still not having luck. Gander Mountain sells the leg traps so I'll get some this weekend.

Ernancy, I'm sorry for your loss too. My birds are always locked up in the coop (which is in my garage) at night. I did lose two that were hiding in the yard and didn't make lockup, but the other two were killed during the day while in the yard. The one could have been after dusk because I found it when I got home around 6:45pm. The latest one happened somewhere after 8am and before 2:30pm. I knew they'd be fair game at night, but certainly didn't expect it in broad daylight, in a fenced-in yard in the suburbs...more rural than city but still. Until I catch this critter, they'll stay locked up 24/7 unless I'm home to supervise. Makes me sad because I really believe they are happier roaming the yard and I miss seeing them play. Of course seeing them in the coop is better than not seeing them at all