Virginia

[ki4got]

Quote: the problem there is lack of $$... I have missed some work recently so my paychecks are woefully short.

 

[ki4got]

well, all the bantams are penned now (except a few that are not staying anyways and will be going to gilmanor.

talk about crowded... one pen has all the babies 5 red, 4 silver laced, 1 blue & 2 mottled cochin pullets, 1 red cockerel and a mature silver laced roo, the other pen has kepiru, 3 of his girls and 1 pullet, my blue mottled roo & black mottled hen.

thinking I may move the 2 mottled and blue girl over to the other pen, to kind of even out the numbers and keep the groups together. eventually that will cover 4 breeding pens. (mille fleur, red, bbs/mottled & silver laced.)

hoping to get some serious progress on the 2 pens i'm working on today as well. worst case I can run wire around the outside now and put a doghouse in there for shelter, if I had to. which I might do, I can always build within the wire walls... just try not to step on toes in the process. LOL

so i'm missing 3 mille fleur girls and calico (my older roo), my black mottled roo and splash girl (all bantam cochins btw) as well as 2 red dorking girls and their roo. the blrw pullet and her mother, and 2 silver grey dorking girls. not to mention about 6 ee chicks pulled thru the wire before I ended up selling all the rest, except 2 recovering from head trauma (happened during the coon attacks, both are recovering nicely).

all the rest of the babies are inside for now. probably stay inside till we go to gilmanor.

 

[pysankigirl]

oh, that's awful...but I understand about the money limitation. that stuff is expensive!
Are the attacks happening during the day or at night?

 

[ki4got]

oh, that's awful...but I understand about the money limitation. that stuff is expensive!
Are the attacks happening during the day or at night?

both i'm thinking... the ones that happen before the coop gets shut are taken either from the broody nests or lower roosts. so unless the roosters were taken when the broody girls were, they're disappearing during the day. they all hang out on the top roosts with the majority of the mature birds. the babies tend to stay on the middle roosts.

 

[chrishw]

the footprints on top of the trap are raccoon.
going to set up a webcam asap. just a matter of finding a place to put an older laptop and network it.

Yup, perhaps the sneakiest of the bunch, don't remember if it was you or someone else that was having them stick their paws in from the backside to grab the food but my traps have small wire in the back where they can't steal, you can do this yourself with some wire cloth, just cable tie it in the last foot of the trap. Cat food or fish (sardine) is irresistible. Another trick is building a cube at the end of the trap, I know someone who has caught hawks this way, putting a chick in the additional cube at the end of the trap. Nice thing about this "live bait" trap is while the bird might have the scare of its life a) its safe and nothing can get into that little cube to kill it, b) its a combination alarm clock/irresistible bait, once you catch that first coon, the rest all gather around trying to get the screaching bird and are easy pickens for a shotgun when you come running hearing the bird!

 

[ki4got]

Quote: already modified the trap. they can't reach what's in it now, they just climb over and around it, also digging under some.

what's a good bait to use? was thinking I've got some eggs a broody quit on that would probably work well... they seem to like them slightly 'fermented' too LOL

 

[pysankigirl]

we used a trap that had a shark cage in the back of it and put a bantam rooster we didn't like in it. he survived just fine and we named him "shark bait"

 

[chickeneer45]

wow I am lucky. the only predator I have ever seen is a hawk. I have never had any trouble with animals getting my chickens

 

[chickeneer45]

we used a trap that had a shark cage in the back of it and put a bantam rooster we didn't like in it. he survived just fine and we named him "shark bait"

Sharkbait Hoo Ha Ha

 

[ki4got]

we used a trap that had a shark cage in the back of it and put a bantam rooster we didn't like in it. he survived just fine and we named him "shark bait"

hm... that's an idea. I could modify the trap with a box on the end for 'sharkbait' with a double layer of wire to protect him... I've got a roo that would qualify, but he's really too nice a cochin (quality not personality) to do that to. LOL but I could find one easily. I tend to dislike oegb roos. LOL

it would have to be easily disconnected tho, since I tend to drop the trap in the river for 10 minutes at a time. LOL