War has been Declared (Graphic Pictures)

[Drummondchick]

This is a thread to document my journey to taking it to the enemy

Prefacing this story with the comment that we have very few predators here where I live.

All my runs are covered and I have a variety of different style houses for my chickens.
The coop in this story was built on skids so it could be towed around to fresh grass etc. I dont have the room to be moving it around regularly so I have built a fixed run onto the end. With the coop being on skids there is a 2 inch gap underneath the coop that something could get into if it really wanted to.

after having this coop set up for about 10 months and no sign of anything predator wise.....

I arrived at the coop to find 3 dead birds (point of lay Leghorns) They had been tried to be dragged out of the gap underneath the coop.......... necks had been cleanly slashed then chewed upon.

Spent the rest of the day digging down and boarding up the gap.

2 weeks later exactly the same thing.... 3 dead Leghorns tried to be dragged back thru holes dug under and around the boards I had put in... this time when I checked it was 9:30 in the evening and I had no time to do anything apart from put rocks and pieces of wood in the holes and think about how I could fix it the next day.

The next morning 2 more dead Leghorns.... exactly the same scenario... necks cleanly slashed, and tried to drag out another hole dug.

WAR!

Hi everyone. I think I'm going to put a spoke in the wheel here...I do feel sorry for your loss. It's heartbreaking to lose our birds, but I find it really sad and odd that the first option people on this group resort to is to eliminate the predator! Here in South Africa, particularly where I live, we have many many "chicken predators", snakes,
Mongoose, cane rats, porcupines, monkeys, civets, genets, jackals, wild pigs and umpteen birds of prey, but none of the chicken owners I know, and nearly everyone has chickens, kill a predator, you just make sure your run and coop are extra secure. Yes, they still do get in, in some cases, but then you make a plan and make sure your run and coop are more secure. But the wildlife is never killed. I'm just saying...there is another way.

 

[Snooky doodle]

This is a thread to document my journey to taking it to the enemy

Prefacing this story with the comment that we have very few predators here where I live.

All my runs are covered and I have a variety of different style houses for my chickens.
The coop in this story was built on skids so it could be towed around to fresh grass etc. I dont have the room to be moving it around regularly so I have built a fixed run onto the end. With the coop being on skids there is a 2 inch gap underneath the coop that something could get into if it really wanted to.

after having this coop set up for about 10 months and no sign of anything predator wise.....

I arrived at the coop to find 3 dead birds (point of lay Leghorns) They had been tried to be dragged out of the gap underneath the coop.......... necks had been cleanly slashed then chewed upon.

Spent the rest of the day digging down and boarding up the gap.

2 weeks later exactly the same thing.... 3 dead Leghorns tried to be dragged back thru holes dug under and around the boards I had put in... this time when I checked it was 9:30 in the evening and I had no time to do anything apart from put rocks and pieces of wood in the holes and think about how I could fix it the next day.

The next morning 2 more dead Leghorns.... exactly the same scenario... necks cleanly slashed, and tried to drag out another hole dug.

WAR!

Id like to build a chicken tractor but can't because of the pedator problem! We have aggressive critters up here-coons,coyotes,growling foxes,hawks,barred owls,possums and Fisher cats!!Before I moved my flock into the barn I layed chicken wire around the whole coop about 2' out and piled heavy rocks on top of that. Then I ran a strand of electric fence wire 4 " above ground around that! May seem extreme but never lost a bird! I've had a hen attacked by a hawk while I was was standing 20 ft away watering my garden!! These critters can show up even in the day time if there hungry enough-coons will come out of hibernation in the wintertime with a ravenous hunger I use a "have a heart" trap smeared with bacon grease and when I catch the offending predator I bring them across the nearby river and set them free! Good luck-its all part of the fun!!!

 

[AmDragnlvr]

Hi everyone. I think I'm going to put a spoke in the wheel here...I do feel sorry for your loss. It's heartbreaking to lose our birds, but I find it really sad and odd that the first option people on this group resort to is to eliminate the predator! Here in South Africa, particularly where I live, we have many many "chicken predators", snakes,
Mongoose, cane rats, porcupines, monkeys, civets, genets, jackals, wild pigs and umpteen birds of prey, but none of the chicken owners I know, and nearly everyone has chickens, kill a predator, you just make sure your run and coop are extra secure. Yes, they still do get in, in some cases, but then you make a plan and make sure your run and coop are more secure. But the wildlife is never killed. I'm just saying...there is another way.

another way.

Thank you so much for saying this! I live in the USA and this is how we handle things at my house too. That is the nature of things and what happens as humans continue to intrude further and further on wild spaces. This is disappointing to see and I wish this wasn't the automatic route for the many that it is.

 

[SheaLoner]

I know this thread got way, Way off topic a few times. I may have spent my down time at work reading over it. And I've got one question. . .
Did a Mod delete happy ducky's posts? Because all I could see were quotes/replies. Not that I particularly 'wanted' to read post of that nature it just seems odd to me.
Completely agree by the way drowning was the best option when You have a feral, wild animal in a live trap and no gun. Only way to not end up with an ER visit or an escapee.

 

[Tashua]

Do you know what may have done the damage?

Sad - ferrets in the USA are not wild , sold as pets and unfortunately people don’t realize how sneaky they are and don’t take proper care & many escape & end up in animal shelters . Used to have a couple when I lived in the keys .......found one digging thru my trash can one morning .
That being said I know they are cousins to mink & wild is wild so sorry for your loss of birds

 

[Tashua]

Its all part of life I spose......... it is a real bummer but there is nothing I can do now... apart from trap and kill the buggers!

I will be ferreting out ferrets as long as there are ferrets to ferret out

Reinforce your coop set up , can’t kill every ferret there is in your area . They are indeed just hungry .

 

[BigFuzzball]

Took some better pics of the second oneView attachment 2571122View attachment 2571123View attachment 2571124

Well done discovering and hopefully eradicating, sorry for your loss, bad enough when it's natural causes but like that is horrible !
Problem is that they may not historically live wild in an area but only takes one stupid thoughtless owner to get fed up and release them to then give all pet owners the unthinkable problems....those would kill any available poultry, aviary birds, rabbits or even pet cats.
With the current UK 'Avian Flu' epidemic warnings we can't let our hens out 'free ranging' and bearing in mind mice, rats etc can & do carry & spread it I've set traps around the gardens....so far 16 (full size not 'field' variety) mice caught in exactly 30 days !! Am puzzled where all our neighborhood rats have gone though ?

 

[Folly's place]

Rats are mostly too smart to be caught in traps, especially after they see one trapped.
Maybe somebody poisoned the rats? Or not having as much food available, they moved elsewhere.
Sorry you are dealing with this flu issue.
Mary

 

[damnyankie]

Normal my butt. That thing is just as foreign as you.

There are only 3 countries that still use the Imperial system, the U.S., Liberia, and Myanmar. It was resistance to the metric system that caused the U.S. not to continue with the change over to it. Actually it is simpler once you get to understand it as it is based on 10's. Some things I don't think would change. I can't image an announcer at a football game saying "It is 2nd down with 1 meter to go". lol

 

[Conan]

My thoughts exactly... how is one supposed to dispatch a biting, clawing predator in a cage when a gun is not available? Yes, many of us are gun toting Americans, but not every country has the same rules. I sure as hell wouldn't put myself at risk by reaching into that cage under any circumstances.

Keeping safety in mind, removing a ferret from a live trap and attempting to dispatch it with an axe would not be a good idea. Two things would likely happen. First, it would rip you to shreds. Then it would escape. The OP, from what I can tell, used the best method they had available to them.