What Attacked My Coop??

[wildone]

can't stand weasels.

 

[Clemmy]

a dog?? possibly a racoon??

 

[Sakiza]

@wildone they are the worst! We also have a closed barn where we are keeping our aviary birds until the aviary is finished and I walked in and found three ducks decapitaed this morning I freaked out. A pair of Fluvous Whistelers and a female Red Pochard. The male was left alive. We took out the dead ducks and before I could move the male Pochard, the weasel came back and killed him! Right in front of us.

My boyfriend is out in the barn now sitting there and waiting for him to come back out. Hopefully we can get him this evening.

@Clemmy we are thinking raccoon too. We saw two in the bird building last night on the trail cam. They were both in the traps this morning.

 

[microchick]

About fox. Last year a neighbor with a 'holiday' cabin across the road from us had a female fox take up residency under the cabin and raise a family of kits feeding them off the local flocks. Neighbor lost their entire flock and we were finding feathers and bones around our pond. We didn't loose a bird, mainly because our coop is metal clad and the run is hot wired. The run is chain link kennel panels.

Everyone saw the fox. She was a beautiful big and very healthy animal....probably from all the chicken and guineas she ate. Mainly we would see her in our pasture and marching up and down the road in the morning and early evening. Finally I called the local conservation officer and asked if they would please come and set live traps for her, or if we set our live trap and caught her would they please relocate her to conservation property.

He chuckled and told me they say out fox a fox for a reason. He said they were very hard to catch in anything other than a foot trap and would sit back and watch you and your property without you ever knowing they were there. The best thing to do he told us was shoot her as she had proven to be a menace to domestic livestock.

We didn't loose a bird to her or her little ones although we did find tiny fox prints in the dirt around our run. Mamma moved on or was shot as we got word out to the neighbors to take her out with MODOC's blessing. We know her kits are still around and people are gunning for them also. But for now the pillaging of flocks has stopped.

About hot wires. Don't be afraid of them. I've had chickens reach through the fence and accidentally touch it with they wattles. They only do it once and it doesn't cause them any physical harm as far as I can tell. Same with dogs. We have 4 of the darling idiots and each one has tested the hot wire. One just a few weeks ago while I was gathering eggs. I followed his howling self into the house, rubbed his nose and told my husband. "Hot wire works!"

All you have to do is when your hens are out being chickens, turn it off and remember to turn it back on once everyone is tucked in at night.

IMHO, I would NOT be letting any of my flock run free with the predator problem you have going on. In such a situation, a secured flock is a live flock.

 

[Keylime]

I’m thinking it could very likely be a skunk. We had a skunk and it ate two chickens but left the heads. Skunks are very smart and can climb almost anything.

 

[Sakiza]

About fox. Last year a neighbor with a 'holiday' cabin across the road from us had a female fox take up residency under the cabin and raise a family of kits feeding them off the local flocks. Neighbor lost their entire flock and we were finding feathers and bones around our pond. We didn't loose a bird, mainly because our coop is metal clad and the run is hot wired. The run is chain link kennel panels.

Everyone saw the fox. She was a beautiful big and very healthy animal....probably from all the chicken and guineas she ate. Mainly we would see her in our pasture and marching up and down the road in the morning and early evening. Finally I called the local conservation officer and asked if they would please come and set live traps for her, or if we set our live trap and caught her would they please relocate her to conservation property.

He chuckled and told me they say out fox a fox for a reason. He said they were very hard to catch in anything other than a foot trap and would sit back and watch you and your property without you ever knowing they were there. The best thing to do he told us was shoot her as she had proven to be a menace to domestic livestock.

We didn't loose a bird to her or her little ones although we did find tiny fox prints in the dirt around our run. Mamma moved on or was shot as we got word out to the neighbors to take her out with MODOC's blessing. We know her kits are still around and people are gunning for them also. But for now the pillaging of flocks has stopped.

About hot wires. Don't be afraid of them. I've had chickens reach through the fence and accidentally touch it with they wattles. They only do it once and it doesn't cause them any physical harm as far as I can tell. Same with dogs. We have 4 of the darling idiots and each one has tested the hot wire. One just a few weeks ago while I was gathering eggs. I followed his howling self into the house, rubbed his nose and told my husband. "Hot wire works!"

All you have to do is when your hens are out being chickens, turn it off and remember to turn it back on once everyone is tucked in at night.

IMHO, I would NOT be letting any of my flock run free with the predator problem you have going on. In such a situation, a secured flock is a live flock.

Do you have a brand you like? We were looking at Premier 1 today. I’ve liked their other products. Our local TSC also has hot wire kits. Looks like we have added another project to our never ending list lol

 

[fur-mum]

I got mine off Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=fi-shock

 

[Sakiza]

I got mine off Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=fi-shock

I love amazon. Thanks!

 

[Sakiza]

About fox. Last year a neighbor with a 'holiday' cabin across the road from us had a female fox take up residency under the cabin and raise a family of kits feeding them off the local flocks. Neighbor lost their entire flock and we were finding feathers and bones around our pond. We didn't loose a bird, mainly because our coop is metal clad and the run is hot wired. The run is chain link kennel panels.

Everyone saw the fox. She was a beautiful big and very healthy animal....probably from all the chicken and guineas she ate. Mainly we would see her in our pasture and marching up and down the road in the morning and early evening. Finally I called the local conservation officer and asked if they would please come and set live traps for her, or if we set our live trap and caught her would they please relocate her to conservation property.

He chuckled and told me they say out fox a fox for a reason. He said they were very hard to catch in anything other than a foot trap and would sit back and watch you and your property without you ever knowing they were there. The best thing to do he told us was shoot her as she had proven to be a menace to domestic livestock.

We didn't loose a bird to her or her little ones although we did find tiny fox prints in the dirt around our run. Mamma moved on or was shot as we got word out to the neighbors to take her out with MODOC's blessing. We know her kits are still around and people are gunning for them also. But for now the pillaging of flocks has stopped.

About hot wires. Don't be afraid of them. I've had chickens reach through the fence and accidentally touch it with they wattles. They only do it once and it doesn't cause them any physical harm as far as I can tell. Same with dogs. We have 4 of the darling idiots and each one has tested the hot wire. One just a few weeks ago while I was gathering eggs. I followed his howling self into the house, rubbed his nose and told my husband. "Hot wire works!"

All you have to do is when your hens are out being chickens, turn it off and remember to turn it back on once everyone is tucked in at night.

IMHO, I would NOT be letting any of my flock run free with the predator problem you have going on. In such a situation, a secured flock is a live flock.

I haven’t seen a fox inside the fence but we will have to keep a close eye on them. Especially if they are hard to trap. I am glad they didn’t mess with your birds

 

[IsThatARaincoat]

Sakiza's boyfriend here. After a 4 to 5 hour sit tonight, I was able to take the weasel that killed four of our ducks in our main barn today. Afterwards, I took a walk to our much more open "bird building" within which I recently captured footage of both raccoon and weasel. As I walked in, there was the second weasel. I was able to hit him as he ran away. He made it under a pallet of paver bricks. Judging by his blood trail I expect to find him there tomorrow when I can move the pallet.

This is in addition to the two raccoon I trapped last night. Unfortunately, after my weasel pursuit I discovered raccoon tracks going into my trap, bait missing, no raccoon. I'll have to make an adjustment to that particular trap.

In summary, despite the terrible loss we experienced today we have made decent progress against this predator problem we have right now. Thank you all for your input!