Wiped Out

[EddieLee]

We were awefully proud of our four backyard hens. We have had them for about two months. We went on vacation for two weeks to visit my family in Texas. My sister-in-law was excited about looking after them and did so every day and updated us. When we got home today and looked in the coop, there was carnage everywhere. Obviously very fresh. All four hens had been killed and partially eaten. Although we are in an extremely urban area, we have seen both stray cat AND fox in the neighborhood.

Couple of details about the incident: by pure accident, the chickens had been left out to range in our back yard, outside of their run, for the entire two weeks. When I told my sister-in-law this wasn't intentional, she shut them back up in their coop and run, and it was the next night that they were eaten. This surely seems like a coincidence to me, but a strange one. The other thing to note is that we have two dogs that are usually in the back yard during the day (inside at night). They were with my parents-in-law because of the vacation, and we feel like this probably allowed the predator to roam free.

The biggest reason for getting the chicks was for my 3-year-old son. He was pretty sad about the whole deal. I want to get more, but I very worried about it happening again. Obviously whatever it was knows where there are chickens (likely the only chickens within their hunting range). Wondering what peoples opinions are. Will I be OK as long as the dogs are in the backyard? THere are a few spots where squirrels dig under the fence, and could have made way for a fox or cat. How do I get them to stop digging under? I already have extra fencing running past the bottom board onto the dirt. They just push that up and dig under.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[TallChickMagnet]

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[CarolJ]

My suggestion is to predator-proof your coop and run as much as possible. Get a roll of hardware cloth and make an apron (12-18 inches) all around the coop. For the yard fence that the animals are digging under - put something they can't push aside - some type of rigid fencing that goes down into the ground. I'm so sorry that your chickens were killed. You are right, though, if you don't make changes to keep predators out, it will just happen again. Search through BYC for information on protecting your flock. There's a lot of great information here. Good luck!

 

[CarolJ]

I meant to add: I don't know what your yard is like, but they may have been able to escape from the predator while in the yard - maybe they had somewhere they could get to that the predator couldn't reach them. Then when they were in the coop, they weren't able to get away from it. Just a possibility.

 

[bobbi-j]

Personally, I would try it again. It almost sounds more like a coon to me, though. I know you're urban. So are raccoons, fox, coyotes, and a number of other "wild" animals that will happily eat your chickens. Before you get more chickens, though, you need to figure out how whatever it was that got into your pen, got into your pen. Bury the extra fence. Don't use chicken wire on your run and coop. Get hardware cloth. Make sure that a raccoon can't unlatch your coop doors and windows. Put large rocks around the bottom of your run. Your little guy will be happy with more chickens. Kids are resilient. Much of how they react to things is how they see us reacting. If you make it seem like a world-ending tragedy, he will come to see it that way (and you won't be doing him any favors). If you tell him that, yes, this was a sad event, but then pick up and move on, he'll learn to deal with things that way.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Was the door to the coop open when you found them? Does your coop have a door and wooden floor? Predator proofing a pen takes a fair amount of expense that can be avoided if due diligence is made to close up the coop each night. A coops main function is protection. If one predator proofs an entire pen then chickens only need a open sided shelter from elements. We just close the coop up each night, every night.

 

[EddieLee]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Some really great pointers on here. I did try to contain all the shock and surprise from my son. I didn't let him see the chickens all eaten up either. We have all agreed to give it a go again. The coop was indeed closed, and there were no holes in the actual fencing, just small dig spots under. I guess I didn't even think about it being a coon. We are certainly going to make some adjustments to the coop. We'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks again.
-Eddie

 

[drumstick diva]

bobbi j everything you wrote is good, plain sense. Especially the part about children mimicking the way we handle things. My mother was always hysterical about everything and I learned alot from her. Took most of my life to "unlearn". I totally agree - it is sad but, pick up and try again. Learn from what happened so you can fortify against it happening again.

 

[bigoledude]

Get rid of the tree rats (squirrels) first. They will cause damage wherever allowed to run free. Check out "squirrel pole" on youtube and Google. Squirrels will always take the lesser angle offered by the squirrel-pole rather than have to climb straight up vertical. My dad enjoyed having squirrels around his new house until they chewed into his attic and caused $13,000 worth of damage to his house. That cost was with him doing all of the repairs and wiring himself. The chewed wire had scorched a ceiling joist and nearly set the house on fire. My 4 sons and my dad got to be very good shots with a Gamo and RWS pellet gun while trying to keep the numbers of squirrels under control.

Setting traps at the spot the predators are getting through will work. There are dog-proof traps (DP) that won't catch dogs, cats and stuff. But, they will catch raccoons, opossums and skunks. I have had very poor luck with live-catch wire traps.

I don't know if a your predator is big enough to set-off a motion detector. I used one of those motion detector security outdoor lights. I screwed in this receptacle thing, that has light-bulb threads, with a plug-in receptacle. Then, I ran an extension cord from that receptacle, into the house with a buzzer plugged in. When the coon (in this case) set off the motion sensor, the buzzer in the house went off. I went outside and shot the coon.

 

[smilingcat]

When you improve the security of your coop, make sure its snug and tight. It's pretty amazing what rats, minks, weasel can all fit through. Others have given you good advice. Get new chicken after you've secured the coop.