Bad way to thin a flock

[ginasmarans]

I admit, I had way too many chickens, but I never wanted to thin my flock in this manner. I must have forgotten to close them up one Sunday night. It was raining all day Monday and I did not get home until after dark. Tuesday morning,I went to feed them and was met by carnage. There were headless chickens everywhere,in 3 pens. I lost 46 in all. I saw coon tracks,so I expect they were the attackers. What I can't figure out is how they got 5 young pullets out of a pen that was 3 ft off the ground. I can't believe I was so careless! needless to say, they don't get out unless I am sure I can put them up each night. Poor things,they were terrified to go back in the coop. I had to carry some of them in.

 

[Mahonri]

That's a huge hit!

Sorry for your loss...

Time to get out your bator I suppose....

 

[WingingIt]

Oh, no!

How many do you have left?

 

[ginasmarans]

I probably have about 50 left.

 

[halo]

Raccoons are the worst. Ive lost some to raccoons, too, also my fault; forgetting to close up a coop. Then once that happened they started coming back trying to get thru the top of the coop. Ive been tightening up my coops with hardware cloth, but Ive also been setting the Havahart, and am slowly working on the raccoon population. I dont know of any predator to coons, other than people, unfortunately.

 

[tadkerson]

I have problems with coons every year. The only way to get rid of coons is to kill every one that comes near your coop. Every spring a new crop of coons show up and I have to kill every one of them. I have noticed that if I kill the coons- the wild turkey population goes up in my area.

I have a a possum running around my house now. I will have to shoot it because it killed one of my young roosters that was outside the fence.

Tim

 

[gsim]

Am sorry to hear of your loss. It must have been quite a shock. I electrified my run with a 5-mile 4 KV charger with 4 courses of hot wire. Even with that I still close up the coop at dusk just to be on the safe side. Neither a mouse nor a snake can get into my coop once it is shut for the night. So far, so good, but only have had chooks for less than 6 months.

I have not done any free-ranging partly because of what I have read on this web site. I have 24 pullets and just cannot watch or guard all of them. Since I have the space here, I did an oversized run instead. On occasion when one slips past my wife at the gate, she just grazes around the perimeter of her run and eventually comes full circle to the gate. I just walk along and she runs ahead of me until we come to the gate where my wife opens it at the last second and in she goes. They have never tried to just run away somewhere else if they do get out. they like to graze on the new grass I seeded alongside of the coop and out in the back yard, but always within 2 or 3 feet of the fence at all times. They never seem to take off into the woods or anywhere away from the run, so I think they are pretty happy there.

 

[DawnSuiter]

OMG How AWFUL for you!!!!

I will learn from your experience, I promise.

I have a new coon who shows up each night to eat out of my compost pile

Fortunately, this is outside the yard fence, and inside the fence are dogs and chicken coops so we've been lucky. Neither of our pellet guns affect it in anyway... I don't know what kind of gun I can get and not worry about bullets traveling... I was thinking a paint ball gun.

Right now, DH & the dogs scare it away each night... but it's been a week and that is getting old!

 

[gkeesling]

I kept having coons, 'possums, stray cats, and a skunk on occasion getting into the feed in my bar. I bought one of those live animal traps and it sure has paid for itself many times over. When I get the signs something is nosing around I set the trap and ususally have the critter in the trap the next morning. I shoot it, dump it out, and set if for another. Over the past two years I've probably caught 25 coons, a few possums and stray cats, and one skunk.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm so sorry.


Get an automatic door. Best thing I ever bought.