They came again last night. We found prints in the barn--lots and lots of coon prints. But, we still can't figure out how they are getting into the coop and the pen. As before, doors were locked, so its not a door being left open. Windows were closed and locked. No holes that we could find-except for 1 and we blocked it up. I don't think a coon could have gotten in that hole, and no way a coon could have carried a full grown chicken out the little hole. A few survived the attack, some died today. We now have 2 yellow ducks, 1 black duck and 1 leghorn chicken. Thats all. One duck lost 1 eye, and the other may have lost both. No vets around here treat birds either...
I talked to a wildlife agent who confirmed that coons will eat a chicken down to the feet and will snap the bone so clean that it looks like a knife cut. (scarey). He also said they have been known to chew thru chicken wire and even hardware cloth. Apprently June is the month around here where the parents teach the young how to kill and hunt. If they are doing that, then they will kill more than they will eat (for the practice I guess). But, we found no prints of any kind in the coop or the pen.
The paper had a deal in it about 4 seperate reports of people finding a man sleeping in their barn. So, maybe we have had a combination of that and coons?? We will probably never know.
DH is off Monday, so we plan on electrifing the feed barrel. Something is eating the feed in it and tipping it over. So, we will hook up an electric fence charger to it. I wonder if a coon will turn it off....
I know for a fact they can open some types of locks-a girlfriend in college had one and it would let itself in and out of his cage. He would also open the kitchen cabinets and get into the catfood and lift the toilet seat to get a drink.
The only other think we can think of, if the coons are going under the coop and coming up thru the floor somewhere. It has a wood floor, but since its covered with wood shavings and straw, we can't see all the floor. Tomorrow I will take the shavings and straw out and examine the floor.
The survivors seem to want to sleep in the pen rather than in the coop, so that makes us think the invadors are coming in thru the coop then getting over to the pen. Its unusual for them not to sleep in their nests or roost.
Between what I paid for the birds and their feed, I am out around $216. I have been keeping track because I was planning on selling eggs.
Lost more poultry
June 16th, 2007 at 05:25 am
June 16th, 2007 at 05:43 am 1181972584
We had racoons, coyotes as well as mink and rats all doing damage to the flock at different times. One thing that did make a bit of difference is a radio playing at night......Fortunately we had no close neighbors. But, the noise seemed to ward off at least the timid critters. I also tied plastic grocery bags all over the outside of the fence & coop area, which made a bunch of noise when anything touched them, or the wind blew.
Best of luck figuring out which kind of critter you're providing meals for!!!
June 16th, 2007 at 02:23 pm 1182003803
Are there any roof vents that they could be crawling through?
June 16th, 2007 at 04:57 pm 1182013058