This spring has been a battle of me against nature. I'm not talking snow and cold weather, hurricanes or even rain storms. I'm talking about all the hungry eyes you see looking back at you in the night. Much of my blog is about my efforts raising chickens, mostly for eggs but also some for meat. I love both eggs and chicken meat, so do my neighbors, family members and coworkers. Though lately I don't have many eggs to share.
I've taken great precautions to guard my flock from roaming dogs which have been a problem in the past. Last summer I woke up to find 40 dead chickens scattered all across my 1.09 acres. The obvious work a group of dogs which I'm sure (but can't prove) live in my neighborhood. Lots of fencing and dollars later, I thought my problems were over. They seemed to be, at least from roaming dogs.
A couple of months ago I noticed a dead chicken, definitely eaten by something. Dogs usually just kill them. So I'm guessing a hawk or fox had gotten one that didn't get put up at night. Some of my girls decided they liked the trees better than the coop at night.
Over the next several weeks I kept loosing hens. Either finding them dead and half eaten or simply missing. I locked up those I could get out of the trees and set traps only to have the bait taken and the trap not sprung.
Eventually with the help of a neighbor I setup a couple of trail cams and was able to record and trap not only an opossum but a raccoon as well.
Not sure which of these were bypassing my safeguards or maybe they were working together who knows. Many times the activity in my yard reminds me of old cartoons. But now the trapped chicken killers live somewhere else and the remaining girls are doing well and only have one left that prefers the trees at night.
It's a constant battle and something every chicken owner will have to deal with at some point.
Be nice to the trash collectors, you never know when you will have a bag of dead chickens for them to take away.
I've taken great precautions to guard my flock from roaming dogs which have been a problem in the past. Last summer I woke up to find 40 dead chickens scattered all across my 1.09 acres. The obvious work a group of dogs which I'm sure (but can't prove) live in my neighborhood. Lots of fencing and dollars later, I thought my problems were over. They seemed to be, at least from roaming dogs.
A couple of months ago I noticed a dead chicken, definitely eaten by something. Dogs usually just kill them. So I'm guessing a hawk or fox had gotten one that didn't get put up at night. Some of my girls decided they liked the trees better than the coop at night.
Over the next several weeks I kept loosing hens. Either finding them dead and half eaten or simply missing. I locked up those I could get out of the trees and set traps only to have the bait taken and the trap not sprung.
Eventually with the help of a neighbor I setup a couple of trail cams and was able to record and trap not only an opossum but a raccoon as well.
Not sure which of these were bypassing my safeguards or maybe they were working together who knows. Many times the activity in my yard reminds me of old cartoons. But now the trapped chicken killers live somewhere else and the remaining girls are doing well and only have one left that prefers the trees at night.
It's a constant battle and something every chicken owner will have to deal with at some point.
Be nice to the trash collectors, you never know when you will have a bag of dead chickens for them to take away.
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