Chicken/egg question

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Sorry if i am too technical for you. 😃😄😀😀
Not at all. The one I have, which is probably 20 years old now, is 7" wide by 8" tall by 24" long and has worked well for possums large and small and for large rats. I put at small bowl of peanut butter near the back, but not close enough to the sides that they could get to it from the outside.

Some of the holes in the wire are 1"x1" and some are 1"x1/2". So you know how big the rats were - they could not squeeze through a 1" square hole!
 
I'm heartbroken. The little bastard took the baby. The mom is so sad and I think a little injured. I held her and she mad sad noises. I cried a little. There aren't any signs of a struggle either. Looks like 2 huge roosters would have at least put up a fight. I have been walking around and there are zero feathers or body parts.

I slept with the window open and neither dog barked nor did I hear the chickens.
 
Leon likes to chase the chickens around the perimeter of the fence. He is on inside. He was running and the chicken hit the fence then hit a tree and I grabbed her and the possum had broken her wing and blinded her in one eye.

I put up a motion detector and hopefully fixed the possum's entrance.
 
Not at all. The one I have, which is probably 20 years old now, is 7" wide by 8" tall by 24" long and has worked well for possums large and small and for large rats. I put at small bowl of peanut butter near the back, but not close enough to the sides that they could get to it from the outside.

Some of the holes in the wire are 1"x1" and some are 1"x1/2". So you know how big the rats were - they could not squeeze through a 1" square hole!
You know I was joking don't you? They say if they can get their head in, they are good to go.

Question....... do you think he has figured out that if he flips the cage, he can get in and not trip the latch? The cages are always on their side.
 
Had a chicken missing and found her out back in the woods. This one seemed blind, deaf or dazed. She could not find her way home so I chased her for about 30 minutes and finally threw a net over her. After she realized it was me, she just lay in my arms and relaxed.

I fixed the gate with traps, nets, fencing, etc. I'm also sleeping on the couch with the window open so that surely Leon or Zeus will hear something.

I have my gun, big pointy stick and flashlight at the ready. ;)
 
Well, the plot thickens. We have a tandem tag team. One night possum and the next raccoon. Have a great pic of him, mask and all.

Killed another chicken (one of my speckled sussex) and I was right here. No noise, no messed up fence and he didn't trip cages. This is getting old. Leon was right here too and the chickens were quiet

He didn't break into the same spot because the wire is still in place. This is getting very old.
 
After my daughter's birthday lunch, I am going to go crazy with security.

Question...... would it be better to leave their door open so they can at least have a chance to get away. The way it is, they are in an 8x8 death box with no chance of escape.
 
Question....... do you think he has figured out that if he flips the cage, he can get in and not trip the latch? The cages are always on their side.
That would be beyond a possum's mental capacity, LOL. Probably turned it over trying to get at the bait from the side. You need to secure it somehow.
 
After my daughter's birthday lunch, I am going to go crazy with security.

Question...... would it be better to leave their door open so they can at least have a chance to get away. The way it is, they are in an 8x8 death box with no chance of escape.
Is your coop critter proof? If it is, lock them up at night. Maybe consider an auto door, close at dusk and open at dawn. At night time the chickens won't leave the "safety" of their coop.
We lost a hen the other day. It was day time and not a mark on her. Right now our hens only have access to the garden and orchard, same as the ducks.
 
In all the time that we've had chickens on this place we only lost 1 hen to a coyote. We never lock the chickens in at night and they free range all day, right now they're in the garden. I've seen coyote tracks in their run and have watched bears walk by and look in the coop window. Never a problem. Since I don't want to keep pushing my luck I'm going to add an auto door to their coop.
I'm in the process of building another coop that will house some broody hens and a rooster. They will be for future replacement hens.
 
Is your coop critter proof? If it is, lock them up at night. Maybe consider an auto door, close at dusk and open at dawn. At night time the chickens won't leave the "safety" of their coop.
We lost a hen the other day. It was day time and not a mark on her. Right now our hens only have access to the garden and orchard, same as the ducks.
The bottom of the run is critter proof and human proof. The top is covered with netting for the hawks. I am adding another layer of netting today and going back to the drawing board on the wire covering the vents at top of coop. That is where they are getting in. Once they have an initial kill, they keep coming back. Plus, I am bringing in more cages.
Is your coop critter proof? If it is, lock them up at night. Maybe consider an auto door, close at dusk and open at dawn. At night time the chickens won't leave the "safety" of their coop.
We lost a hen the other day. It was day time and not a mark on her. Right now our hens only have access to the garden and orchard, same as the ducks.
 
The bottom of the run is critter proof and human proof. The top is covered with netting for the hawks. I am adding another layer of netting today and going back to the drawing board on the wire covering the vents at top of coop. That is where they are getting in. Once they have an initial kill, they keep coming back. Plus, I am bringing in more cages.
Time to find somebody with coon dogs and hunt them down where they live relentlessly.
 
If your box traps aren't working on the coon, go get some dog proof traps. Bait them with marshmallows, syrup, and or honey. There's also some very good commercial coon bait available. Its virtually impossible for a dog to get caught or even a cat in one of these traps. They really work good on coon. They usually have DP traps at most feed stores and many sporting goods stores too. I think Cabelas carrys them and I know Sportsmans Warehouse carries them too. What do you have to lose, except more chickens.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top