Not Long for This World | Chickens in the Road

7-17
5:03
am

SSS!

CATRAY44 - Reply to this comment

7-17
5:21
am

Heh, welcome to my world. There’s a bounty out on at least one if not more ‘coons here in Michigan. They’ve killed about 30 of our chickens-wiped out the whole flock of exotics. The husband is leaving today to go to Missouri’s Cackle hatchery and buy more. The last few days he’s been rigging up a hot fence to make them stand up and take notice, unfortunately that works for the larger animals, not the weasel that killed the chicks that he had in cages, in a secure (or so we thought) building.

Lisa - Reply to this comment

7-17
5:30
am

Oh yes, you have to get rid of those!

Christine - Reply to this comment

7-17
6:00
am

Raccoons are too smart for their own good (and the good of our chickens) and they are totally opportunistic. If they can’t get the whole hen, they’ll pull any part they can through a wire fence or hole and rip/gnaw it off. If they can get to the hens easily, they’ll just eat the more appealing parts (to them) very gross. There’s nothing cute about them when they’re chomping their way through a flock of hens.

BuckeyeGirl - Reply to this comment

7-17
6:08
am

OMG!! I’m sorry you lost a hen like that. Coons can be nasty.

Heidi - Reply to this comment

7-17
6:42
am

Where was MEAN Rooster … hiding in the back behind the girls???

Had a coon raiding our garage for dog biscuits … fighting with the neighbor’s cat about them too … so the biscuits got locked up behind a steel door and we cleaned up the garage with PineSol … smells like a vet’s kennel (PeeeYuuuuee) and we clamped down on the garage doors.

Living in the city, shooting isn’t an option, just preventive measures. Got any hot pepper flakes to spike their treats?

m -

7-17
6:57
am

Oh Suz’
Mercy, mercy, mercy!…Hope it wasn’t the little sitten‘, broodin’ chicko…I knew she wasn’t really the party gal…a sitten’ hen is easy game….You just gotta’ keep movin’ and grooving’….
Where is that yellow-bellied, spur raising, chicken-feathered ingrate ‘mean Roo’ when you really need him! I tell ya’ I’ve got his number! The intimidating coward! You’ll have to show those bandits that this ain’t no Beverly Hills and you ain’t no Elly May! Some “critters” just don’t belong together!

PS…..Five of em’ huh….‘COONSKIN CAPS FOR EVERYONE! ALRIGHT……!
PS… Move the cat food and cats indoors before the raccoon roast! …
PS….and make sure sweet Spice doesn’t open the door! Oh mercy, mercy!

B. Ruth - Reply to this comment

7-17
7:05
am

One of these killed 13 of our Guineas!! Just left a carnage behind. We must know his brother because at least they’ll eventually be together! (out of this world …)

Michelle - Reply to this comment

7-17
8:14
am

You need some coyote pee in a spritz bottle! (That’s what works for us at least.) You should be able to get some at a hunting supply store. Then again, I live in a city with only some light woods incorporated….hopefully it would work in beautiful wild country like yours.

Gini - Reply to this comment

7-17
8:42
am

We had a barn kitten massacre perpetrated by two racoons last week – 5 kittens – the mom died later of injuries received. We had to powerwash the barn and scrub it with disinfectant. Trapped one racoon – other one got away. I knew racoons were omnivores, but geeze – kittens?

Anita - Reply to this comment

7-17
9:45
am

We have been having outbreaks of rabid racoons here in southern WV.so everyone beware.

jane - Reply to this comment

7-17
10:27
am

before you get rid of the racoons, can you tie the mean rooster out on your backporch?

just thinking
margiesbooboo

margiesbooboo - Reply to this comment

7-17
2:52
pm

You may also want to consider the granulated coyote pee, or some of the really, really hot powered pepper and surround your garden with it. A soft-spoken vegetarian I know had her large garden raided two weekends ago. Never get between a vegetarian and her much beloved garden. It turns even the most mild-mannered of vegetarians into battle ready warriors with a vocabulary to match any sailor.

SarahKoski - Reply to this comment

7-17
8:05
pm

The first year we were here, raccoons got into my coop and killed 9 of my hens. That was their last supper.

KentuckyFarmGirl - Reply to this comment

7-18
5:38
am

We keep getting rid of our coons and more keep showing up. Quit frankly, part of the problem is the people who like to do the “catch and release” because they don’t want to hurt the poor things. First off, that is ILLEGAL (unless you know of someone who doesn’t mind coons on their land) and secondly it is beyond RUDE. I can’t stand it! They are just making it someone else’s problem.

Beth - Reply to this comment

7-19
1:28
am

A 12 guage is the most satisfactory solution, IMHO.

Ms E - Reply to this comment

7-19
2:43
am

We lost our last banty, a Sebright rooster, he was mean and I hated him, but that was no way to die! He was taken when he was outside the chicken coop right outside the gate of the chicken yard, the Ameraucana Rooster would chase him out each morning and not let him back in till it was time to roost. He took over the yard when he got big enough to be not scared of the banty rooster.

And then we lost one of our White Plymouth Rocks. The racoons were getting into the chicken yard under the coop, they can get into the smallest spaces, I could not beleive it! WE had boards up to stop that but 1 sneaked in.

We set a trap and each night for 7 nights we got raccoons. Then we set 1 more night and nothing. We thought we were done. Then the next night our garbage was all over the yard (someone put the garbage in the can with no lid, while the other cans were still down by the road waiting to come back up after pick up) and it was a raccoon that did it! Set the trap for 2 more nights and got 2 more. Then no more again, so we have the trap set waiting to get more!

I hate raccoons! They kill my chickens and strew garbage all over and tear apart my bird feeders and ruin them!

Nancy Straka - Reply to this comment

7-19
2:43
am

I am sorry about your chicken, poor dear!

Nancy Straka - Reply to this comment