Joined:
May 2022
Posts:
46
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USA
Posted: 7/1/2022 8:29:07 PM EDT
| Something is getting in my coop and taking chickens one at a time. The first 2 times, I hadn't come home from work yet to lock the coop and there were adult chicken feathers everywhere. One chicken gone, the rest nervous. The second time roughly the same thing. Caught a skunk in a livetrap, dillengently shut the door at dusk since. Went to run errands today, now have chicks in a makeshift brooder. There's a screen across the top of an old box that is good enough to keep them in. Came home and still full light outside, screen off box, one chick missing and one hiding on the floor under a piece that juts out of the coop wall. Adult chicken way out front hanging out near the road way away from the coop and chicks. I'm ready to fucking murk something. Is this a racoon or what? I live in Northern New England. |
| You need to setup a camera to be sure what it is. Could be a raccoon, or a skunk, or a bear, or a fisher or pine martin, even a big hawk or eagle. I doubt a weasel or mink would be strong enough to move the screen, but most larger animals probably could and all the predator's like having chicken dinners. |
| I flew to the west coast for a week and left the coop open so my birds wouldn't die of dehydration. Came back to 4 birds instead of 8, the survivors roosting on my porch. Feed in the coop was untouched, and I found a bunch of feathers by the coop and 2 separate spots on a game trail about 100 yards away. I'm setting up a game cam today to see what visits the coop at night, and bought an xl box trap from bass pro to start catching critters in my AO. Pics will follow if I catch anything cool. |
Joined:
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Posts:
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USA
| Update: no chickens have been taken since. I set up 2 live traps with cheap tuna fish as bait. Whatever it is that's coming back tipped my live traps up and got the bait out without setting them off. Strange. Must be a coon. Foot hold trap is next. I also bought an extra game cam will set ot up soon |
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Originally Posted By RodDog: Update: no chickens have been taken since. I set up 2 live traps with cheap tuna fish as bait. Whatever it is that's coming back tipped my live traps up and got the bait out without setting them off. Strange. Must be a coon. Foot hold trap is next. I also bought an extra game cam will set ot up soon Pro-tip - don't open the can all the way. Open only a crack and tie it to the top of the trap. That keeps the animal working the bait and staying in the trap longer. |
Avatar by NorthPolar
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Originally Posted By RodDog: Update: no chickens have been taken since. I set up 2 live traps with cheap tuna fish as bait. Whatever it is that's coming back tipped my live traps up and got the bait out without setting them off. Strange. Must be a coon. Foot hold trap is next. I also bought an extra game cam will set ot up soon Coon(s) for sure. I stake the traps down. |