Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[old fashioned]

WOW SD, so sorry about your chickens Some of the feather loss may be due to the stress & it may be awhile before you get eggs again. I know with mine, they can get 'stressed' over even minor stuff & it's like they 'plug it up' for a few days. Once they calm down & think it's safe they'll be laying again....probably about a week, I'd guess

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with your journal or enough posts elsewhere to know about your coop system, but it sounds like you have them in a dog kennel or something similar? If so, those usually aren't much larger than 12' are they? And if that's true, then it's not really big enough for an owl, hawk or eagle to get in or out of since they are so large they need alot of room for 'take off' so to speak. We had a wild goose land in our back yard once (before we got chickens) but it couldn't get out so hubby had to catch it & take it to a bigger area so it could fly away. So that would make me think more of a land animal like the coon & they are quite adept at climbing. I've seen one before near the top of a cottonwood tree....close to 15' or 20' feet high. It's possible it could have been a bobcat, but how would it have gotten into your coop? Unless there is a hole dug under somewhere that it's gotten thru... I don't know for sure & I may be wrong, but I would think a bobcat would be more bold & more interested in the hunt of it's dinner. Sleeping chickens aren't much sport. Whereas with a coon, they are much more sneaky & opportunistic. My only hesitation here is most coons aren't THAT much bigger than a BO & I'd think they'd be a little more hesitant with so many birds. Either way, I'd still think the chickens would have made enough noise to alert the dogs even before the actual attack.

The only other possibility would be one of the dogs, when nobody was looking and I hate to say that but you did mention one of your dogs had already killed one of your roosters? Or did I misinterpret? The thing here is that the chickens would be used to the dogs enough to not sound the alarm beforehand. I dunno, I hope I'm wrong

 

[savingdogs]

You raise several valid points, but our "run" is actually several dog kennels hooked together, and then the end is extended with some makeshift but unclimbable lower fencing too. So I do think an owl could fly in and out. That is why it is hard to cover, it is a large pen. A bobcat could probably spring into the low side, but they would have to be very close to our house and inside a different fence to accomplish that.

We had been leaving the coop door open....

So it was easy to get in once they were in the pen. Nothing has gotten into that pen in three years so we got lazy.

We are thinking coon is very likely. We are making the cover pretty hard to penetrate. Hopefully coon proof. But the best part is that the chickens will not be able to leave that area when we let them "out" which will keep them much safer from my dog that kills chickens, and that same dog can now patrol out there if the chickens are not flying into her mouths. She is a karelian bear dog and nothing much messes with her.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Hey, SD, I was just popping in and so sorry to read about your losses! I completely understand!

I also want to answer your question - YES coons can climb chain link fencing/dog kennels.

I only know this, because the coon that took out my Jett was hanging on the inside of the kennel. HUGE coon. We introduced her to buckshot. No more coon. But, she was getting in and out by climbing over the kennel and squeezing through the top (which IS covered with chicken wire). So make sure you have it covered TIGHT!

Hopefully nothing comes back after your flock now that you have the light working.

 

[savingdogs]

Gosh I hope our method works, if coons can get through a run with a chicken wire top, this may not be enough. I'll just have to make 100 percent sure every chicken is in the coop proper in there and locked up tight every night I guess. I would think if a coon made it inside, it would have a hard time getting back out, so at least we would have that one trapped in the "aviary".

I did have some trash outside last night and something got into it. I think my varmit found something easier to snack on than chicken-in-a-coop. I want to make sure we are offering NOTHING to tempt the rascals and I'm mad at Trouble for leaving the trash accessible.

I did discover something interesting through all this, my EE chickens can fly excellently. Three of them wanted to roost in some alder trees last night, and we watched them take flight and do a pretty fair job of flying across the yard. My rhode island reds cannot come CLOSE to flying that well. My speckled sussex seem to be kind of fly-hop-fly kinda gals, like my remaining orloff. But any of my birds with Buff Orpington blood can't seem to get themselves off the ground at all. They must feel a little cheated!

 

[valmom]

Just catching up on everything today- so sorry to hear about your chickens! We had a coon in the coop too. SO had to shoot it since it climbed out and went up a tree and we had to go to work and couldn't sit and watch all day while coon-proofing the coop. Well, hopefully coon proofing the coop. Our chicken fortress is also large with the coop in the middle of it. We have nylon bird netting over the whole thing that is tied down to the coop fence all along the edges. I know a coon can chew through the nylon, but it just woulnd't be possible to put chicken wire over the whole top!

Good luck with the varmint, whatever it is.

 

[abifae]

I did discover something interesting through all this, my EE chickens can fly excellently. Three of them wanted to roost in some alder trees last night, and we watched them take flight and do a pretty fair job of flying across the yard. My rhode island reds cannot come CLOSE to flying that well. My speckled sussex seem to be kind of fly-hop-fly kinda gals, like my remaining orloff. But any of my birds with Buff Orpington blood can't seem to get themselves off the ground at all. They must feel a little cheated!

How embarrassing to be a bird that can't fly!

 

[savingdogs]

Abi, chickens are not really supposed to be able to fly. My other breeds can barely do more than flap their wings and pretend (and probably dream!). But the EEs are a lighter weight bird, and much prettier. I know they are mutts but oh well, they are just the prettiest chickens.

 

[abifae]

Yeh. But I always think that they know they are birds, and should be able to.

They must look at their wings and look at the REAL birds and get confused

 

[savingdogs]

I agree! I love to watch my chickens, that is one of my favorite passtimes.

 

[valmom]

Our EEs also fly pretty well. At least the young ones do- they have more energy than the old girls to expend! My 6 going on 7 year old chickens can't be bothered. The old girls just look at the adolescents and look like they are wondering what all the fuss is about.