Predators and Pests

Double play...2 racoons in one trap??

feeds@yuku.com (tinkertoyyorki) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:46:52 GMT

I have caught more critters with that trap. I went out to the chicken area
and thought I caught a 2 headed coon. It was a couple. You could tell male
and female. They took out a bunch of my chickens before this.

So far I've caught 5 possums and 5 coons. The trap really paid for itself now.

Mosquitoes in coop

feeds@yuku.com (lingrahm) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:05:32 GMT

I'm in FL and every time I open the door to the nest boxes a swarm of mosquitoes fly around. I have one broody setting on the nest without eggs and the mosquitoes are buzzing around her too. Is there a spray that I can safely use?

FEATHER EATING BUGS?

feeds@yuku.com (ILUVCHKNS) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:04:40 GMT

I have to get a handle on something eating my birds feathers...at first I thought it was just normal roos fighting roos, roos breeding with hens...yadayada. But then my 95 year old father in law came to see the critters, and he calls me and says he thinks my birds have bugs. He says to paint the coop with burnt motor oil, and get ashes for the birds to dust in. I am willing to do this? but I think I let it go too far for the birds to control themselves. So!! I got bird dust from...

Sparrows are helping themselves to the chicken feed

feeds@yuku.com (GrannaOnTheFarm) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:43:57 GMT

I've always fed my girls outdoors under a small 3'x4' homemade lean-to. I figured they would be calmer if they didn't have to watch the sky while they ate! It may have kept the sparrows away for a few years but now they come to dinner like its put out for them. I've noticed more and more sparrows eating the chicken food lately and am getting tired of buying feed for them. I put layer mash in one of those 4' troughs with the twirly thing that keeps the chickens from...

What could this be? Someting is gnawing into the coop through the wood

feeds@yuku.com (Restless) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:43:26 GMT

floor under the coop from the outside, stealing eggs, and hoarding them under the coop. I knew about something gnawing in, because I put a rock over the hole, and the animal gnaws next to it and makes another opening. I didn't realize about the egg hoarding until yesterday I when I was cleaning the cement floor next to the coop and I could see several different chicken eggs under the coop. I have an electric fence surrounding the entire coop and run, and the chickens and chicks have...

Skunks

feeds@yuku.com (grandrapidshippie) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:23:35 GMT

I'm new on here and pretty new to having chickens. My girlies are about 4 months old and my daughter saw a skunk in the backyard yesterday. We live in the city and may be breaking city ordinance by having chickens. Will the skunk kill my chickens? Can they protect themsleves? Will it dig under my run? Can I call the city about the skunk do you think?

Just worried about losing my girls.

Christian

I have a stinkin fox!

feeds@yuku.com (FoxTrapperSteph) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:50:51 GMT

Darn thing wasn't around when I was trapping, now everything is grown up and full of poison ivy where I normally set traps. I have options- I can set traps by the yard BUT the cats or even the free roaming poultry like the guineas might get in them. The chickens are all locked into coops with runs except 2 roosters I don't really care for, but 3 of the scovy ducks have free range( I have 5 big ducklings penned), the turkeys are free range as always, and my guineas and geese too. The...

A hawk's "MO" (method of operation) for killing

feeds@yuku.com (swsoutherlands) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:21:00 GMT

My buff orpington hen was found dead yesterday morning and since then my husband & I have had a debate on what could have killed her. She was a big chicken and I doubt that it could have been a cat (his theory). I couldn't bring myself to look at her, but he said it was obvious to him that the predator had grabbed her around the neck and there was quite a struggle. And then when she had died it had taken some chunks out of her. We have 4 foot chicken wire fencing around half their pen...

bugs in my feed?

feeds@yuku.com (newchickenmomma) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:48:03 GMT

I have not written in awhile, but last night my hubby went to give the chickens scratch, now mind you this bag has been sitting around for a little bit, unopened even. There were hundreds and hundreds of these little ugly bugs, can anyone tell me what they are? they are visible, cant think of the size, like the size of a normal sized tick maybe, not the tiny things you can barely see, but the regular sized ones, similar to that. I wish I got a pic, but I was soooo grossed out. needless to...

whos droppings r these?

feeds@yuku.com (poison1981) — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:49:41 GMT

Recently I have had an animal attacking my pens I was just wondering what it is I found these droppings what do they look like ? Only chickens I have are OEGB so very small birds!

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b336/animals1981/?start=40

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b336/animals1981/?start=20

these are the same wild dogs that I have seen around my house

feeds@yuku.com (poison1981) — Mon, 26 May 2008 10:57:38 GMT

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/4634/Indiana_Canids_Mystery__Wolfdogs_running_wild/

EXact same only the ones near my house are sometimes pure black! I have seen so many of them! I KNOW They are not coyotes because they look exactly like the dogs in that video! THey come close to the house sometimes. I am curious does anyone else in this world have these?...

be careful with insecticides

feeds@yuku.com (mamapeeps) — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:01:37 GMT

I routinely scan a journal called "Medscape" and this just showed up in my box today... Antiflea Pet Shampoos with Pyrethrin May Play a Role in Autism Pregnant women who shampooed their pets with these products had increased odds of having an autistic child, in a study investigating household pesticides. (7th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research.) So please, be careful what you use around your family!

a massacre this morning

feeds@yuku.com (Willjbg) — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:35:43 GMT

Hey there,

Just had to vent some...
I woke up this morning to take care of the birds, went outside and saw bodies in the yard----pigeons.
Something tore the chicken wire off the door to the coop and got in and just had a fun time killing birds... bodies and parts everywhere, I lost almost 75% of my birds, including my favorite Lahores.
What a mess!

I think I am just in shock... predator attacks are just devastating!

Fortunately all the chickens...

Im soo UPSET! Which is it? Please help!

feeds@yuku.com (Zimas Mouseteria) — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:21:54 GMT

Few min ago, when I let dogs outside after waking up. The first thing I saw was feathers over there coming from this hid nest where my BEST BROODY HEN, Hawky, hid. Theres no eggs uner her yet. Was planning to order guinea eggs for her. She was my best one. She raised alot of chicks in past. Ive had her pretty long time. Shes Black Bearded Ginger Red Amercicana. And now, shes GONE! Something MURDERED her overnight! But hey, that is not all!
Last week, something MURDERED one of my...

I swear this is..

feeds@yuku.com (MommaChickie) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:47:18 GMT

the worst day of my life.

I woke up at six, expecting to see my chickens roaming around the yard as usual.
3 of my babies get up bright and early and fly over the 6 foot fence to come up to the house and get treats in the morning.
But nobody's to be seen.

I wait for it to get brighter out, thinking they were just sleeping,
and i look into my backyard to see piles of white, brown, and black feathers.

I immediately put on my shoes and went out...

Help with a Killer

feeds@yuku.com (Animal123Animal) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:46:54 GMT

Hello All
I had something get in my bantam coop last night and it killed one of my showgirls. I have had chickens at this house for about 17 years off and on and have not lost a chicken before last night. I live in the middle of the city and have no big critters out there, I do have Skunks, Coon and opossums come by every now and then but have never had them do anything to the chicken before. The hen was in a small rabbit hutch with a little door on it so just the bantams use it to roost...

What killed my chickens?

feeds@yuku.com (rotorhound7) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:25:49 GMT

Had a chicken murderin' criter of some kind get in my hen house and kill 4 hens and a rooster. Didn't eat any of them just had all the tail feathers pulled out. I lived in the Pacific NW and we have about every predator known. One friend told me that a coon will do that trying to get to the eggs, any ideas?

Thanks

Wildcat!

feeds@yuku.com (Farmwoman) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:43:20 GMT

Such a shame. He's beautiful but...
He weighed 45 pounds after eating my entire flock of chicken dinners and my elderly neighbor couple's geese and ducks. (Over about 4 months) I had the hardest time trying to figure out what was after them. I think I actually started out with a mink due to the initial symptoms. ( Heads missing ) My live trap wouldn't catch that.
Then I started finding piles of feathers and the feet of the victim around the vicinity of the coops and...

Anyone else notice a Surge in Rats this year?

feeds@yuku.com (KYbirder) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:00:17 GMT

Is it just me or is anyone else having this HUGE rat problem? This year the rats have invaded after never having noticed a problem before. Now they are everywhere, come out boldly in the daytime, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, there has got to be HUNDREDS of them EVERYWHERE! The cats & dog do NOTHING! So I am about to resort to poison. It is that severe. I tried the 1c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. baking soda, all they do is scamper right in front of me to get to the water. I have tried the CocaCola...

bad luck tornados and killer dogs!!!

feeds@yuku.com (howmanynamesdoihavetotry) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:48:55 GMT

Last month our home barn and shed were destroyed in the tornados in arkansas. Somehow all our chickens, Ducks, geese, goats and sheep and horses survived even though the barn they were in was taken and thrown to the neighbors house. The kids and I fortunately were not there when it happened. We went to stay with inlaws and i was making daily trips to our place to tend the animals. well after a couple of weeks with no problems some wolf hybrid dogs from about a mile away came and in one...