Well, many of you older posters would know me better, as I was extremely active on the old BYC, but then cut back drastically to an occasional post.
The reason I'm back is to warn others... what was once "predator proof" can degrade in time, and jeopardize the safety of your birds. I learned this lesson the hard way, last night. A couple of days ago, I realized that the integrity of my run was compromised when I lost a bird that was in it. I thought... no problem, just be more careful about securing the chicken door at night, and all will be well.
Last night, at around 11 pm. I discovered this wasn't to be the case. I heard squealing coming from the 3 young birds' pen that was in the coop... I went out and found that one had (the one I was SURE would grow into a hen) been killed by something pulling part of it through the 1/2" by 1" cage that separated the babies from the grandmas.. I called my husband to help me as I felt unsure of what else Imight find. Walking around the coop, I was stunned to see things all discombobulated outside of my external nest box. Closer inspection showed that the wood on one of the top corners had been gnawed through right by one of the hinges (five years of weather had softened the rain-exposed wood up)so that the nest box door could be squeezed into by varmint. Shining alight through this hole, we saw a dead barred rock.... but what we didn't see was the killer, who was also lurking in the box. We carefully opened up the nest box, revealing a raccoon, eating one of my old girls. We slammed down the box and my DH ran for his pellet gun. He pumped a pellet into it at close range... but it lumbered off. Hopefully, he hit it in a tender spot that won't allow it to recover and come back for more....
But please, take care to thoroughly check the condition of Older Wood in your coops.... after time, wood/fencing exposed to the elements can degrade, turning what was once secure into a risky environment for your birds.
mp
The reason I'm back is to warn others... what was once "predator proof" can degrade in time, and jeopardize the safety of your birds. I learned this lesson the hard way, last night. A couple of days ago, I realized that the integrity of my run was compromised when I lost a bird that was in it. I thought... no problem, just be more careful about securing the chicken door at night, and all will be well.
Last night, at around 11 pm. I discovered this wasn't to be the case. I heard squealing coming from the 3 young birds' pen that was in the coop... I went out and found that one had (the one I was SURE would grow into a hen) been killed by something pulling part of it through the 1/2" by 1" cage that separated the babies from the grandmas.. I called my husband to help me as I felt unsure of what else Imight find. Walking around the coop, I was stunned to see things all discombobulated outside of my external nest box. Closer inspection showed that the wood on one of the top corners had been gnawed through right by one of the hinges (five years of weather had softened the rain-exposed wood up)so that the nest box door could be squeezed into by varmint. Shining alight through this hole, we saw a dead barred rock.... but what we didn't see was the killer, who was also lurking in the box. We carefully opened up the nest box, revealing a raccoon, eating one of my old girls. We slammed down the box and my DH ran for his pellet gun. He pumped a pellet into it at close range... but it lumbered off. Hopefully, he hit it in a tender spot that won't allow it to recover and come back for more....
But please, take care to thoroughly check the condition of Older Wood in your coops.... after time, wood/fencing exposed to the elements can degrade, turning what was once secure into a risky environment for your birds.
mp
