Lock down your coop, there is around 8000 mink escaped from the fur farm recently. :(
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/19/up-to-8000-minks-cut-loose-pennsylvania-fur-farm/70903974007/?mibextid=S66gvF
We had been having predator attack issues for the past couple months. Every now and then and sometimes multiple days in a row. We would find a bird or two completely neck and headless. It would happen just as it got dark right outside the coop. Hubby and I just finished putting up a 50x50 coop...
My Neighbour just lost half her flock to a pair of mink last week. Our coops are close to each other and it was a miracle that the mink did not make it over and get my 15 chickens. My chickens have been locked up and secured in the coop since the attack and her remaining chickens in her coop...
So she was my first ever chicken and first chicken that ever died. We found her dead with her back end gone. It was nothing else but her top end. It also ate her intestines including the part where she produces her egg. It was no blood or any feather scattered around on the ground so I’m...
From aerial to ground predators, chickens often fall prey to many of these. There are many different things that happen from the most obvious to the least. No matter what, it seems like they're always getting into trouble. But we can limit predator attacks if we know how to prevent them. From...
We found our hen 30 feet from the coop dead with no visible wounds.
What would cause this?
I also have an automatic door that closes 20 minutes after sunset. The door was broken- so we think she was crushed?
And moved 30 feet? Is that possible?
We did find blood by door. A small amount. Door is...
So what does a fox kill typically look like? It must have been interrupted? No other injury beyond a fatal neck puncture.
I Lost my best layer the other day. It was very overcast and rather dark out midday. I must have just missed the kill by an hour or two as she was still warm ☹️.
She had...
We have had ducks for about 4 years now and we have finally managed to proof our duck house and the enclosure they live in from raccoons, foxes, hawks, and other various larger predators. In the last few months though, we have had 2 minks get into the enclosure. The first time, the ducks were...
I'm fortunate to live on an island without a lot of predators: big (bear, fox, coyote, bobcat) or small (skunk, opossum, snakes). We do have transient cougars, but the deer population is quite healthy so there've been no run-ins with farmers or pet owners.
We're not without predators: there are...
We have raccoon frequenting chicken run at night in search for food scraps (the run doubles as a compost pile). I don't like that proximity of raccoon to chickens (locked in the coop at night, but still) + possibility of decease transmission via food sharing or feces. I recon it is time to spend...
I am thinking of building hoop house coop with 6mil plastic over 1/2" hardware cloth for the roof and walls. Will raccoon/mink destroy the plastic trying to get to the chickens before they encounter hardware cloth? Anybody with hoop houses for coops and predators - how do you manage them?
I thought my run was very secure but there was a small gap between two overlapping hardware wire. No more than an inch by two or perhaps three inches. It was enough to let in a mink. It killed 17 8 week old babies between about 10:30 last night until I woke up around 6 am. I noticed the security...