Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

Something got in one of our chicken houses last night. The only thing we could figure out is that it pulled the wire down from the top on the back side but it wasn't a very big opening. Five of the chicks were killed as well as two hens. Whatever it was ate the breast of one of the hens but everything else seemed to be killed just to kill. The sixth chick was nowhere to be found so the prowler must have taken that one with it.

 

[farmerjan]

Hate to say it but I strongly suspect Raccoons. They will pull the wire off if they can, and they will eat the good meat... possums seldom go so far as to pull wire off like that. Could be a weasel but doesn't fit the MO .....
I HATE raccoons worse than most any other kind of wildlife because they are so destructive... they kill for fun and will only eat a little then kill another.

 

[Bruce]

If it was a coon it doesn't fit the usual MO of just eating the head and crop. But I suspect you are right. I guess it is time for some increase predator proofing. Really sorry for your losses Mike and Teresa, heartbreaking to lose animals, especially the young ones.

 

[Mike CHS]

Mel and Maisy don't do well in the temps like we had today so when I went down to feed this afternoon, I didn't see either one of them. I walked out to a side paddock that stays more comfortable because of a stand of bamboo and called them in. Maisy came but Mel just looked at me with one of those "I'm not coming looks" so I let Maisy in to eat. She got het petting and lay down over her feed bowl but couldn't quit looking out the door to see where Mel was. I asked her if she wanted out and she ran toward the gate and when I let her out she went running to the paddock where Mel was still laying down. I guess he gave her the same look since she lay down beside him and called it a day. I give them more feed in the morning feeding since neither one of them want much when it's in the mid 90's.

 

[farmerjan]

I have seldom seen coons eating the heads and crops here... they tear the body and eat... tear wings and legs off and leave the cripples in the enjoyment of just destroying stuff.

 

[Baymule]

The heat affects our dogs too. BJ feeds Paris, Carson and Trip. They eat then come see what I’m doing. I feed Sentry and Sheba in their pasture. We feed later than usual because it’s so hot.

 

[Bruce]

I have seldom seen coons eating the heads and crops here... they tear the body and eat... tear wings and legs off and leave the cripples in the enjoyment of just destroying stuff.

Maybe southern coons have a different palate than northeast coons

 

[farmerjan]

Could be @Bruce ... except the worst case of coons mangling chickens was done to a pen of over 25 half grown purebred Old English game "chicks"... they tore a corner off the mesh wire on the run, AND managed to open a hook and eye of another pen on the back door, and killed the breeding pair in there; and strew half dead chicks and parts all over the woods... in CONN. where I used to live. There were chicks with wings torn off, a few missing legs, many dead, and the dead ones had chunks out of their scrawney breasts... only 1 was missing a head. I caught 3 of the 4 coons the next night as they came back... These were half grown "teenager awkward stage" chicks..... and I have had coons go into the runs before locking up at dark after some of my purebred leghorns and my langshans also.... I shot 4 of the 5 coming out the trap door of the "big" coop... and the big male coon nearly ran me over coming out.... got that sorry s.o.b 2 nights later and didn't bat an eye when I shot him in the trap. We had some fox trouble and got one that had the worst case of mange I have ever seen.... in the middle of the day while we were out in the yard tilling the garden and I had let the chickens out while we were right out there... at least the fox had the decency to take one and run.... not kill indiscriminantly.

We have trouble with coons here, and the occasional fox and coyotes.... mostly coons and some possums. And of course that da#@ed eagle that got all the free range layers that we finally got rid of the rest since I didn't dare shoot the sorry bas#@rd.... an occasional hawk that got into the meat birds last year. But even when they get a bird... they do not go around and just kill and leave lay.....the eagle carried one off most everyday when they were out... the hawk was getting the ones that did not stay in the "greenhouse", kill it and sit and eat it right there; a fox will carry it off... but we get rid of the ones that get into them. They chip too many of the eagles, but the hawks either get discouraged or they just leave I guess.....
Maybe Vermont coons are different...

 

[Ridgetop]

Indiscriminate killing is terrible. I always think when people talk about how "cute" racoons are that if they could see what they do they might not feel that they should not be killed. Walt Disney did not think it through when he made all his cartoon animals so cute and sweet. Not to mention talkative. Anthropomorphism at its worst.

Death to predators!

Don't Mel and Maisy have access to the coop?

 

[Bruce]

Maybe Vermont coons are different...

Probably not, my personal experience was with one coon. People think they are nocturnal only but this one came back well before sundown the day after it beheaded the only chicken it could get to the night before. It was entering the coop where I had a hen in the broody buster recovering from an unknown malady. All the other girls were out ranging around the house. The only other one I've seen went in the Havahart I had set to catch groundhogs.