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Post by woodyz on Nov 5, 2017 11:07:47 GMT -7
Gone
Well, raccoon or something got into the pen and and carried them all off.
Plenty of feathers around but no bodies, more than likely in a den somewhere
Oh well, next spring I'll get some more chicks and some more Guineas and start again
gonna miss them big brown eggs
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Chickens
Nov 5, 2017 11:50:08 GMT -7
via mobile
Post by thywar on Nov 5, 2017 11:50:08 GMT -7
Dang. In a SHTF scenario that could be a devastating blow. Probably wouldn't be able to just go buy eggs or chicken to eat. Maybe not be able to buy replacements. I'm sure you had it pretty well 'theft' proof. What do you think you'll do differently next time?
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Post by woodyz on Nov 5, 2017 13:27:50 GMT -7
The chicken wire was pulled from on side to the other and overlapped so there was a foot on each outside buried so it couldn't be dug under. Same from the bottom all the way around the coop. The only openings were the doors.
A wood tight fitting door on the coop and a rectangle of wire framed 2x4 around the door. It was board to board all the way around
except at the bottom of the door, but the door wire was overlapped at the bottom crack + I had been putting a 2x3 foot wire piece at the bottom with a bucket of sand against it.
The last time my Wife went down and got eggs she didn't put the extra wire or the bucket back in place and they got through the crack at the bottom. Only about an 1 1/2 crack, and I had planned on just adding a board to the inside of the door at the bottom to cover the crack when the door was closed, but I didn't yet. (about 3 years)
So I asked my Wife why she fed the chickens .............
to the raccoon
But it's my own fault and all I have to do is put that strip of board at the bottom of the door, like I planned and it will be good to go.
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Post by woodyz on Nov 5, 2017 13:42:07 GMT -7
In the mean time I'll set a few traps and bet I will catch a momma coon and two or three 4 or 5 month old young un's.
I can't set foot traps because of our cat, but I'll put some chicken bones in a couple of live traps.
I have cages inside the coop from when we were raising quail so I have plenty of space for a dz or so chicks this spring, until I can turn them loose in one of the runs.
So its about six months until I can get eggs again, unless I went and bought some culls from one of the egg farms here and butcher them once mine get to laying again.
I think in a SH&f situation I would have been quicker to fix the crack. I have two separate runs with two separate coops but wasn't using one side so in Sh&f I think two sets might have avoided the total loss.
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Post by woodyz on Nov 5, 2017 13:54:08 GMT -7
Also once the guinea fowl get up this time I will let them free range again. Even though they will have about a 25% chance of making it with the dogs that are allowed to run here despite the rules against it.
Three sets of people here have multiple dogs in run pens, but once in a while they will let them out to run and they will chase and kill chickens.
They know I will kill their dogs if I catch them on my property even when I am not letting chickens out, but I don't usually see them until its too late.
Once the dogs came under my back gate and chased the guinea's over the fence. I shot the dog that didn't jump the fence (3 did) and I took him to the vet and had his broken shoulder fixed. Just a .22. The owner, once found paid the vet bill and apologized and was understanding and said they wouldn't be loose any more, but I have seen them since.
I don't want to shoot anyone's dogs, but I will.
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Post by woodyz on Nov 5, 2017 15:36:38 GMT -7
In Sh%f I think I would keep traps set near the chicken coop all the time.
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