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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Robert Walton wrote:
> My chickens and guineas free range. Sounds like yours are in a fenced
>  enclosure.

They used to be totally free-ranged until the neighbor's dog started
coming over here to kill 'em.  We are building a new coop inside the
garden perimeter fence.  The perimeter fence is 8 feet tall, but it is
made of several different kinds of fencing-it was intended to deter
deer, not raccoons.  Anyway, I intend to build the small 8x8 coop inside
the garden fence, and then run a moat around the inside perimeter for
the chickens.  At the moment, however, the chickens are running loose in
the 75x100 fenced area.
> Some ideas:
>
> Sprinkle powdered lime around the hen house. Maybe you can get some 
> tracks to identify what it is and where it gets in.

No hen house at present.  The ground was soft in the area where I found
the dead chicken, but no tracks.


> Leave a radio playing in the hen house on talk radio if you can get 
> it.

I used to do that a long time ago when the chickens were in the barn
area.  I am going to start it again tonight.

> Make some sort of scarecrow, but putyour dirty shit on it each day 
> when you come home for the fresh scent.
>
> The dog might help. I lost some birds to my LGD when she first got 
> here this summer, but now she is OK with the birds. She is usually 
> not where the chickens are when whatever comes around. But since 
> yours are penned up, any dog should bark if something comes up.

If a dog is in a nearby kennel, but not specifically with the birds, do
you think that would deter a coon or weasel?


> Do you have an electric fencer?

Yes, I do.  I may have to do that, too.  6" up??

> As far a what the predator is, doesn't a weasel work at night? Mine 
> is a fox/coyote/stray dog and maybe also a bobcat. I found the kill 
> site with feathers, but the bird was gone. Maybe yours just ate the 
> head cause it had to get out quick and couldn't drag the body with?

I dunno.  I may have multiple predators.  Coyotes are really, really bad
this year and have devastated livestock in the area, including goats and
sheep down the road, and a zebra in a neighboring county(that exotic
farm is only about 10 miles through the woods from here)

First, they were just disappearing, no bodies....coyote, dog, bobcat?
At the time this was happening, they were protected from above at night,
so I ruled out owl.
Then, I found a dead chicken with no head...raccoon, possum, weasel?
Then another, halfway through the fence...
Then 3 more, one in the fence, one inside and one outside, all headless
Now, some are missing and I found the dead headless one.
The dead ones outside the fence were gone within one night (I wasn't
here to pick them up, neighbor was watching the place)..

I have never seen a raccoon here...never, but my neighbor with a
wildlife cam has seen them, and this is a popular coon hunting area, so
I KNOW they are here.  Perhaps they are just now finding my place.  I
put in a small tadpole pond in the center of the garden this year, and I
am wondering if that water source is simply making things real
convenient for Mr. Raccoon to wash, drink, and clean up.  The dead
chickens are usually found lying within 25 feet of the garden pond.

Bev

--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky