Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living trying to get my chickens?

Was watching a World Cup game I had recorded Sunday night, after my wife had gone to bed. My boy dog went outside and set up a ruckus, not his normal "I see a deer in the field" barking, this one had growls mixed in. He was over in the corner of the yard by the coop too. SO I roused myself to investigate and saw this one outside the coop next to the woodpile. From where I was standing I couldn't see evidence of him trying to dig under..........yet. He didn't appear to be in the mood to be chased off by the dog or myself, so I went back inside, told the wife, put the girl dog (the scared one) in the room with her, grabbed the 12g and some shells. He didn't spook when I got out of the fenced yard and over to the coop, so he got a load of steel #6 in the head from about 6'. Unfortunately, it didn't leave the skull in good shape and even if it had, I had no time to deal with it. 11 PM and I've got to get up around 5 for a long driver to the doctor 3.5 hrs away in the city. He was a big boar, I'm guessing nearly 30lbs by the fact I had to carry him out the 100 yds to the edge of the property.



I have to wonder if he's the one I took pics of in my woodpile last summer. I wonder if my house was on his wandering rounds, as I moved that wood to get the fence in for the coop and saw no sign of him having set up shop there. I generally let things like this go, as we have way more than enough gophers and ground squirrels in the area and he probably ate his share of them. But having put in all the work of building the chicken yard and raising my 8 hens & a rooster for 3 months I wasn't taking chances.

Geno

Badger? I don't know much about them, other than what I've seen on TV and in print. I had something get into my coop the other night and kill a hen. It was my fault, as I'd left the pen open so they could get into another area. I set 4 traps, two live traps, and 2 dog-proof ones. Caught a smallish possum the first night, and a coon the second night, and nothing since. So, I'm guessing it was one of them that did the dirty deed, most likely the coon.

I've killed several badgers that were killing quail around livestock tanks in desert climates.

They would frequent those areas because the quail stayed there. Where you have lots of badgers, you don't have many quail.


Don't know how many I killed using quail sounds while calling on a tank dam. They like killing birds.

I have a problem with raccoons getting my chickens. Relentless bastids. I try and keep traps out and baited, kill every one I catch.

Although I'm sure they're here, I haven't seen any raccoons..................yet. Closer to town, but not out here in the sagebrush. I think I've got the chicken yard and coop pretty well proofed against them

But we live in an area of the west known for very high populations of Belding's ground squirrels and from what I've seen and what folks have told me, badgers play hell with them. And ruin farmers hay/alfalfa fields digging them up. I'd hazard a guess the farmers would rather deal with that than an unchecked squirrel population, but the smaller landowners like my neighbor sure dislike badger holes when they mow their fields.

Skunks are here too, along with bobcats and lions and the ubiquitous coyotes. Wolves are nearby, as we're in the part of Cali where they are expanding from OR/ID.

We must have enough of those darn ground squirrels to keep the badgers happy though, as I have a good sized covey or two of quail around the house. And we see bunches on the way to town too.

Geno

The best coon traps ever are made by simply making a 10 inch square box 18-24 inches deep, on one end place 1/2 inch welded wire mesh on the other place a hinged board with a 6-8 inch hole cut out of the middle, on that end cut two 3/4 inch wide slots 7 inches down two sides these slots will hold a 160 coni bear trap.

I use a ratchet strap to put these boxes about chest high in trees with the screen end down, drop some meat scraps or fish parts in the box, set the trap and slide it down the slots of the box and put the top on. every coon that passes will climb the tree and place his head in the hole, once, they are killed instantly, these traps are dog and kid proof and easy to build. If you live in the area of black bears as I do, i would use a stainless steel beaver snare to attach the trap to the tree as bears tend to stick their paws into the hole.

jimy,

any chance you have a picture of those traps?

or a link to a diagram or plans?

Geno

I like this but there are bears that travel around here and I don't want them to get their paws caught.

I've caught more coons using dogproof traps baited with cat food more than anything else I've ever tried.

I use a strong live trap with a peanut butter and cat food sandwich. I put the bait under the entire cage below the trigger shelf, then out a cinder block on top.

It catches even the wisest ones.

Thanks jimy for the picture, looks to be quite effective.

rockin, I think I may try your method one day, should I end up with a coon problem that can't be solved otherwise.

Gen

Until you catch a skunk, these all work well, you will not catch a skunk in a tree.And I don't have to check mine if I get busy or am out of town.

The bears can pull their paw out of a 160 if you anchor the trap well, hence the stainless steel cable.

I have no problem with coons getting my dickens but I trap them almost year round. I got 7 or 8 this year. Last year I only bothered to get 3 and I was sorry I didn't try harder. The year before, 18, 23 and 18 respectively , just on my 4 acres. No wonder there were no rabbits last fall. Jimy, can you make a drawing of that trap? That is a good set up trap it seems. I use a coon cuff trap.

I will get some thing together, but to tell you the truth, that one is just one of my old woodduck boxes, with some slots added for the trap springs and some screen on the bottom to force them to climb the tree, and the lid has the circle cut in it just to force them to stick their heads in first.

You can buy 160 or even 220 conibears off of ebay for 7-10 bucks each, believe me the 160 kill them just fine and they are a whole lot easier to set.

I would appreciate a sketch too.

I've caught a skunk, and about as many possums as coons. I figure any critter I catch is good riddance.

To some folks the odor from skunks is found to be offensive especially after a rain, I deal with skunks a bit further from my home, and in the winter.

And my trap will catch every possen that waddles by and dares to have a look in the hole.

That would make about three of us jimy.

Seems like such a good method. There are a few trees around here I could use them in.

Geno