We lost another one. I think it might have been a raccoon. I really can't tell. They had gotten out of their coop this morning, and only two chicks were to be found. According to my books, a missing chicken is a dead chicken. She was a spunky little creature.
Darn those chicks were living on the wild side. Looks like you won't have to deal with chicken plukin' in the future.
ReplyDeleteGrandpop
I am still planning on eating the red one.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that one of the things Foghorn Leghorn did, protect the hens? Too bad roosters aren't allowed in the city limits!
ReplyDeleteRe: Raccoons.
ReplyDeleteThey are wicked, evil beasts. Our ancestors settling this great continent considered them as kill on sight and they were right. They ravage crops and chickens both.
The good Volk of Worden deal with them via this expedient: Golden Marlin Fly Bait mixed with beer. This stuff is POISON, so you would have to find a good location where only raccoons and not neighborhood dogs would get to it. They suck up the poisoned beer and make it about ten feet before dying. One parishioner killed 93 (and 2 possums) last year with this method (he keeps chickens. . . ).
If the poison scares you, as well it might, pick up a Duke DP raccoon trap. It is a trap that catches the raccoon's hand when it reaches into a tube to snatch a bait. The "DP" stands for "dog proof" - you won't catch anything but raccoons in this one, but you have to do the dispatching yourself. In my neighborhood, a .22 revolver in the dead of night is not out of the question. In your neighborhood, you'll want to knock it unconscious with a baseball bat and then step on its chest until it suffocates. That's how the trappers do it so as not to put holes in the pelt.
A live trap will sometimes work with 'coons, but they are clever and will not often get caught. In addition, it's a pain to kill them in there. And if you think taking them out to live free, beautufil lives in the country is a good idea, try spray painting the tail when you let them go and see how long until you catch him again.
So go kill those beasts and protect your flock.