chickens and skunks

[NMDemDist2]

hubby told me that a co-worker in our rural area told him that he gave up keeping chickens cuz the skunks over ran the place.

anyone else have this problem?

[angstlessk]

1. they probably want the eggs??? n/t..I am a city dweller..just sayin

[NMDemDist2]

2. of course they do, so will the snakes and the foxes and the coyotes

:shrug:

[madrchsod]

3. buy some geese

never had any problems with varmints as soon as i bought some geese. our big male chased a big sheep dog back across the road-- the guy would`t back down. geese are really great watch animals if you can put up with the noise and goose shit.

[NMDemDist2]

4. my neighbor has geese, no thanks

they would terrorize my dogs LOL

[troubleinwinter]

7. Hahahah! I had a couple of geese. They terrorized my husband's butt.

They didn't like him for some reason. He'd come into the house out of breath, drop his pants and show me huge angry red marks on his hind cheeks. Next day they were seriously black and blue.

They are excellent guard animals and will alert and attack... they are pretty intimidating as they are LOUD, FAST, MEAN and LARGE (but not really dangerous like dogs). When a coupla big mean, angry, agressive, screaming birds come at you at high speeds with 5 foot wingspans, it scares people! If one must have guard animals, they can be a good, safe option.

And yes, they're incredibly, amazingly messy.

My two got along sweetly with our daughterkid and I... they just hated my husband's ass, and let him know it.

[Quakerfriend]

5. Hi AZDem

:hi:

Nice to see you! We had chickens for awhile and never had problems with skunks. Our problem was with Hawks. They would do a daily fly over to see 'who' was out and about.

Our chickens had a large barn and and an outside area completely enclosed in chicken wire but, they would still beg us to let them out to roam freely. They would 'chirp' at my youngest son until he opened the door and let them out! And, they had a wonderful time all over property eating bugs and searching the garden for worms.

But, the hawks picked them off one by one. We would find a pile of feathers and nothing else...so sad. We loved them all. Each one had a unique personality from the moment they arrived.

and, boy do I miss all of the eggs!

[NMDemDist2]

9. yes, we have hawks too and snakes and fox and coyotes

I was going to ask another Dem lady I know about her chickens and see what she had to say, but she didn't show up for the training session last week :cry:

[OnionPatch]

17. I'm curious...What kind of chickens do you have?

Because I've had a flock of chickens for about four years and there are tons of hawks around here, red-tailed, red-shouldered, Cooper's, etc. You can step outside at any time and find a hawk in the sky or within view somewhere, but I have never had one make the slightest effort to try to eat my chickens. My chickens run loose in a large field daily so they should be easy pickings from above. I've been wondering if people who have trouble with hawks don't have smaller chickens perhaps, like Bantys. Mine are full-sized. If this isn't it, I'm stumped as to why hawks never bother my chickens. :shrug:

[troubleinwinter]

6. Skunks will cause an unpleasant uproar maurading through the chicken coops.

They won't generally kill chickens, but will go for eggs & chicks and terrorize the hens.

Raccoons will kill chickens. Neighbor's whole flock was killed.

Skunks and raccons are much more difficult to fence out of pens & coops than coyotes, as they are so very clever.

I would well imagine that keeping hens would attract skunks. Not only the eggs & chicks, but also if chicken feed is present, that would be an attractant, too.

A strange but effective deterent is to keep a goat in with the chicken flock. A lone goat will bond with the flock as act as a member and protector. Goats can be ornery if they feel their pals are threatened.

Some people put a donkey in with sheep flocks for the same reason, as a donkey will be an aggressive protector of his "herd mates".

I knew some folk who put ducks in their horse stalls to keep the horse company and they also chased mice away (just noisy freak-outs).

I love chickens.

[NMDemDist2]

8. now that's a thought! a goat would be a welcome addition if I use

both stalls and it won't cost that much more in chicken wire to enclose both outside 'stalls' and the goat would be able to go under the crossbars

AND a goat would be great keeping down the weeds around here and my garden is outside the main fence

hmmmm :think:

[troubleinwinter]

10. Goats are good for weeds.

Some people get donkeys for that... BAD, BAD! Donkeys shouldn't have that much forage.

Goats are good and fun critters! But keep in mind, if you have fruit trees, they stand up on hind legs to reach the good stuff. All my fruit trees were bald from 6' down! If ya want to move 'em around to various areas for 'yard pruning' in the daytime, you can put em on a length of the light plastic chain from the hardware store.

Goats can be pretty funny and very sociable. Also, they really like watermelon rinds, but not onions. Leave the cigarrette pack in the house when you hang with 'em, as they love those!

[troubleinwinter]

11. Also the goats are not messy. Just nice, neat clean oval pellets.

You can solve your Christmas gift-giving dilemma by spray painting them gold and stringing them for necklaces.

[LWolf]

12. I don't.

There are plenty of skunks, raccoons, etc.. in my area, although I've never seen a skunk on the home place.

Last summer I did have a problem with hens flying over the pasture fence where they free range to spread further out; I had an overpopulation of roosters who were using them too hard. I still have a hen who refuses to stay in the assigned pasture and coop; she lives in the barn.

While they were doing that, they found an old, unused feeder in an empty pen and started laying there. When I went to pull the feeder out, there was a collection of about 30 eggs hidden underneath, which explained why the take out of the regular nests was so light, lol. I hauled the feeder out of there, but didn't have time to clean out the eggs; I was in the middle of another project. I went back the next morning to clean out the eggs, and there was not a single egg left. A few shells. Packrats, coons, skunks? I don't know, but they were sure efficient. I do have packrats who will steal eggs right out of the regular nests. I'd love to find a way to drive them off.

[NMDemDist2]

13. I'm thinking no roosters at all

they lay without a rooster don't they? I only need 5 or 6 hens and I think a goat would be a great addition

:bounce:

[LWolf]

14. You don't need a rooster.

I like to keep a rooster because I enjoy the chicks a broody hen hatches.

My mom has some of my extra hens. 5 or 6 young hens will probably keep you in more eggs than you can eat, even if you are a big egg eater. After a year or two, they don't lay as many eggs, so that's probably a good number.

:hi:

[newfie11]

15. Goats

They are funny, adorable, and very cute as kids. BUT if you want to contain a goat I suggest you go to the nearest maximum security prison and look at the cells they use for the most dangerous prisoners. If you can duplicate that at home you MIGHT be able to keep a goat in a pen.
We had two goats years ago that we raised from kids. They ran loose as we had no neighbors. They sampled the siding on the house, the new car license that was made of paper, every flower I wanted, and I could go on.
I remember when we had the place up for sale. A man and woman in a brand new Cadillac convertible came to see the house. While they were inside my husband happened to see one of the goats on the hood of their car nibbling at the roof. He got out there before the owners saw her and before she did any damage.
If we went for walks in the woods it was a gormet delight for the goats. They would go with us just like our dogs did. They would run from tree to bush sampling leaves here and twigs there.

One other time we came home to find our daughters boyfriend under our picnic table with one of the goats patrolling around the table. These were 200 pound American Alpines. They were awesome and we had them until they both died of old age.
Would I get another goat now. HECK NO!

[NMDemDist2]

16. i probably wouldn't keep em more than a couple years n/t

[OnionPatch]

18. I used to have a problem with skunks.

We have the back half of our property fenced off with woven wire fence and that's where our chickens live. The skunks would come pretty often to drink from the water trough and scrounge the leavings of the chicken food. They never harmed the chickens or took any eggs even though they were roaming around just a few feet below the nest boxes. That made me realize that skunks don't climb much. They were coming through the holes in the fence at ground level and also squeezing under it. My main problem with them was that my dogs would bark at them through the fence and get sprayed. So I buried the fence a bit and lined the bottom few feet with chicken wire, too small for a skunk to get through, and I've never seen one in the field again. It's been more than a year since I've seen one in there even though there are tons of them around. I don't know if this would be an answer for you, though. I guess it depends on how much area you would have to fence in and what sort of skunks they are. I heard spotted skunks can climb better than the striped ones, which we have here.

[NMDemDist2]

19. we have striped skunks around here

I'll bury the fencing when I get it together

but probably next year......

[Upton]

20. Skunks under my chicken coop

Doesn't seem to be a problem. I've got 4 laying hens and a rooster, except for the front of the coop it's not fenced off as I allow my chickens to range freely. The last couple years, a striped skunk has burrowed beneath the coop and given birth. As they are most active at night, when the chickens are closed up, they've never given me any difficulty.

[NMDemDist2]

21. hi upton!! welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

[Upton]

22. thank you

Looks interesting