# ***** in the chicken run



## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Gamekeeper said:


> He's already blasting them at nightfall.
> You kids want to argue about euthanizing them? Call the DNR they'll send someone to come get them from you. Who then will take them to animal control where they'll be euthanized.
> Did that one too. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars to pay someone to haul off a ****.
> 
> ...



For the record, I am out in the country on 11 acres. A river as my south border and beyond that is a swamp. There isn't a neighbor for 600 yards. I shot the ***** last night, at midnight, in my underwear.. lol. Ha ha ha.... no one around here....


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

They won't be missed.
In all seriousness, a hot wire around a chicken coop with little kids is asking for trouble. Probably not health, more the wife kind. They make chicken wire in big rolls for cheap on purpose.

Chickens, in all their stupidity and peculiarity, are a hoot to have around. And relatively inexpensive fun.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Gamekeeper said:


> They won't be missed.
> In all seriousness, a hot wire around a chicken coop with little kids is asking for trouble. Probably not health, more the wife kind. They make chicken wire in big rolls for cheap on purpose.
> 
> Chickens, in all their stupidity and peculiarity, are a hoot to have around. And relatively inexpensive fun.


I agree. Hot wire is a last option. It is also the most expensive option as the controllers aren't cheap. I am going to set the foot holds and live traps every night. I know I am not going to get rid of all of them, but the nightly trouble is getting old and hopefully will calm down for a while. 

Going to fortify the run a bit more as well. 
No issues at all last fall, the past winter and early spring. This nonsense just started to get bad over the course of the last two weeks


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## Wild Thing (Mar 19, 2010)

Dogproofs work pretty good for **** - and they won't get your chickens:










With the right bait you can even get Pepe'


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Gamekeeper said:


> They won't be missed.
> In all seriousness, a hot wire around a chicken coop with little kids is asking for trouble. Probably not health, more the wife kind. They make chicken wire in big rolls for cheap on purpose.
> 
> Chickens, in all their stupidity and peculiarity, are a hoot to have around. And relatively inexpensive fun.


They wont touch the fence more than once and it wont harm them. We had one in my back yard as a kid that held in the neighbors cattle. 

When the kids get a little older and braver they can have good fun grabbing their buddy by the hand and grabbing the fence!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

DirtySteve said:


> They wont touch the fence more than once and it wont harm them. We had one in my back yard as a kid that held in the neighbors cattle.
> 
> When the kids get a little older and braver they can have good fun grabbing their buddy by the hand and grabbing the fence!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Yep. Entertainment. Been there.
One kid on the switch was a fun one too. "See? I can grab it. No problem. Now you try...."

Weed chopper fences were fun also.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

I won't disagree with regards to e-fences and juvenile rights of passage.

Kid goes to school, says," My brother dared me to pee on the fence..."

Teacher calls CPS. 

Now tell me how the OP's life is made better in that scenario, which could have been dealt with via a rummage sale hava-heart?

The laws Teachers must follow make many childhood experiences...pass'e.
Kid goes in the house, "Mom, I hit the wire!" Is Daddy closer to, or further away from her good graces?

That's what I call a thousand dollar solution to a $10.00 problem.

Obviously no one needs to know how the **** battle is ultimately won.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Waif said:


> Yep. Entertainment. Been there.
> One kid on the switch was a fun one too. "See? I can grab it. No problem. Now you try...."
> 
> Weed chopper fences were fun also.


You are bringing back good memories. I had some cruel older cousins been a victim of the one kid on the switch trick. Also been a victim of let's get Bobby from down the road and pull the trick on him....then when I go to show Bobby he hits the switch. 

The most creative thing my older cousin got me with was when he was working on his motorcycle and I sat watching. He ran a wire from the spark plug to the seat and asked me to hop on and give it a kick for him......his dad happened to walk into the garage as he got me. He got a pretty good beating from my uncle for that one. To this day I cant figure out why I looked up to my older cousin. To his credit he was the one who took me around on his trap line.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Gamekeeper said:


> I won't disagree with regards to e-fences and juvenile rights of passage.
> 
> Kid goes to school, says," My brother dared me to pee on the fence..."
> 
> ...


Suppose if the chickens get killed by humans ,it will be humane at your house and the kids won't be around to help/see. Heaven forbid they kill and butcher! (I hear sirens ?...)


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## Scottygvsu (Apr 19, 2003)

MIoutdoorsjunkie said:


> For the record, I am out in the country on 11 acres. A river as my south border and beyond that is a swamp. There isn't a neighbor for 600 yards. I shot the ***** last night, at midnight, in my underwear.. lol. Ha ha ha.... no one around here....


I was picturing a subdivision situation. Now that I know you have privacy, grab some 220's, put them in a box as pictured earlier. That's how I do it, but I live in a rural area where those things are commonplace and understood. Don't worry about catching Fluffy the kitty. Fluffy will take a swipe at those birds if she gets a chance. Vermin are vermin, domestic or not. 
On the hot wire, there are millions of farm kids in this country and odds are tens of thousands of them get poked by hot fences every day. No one in their right mind will call CPS if someone gets a little shock. I guarantee they'll only touch it once. If it makes you feel better, put it on a timer. Off when the sun rises, on when the kids are usually in for the evening.


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## chuckinduck (May 28, 2003)

Scottygvsu said:


> Do you have hardware cloth under the tarp roof? They'll climb to get in there if they have to. I'm all about killing '***** as I've lost some birds myself. Problem is, more will take their place. I'd really concentrate on making your coop and run a super fortress even after this group of varmints is gone.
> And yes to the light and DP traps.


I agree. Forget trapping. It’s a losing endeavor. Fortify the compound. I buried my fencing a foot into the ground. Then lined the bottom of it with rocks too heavy for a **** to dig through. The first 18” above grade are solid sheeting so they can’t reach in to grab chickens. I have a regular roof on mine. I won’t say it’s impossible for them to get mine now but I’ve yet to lose a chicken to this setup if I have the door locked. If you’re losing ***** in pre-darkness and they’re free ranging then I guess it’s just a risk you have to assume. I have lost more chickens to ***** then anything else. But it’s always been my forgetting to shut the door at night. So my own fault.


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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

I had 3 big **** tear into the chicken wire years ago ...they killed about 20 chickens and all but one of my sons homing pigeons .I heard the ruckus but too late ...2 **** never made it out the other was hurtin for certin .Most areas are way overpopulated with ***** to the detriment of all other small mammals and reptiles .They need to be drastically thinned out not moved somewhere else .


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Chicken wire is about the worst false sense of security made for chickens ,or better put ,for their owners. 

I had nearly a grand into my fortress and run.
Never lost a bird or an egg. Did come home to tree roosting birds a couple times when kids had closed the run while playing with birds in the yard. Lucky is all.
(Though after losing my homestead the ex left them out or who knows what, and had loss.)

Everything likes to kill chickens and or chicken eggs.
Act accordingly ,or lose birds and eggs.


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## BigW (Dec 29, 2016)

We had 100 layers for a while. No birds lost for two years. Our set up was 2000 Sq ft of dog kennel fencing with 18" of chicken wire laying flat on the ground outside the fence. Auto closing doors and the birds were never caught outside. Then all of a sudden 2-3 per killed per day. How?! Kids were collecting eggs and had to take eggs to the house. When they came back 10 min later (2pm) the basket of eggs left to be brought in was missing eggs. I went right out there and could find no broken shells or obvious sign of intruder so maybe they were mistaken. Happened again the next day with two eggs placed on the coop steps. Traps were set immediately and I had three **** by 7pm. Carpet bombed area with live traps and dog free leg traps. One week, 19 *****, 2 skunks, and 3 possum later the area was clear of varmints. Just took them a while to figure out they needed to attack during the late afternoon once we had picked the eggs for the day. This happened in late July a couple years back. Coops were situated just inside the woodline of about 100 acres of forest.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

Solving the problem is better than moving the problem.

Wait til you reach in the laying box and there's a rat snake about 8ft long in there.

Can you say, "****cherbritches"?


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## Patrickr (May 2, 2016)

Hey, I'm just telling you what could legally happen to you if caught drowning an animal in a live trap. The AVMA doesn't consider putting an animal in a live/cage trap into deep water to drown it as being humane and thus, IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OR SOMEBODY REPORTS YOU, you could be charged with animal cruelty. Shooting is humane, as is gassing them. I would in no way recommend translocating any **** or skunk. Shoot them or gas them, and relocate them to a deep hole.

Believe it or not, the last time I checked, the AVMA was somewhat fine with drowning animals in regular trapping situations with drowning sets.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Patrickr said:


> Hey, I'm just telling you what could legally happen to you if caught drowning an animal in a live trap. The AVMA doesn't consider putting an animal in a live/cage trap into deep water to drown it as being humane and thus, IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OR SOMEBODY REPORTS YOU, you could be charged with animal cruelty. Shooting is humane, as is gassing them. I would in no way recommend translocating any **** or skunk. Shoot them or gas them, and relocate them to a deep hole.
> 
> Believe it or not, the last time I checked, the AVMA was somewhat fine with drowning animals in regular trapping situations with drowning sets.


I am not really worried....in this day and age people will report you for doing anything THEY don't agree with. Shooting guns, flying flags, taking your trash to the road a day early....doesn't matter. I won't be drowning any vermin. I will continue to dispatch by gun fire as I feel that is more humane (read: quick). Thanks for the tip.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

Geez, and I thought you might put the trap in a garbage bag and run a hose from your tractors tail pipe. providing a peaceful end.

I'm pretty sure that any animal on the vermin list can be euthanized without penalty in any quantity available. By any means.


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## Patrickr (May 2, 2016)

Sorry Gamekeeper, not in today's liberal, bunny/tree hugging society. Personally, I couldn't care any less how you do the masked rats in. I just don't want to see a guy paraded on the 6:00 pm news for animal cruelty because he was protecting his property. "By any means" doesn't fly legally these days. 

Complete and total exclusion no matter what the costs is the preferred option to avoiding the problem in the first place. Euthanizing by shooting or gassing are acceptable methods of eliminating the captured animals.

Twenty-five plus years ago one of the first things you learned as a commercial nuisance wildlife operator was that somebody, someplace had a camera trained on you. Do you want what you were doing on the 6:00 pm news? In 2018, who doesn't have a camera and a social media site that they wouldn't hesitate to post something they felt was inappropriate or illegal behavior? Especially when it comes to something as "cute and cuddly" as a raccoon? Think about that.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Well. I got two DP traps set near the coop and bought a cheap light for my .204 ruger. Ready for battle. I am putting the shotgun away as the last few shots I made tore up the coop a bit and one of the pellets hit the LCD screen on my coop door controller. Not happy about that. 

.22 mag single six will be my trapped vermin dispatcher and the .204 will take them around the coop or off the roof. 

I will update this thread with results as they come in. Stay tuned.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Less than 2 hours after traps set.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Two more last night.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

Good job! You'll have the mess cleaned up in no time.
Those aren't kits, so expect an exponential decrease in raiding.

Just curious, but what varieties of chickens are you raising?


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Gamekeeper said:


> Good job! You'll have the mess cleaned up in no time.
> Those aren't kits, so expect an exponential decrease in raiding.
> 
> Just curious, but what varieties of chickens are you raising?


Thanks. We only have 10 right now and they are a barn yard mix. I have 3 amber links, 2 amercaunas, 1 Dominique (almost the same as barred rock), 1 Rhode island red, and the others are a mix match of different breeds. My two you boys enjoy them and we have enough organic eggs for our family and to sell a few dozen. Keeping chickens is easier than keeping a house cat IMO. Very low maintenance...


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

Another one this morning...









And then...the problem with live traps. Set all the traps around 8 and then left for a few hours. One of the hens spent the night outside. I am sure the **** in the trap would have torn her up. Sitting duck in that trap.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

You are gonna be looking for recipe's pretty soon.


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## miruss (Apr 18, 2003)

I was having same problem hard to see at night so installed a couple of these they put out good light for using scope at night for ones that miss the traps !!
https://www.harborfreight.com/60-led-solar-security-light-69643.html


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

miruss said:


> I was having same problem hard to see at night so installed a couple of these they put out good light for using scope at night for ones that miss the traps !!
> https://www.harborfreight.com/60-led-solar-security-light-69643.html


Good idea


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

You chicken farmers shuld be active constantly reducing the 4 legged varmits on your farms, possum, ****, skunk, cats et al.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)

CL-Lewiston said:


> You chicken farmers shuld be active constantly reducing the 4 legged varmits on your farms, possum, ****, skunk, cats et al.


Just when I thought I had thinned the population, I got another last night.


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## MIoutdoorsjunkie (Oct 11, 2006)




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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

MIoutdoorsjunkie said:


> Just when I thought I had thinned the population, I got another last night.


Did the same last year ...ended up getting 23 .They leave a trail that others follow when they come to it .Its hard to control them when you are the only one trapping them .I have 1 guy down the road that traps them around his chickens ...he got 15 last year .


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