Lost everything to a fox

We were down to one leghorn. All of the guineas had met their demise as well as most of the chickens. I had 10 chicks that had feathered out and I put them out in the chicken shed.

About a week ago I saw something white moving at the edge of our woods. As I ran into the backyard, I saw a fox carrying off our leghorn. There wasn't much I could do as we are in a no-discharge zone. I went back to the shed and found the corner where the fox had gotten in. All of the chicks were gone (probably as fox brunch).

So, the lessons learned

• The critters will find any weak spot in your protection. The chicken wire needs to be inspected regularly.
• Have a backup plan to battle ticks - We are still supposed to get guineas although they won't be ready to roam for a couple of months. In the meantime, I'm keeping the grass short, putting out mouse bait and will be ordering some pullets from our local poultry place.

Guineas in harsh winter environments - reader question

A reader emailed the following question to us

"Our neighbors have guniea hens and we have been thinking of getting some. However we live in Wisconsin and have cold winters. What would we have to do to protect these hens during the winter months? Could we let them out or would we have to keep them inside?"

I'm not that familiar with the weather in Wisconsin. I imagine it's a little more harsh than Pennsylvania. I'd check with people in your area if you can find anyone who has guineas.

Our birds are pretty wild and are not trained to live in a coop. If you can build a coop or avairy and get the birds to return to it each night, that would probably work. If you do a coop the problem is that you really need to be there each night to close it up. Otherwise a critter might get in for a late night guinea snack.

What we do is simply

• put a poultry waterer out that sits on an electric heater. You can probably purchase that at a feed store or over the internet.
• Make sure that the birds have plenty of food. We use layer pellets. We also have a regular bird feeder and they guineas (if you don't have too many of them) can scavenge what falls from the feeder.
• If we are going to be away for a while, I try to set up an automatic deer feeder loaded with layer pellets. that way, even if it snows, the feeder will dispense pellets regularly.
• The birds will usually stay in the tree until I plow at least part of the driveway. You just have to make sure that the birds dont' get in front of the snowblower.
• They can use a place where they can get in out of the snow and especially the icy rain. Our birds like to get under our picnic table. Keep in mind we have a small flock.

That pretty much takes care of it. There was one time when it was really nasty and the birds weren't doing too well. I was able to catch them by putting a towel over them. I put the tractor outside the shed with a tarp and let the birds sleep in the shed. You have to watch that they don't try to eat some of the stuff in the shed.

One goal would be to have at least a couple of birds survive the winter. The experience they pass on to the keets is invaluable in helping them survive.

Good luck...

Raccoons in the Henhouse

A couple of days ago, our son noticed that the birds were making a racket in the henhouse. It was about an hour after dark and we had locked up the henhouse at dusk.

I went out with the big handheld searchlight and saw two coons in the henhouse. It looked like they were eating the eggs and hadn't gone after the chickens yet. There isn't a whole lot of light around the henhouse so I went and got the tractor to shine it's lights on the house. While we were watching, it sounded like the coons escaped through the back of the building. (It's an old building that has seen better days).

Two of the birds came out of the house so we locked them in the other outside enclosure. I decided to go in to check on the remaining two birds, a leghorn and a rhodie. Both were sitting on their usual perch which was a metal stock tub on top of the nesting boxes at about waist height. They looked OK. I just didn't consider that they would sit there calmly if the raccoons were still in there.

Chris and I went around the back of the house to try to see how the coons got out. For the life of me I couldn't figure it out. There is a gap under the house where critters have dug access holes but the floor had seemed to be intact. I got some expanding caulk and cayanne pepper. I filled the holes with layers of cayanne and caulk. (that should keep the critters from nibbling through..)

OK, now I was getting confused, I saw no way that the little Houdinis had gotten out. I went back in again and didn't see any critters or escape routes. Now, we know that they can't teleport so there had to be another answer. Had I thought to apply Occam's Razor, the simplest solution would be that the critters were still in the shed.

Chris wanted to go in an pet the leghorn that we call 'whitey' . Against my better judgement I said Ok. As I went in, I took one last look... There was a gap of about 6" between the wall and the tub. Whitey was perched right over a clump of grey fur. I warned Chris and we immediately got out of the henhouse. Being in close quarters with two raccoons could turn deadly even without rabies.

So now, we had a dilemma, how do you get the birds out safely?? I could have shot through the wall with a .22 and hit the coons except that (1) the town is a no discharge zone (2) there are too many houses nearby anyway and (3) If the raccoons were rabid, that would put rabies tainted blood all over the place.. So, on to a plan B.

Plan B was to punch through the plastic window and use a long pvc pipe to dislodge the birds.. After about 10 minutes it was mission accomplished. We got them into the outside enclosure and pulled the henhouse door closed. Now I had two irritated raccoons trapped inside the henhouse. I wasn't sure what to do so in the words of that famous senator I figured "I'll drive off that bridge when I get to it" and turned in for the night.

I heard some commotion at about 5 am and went out to look. I saw a larger coon right outside the henhouse and it waddled off. The birds looked ok.

When it was daylight I let the birds loose and looked in the windows. There was no sign of the critters. Eventually I carefully opened the door and sure enough, they were gone. They had chewed through the bottom of the henhouse door. I found where they got in which was where the top chicken wire meets the side wire. There was just one weak spot. I took about 25 of those plastic electrical ties and closed up any and all gaps.

It occurred to me that the two coons must have gone right by the chickens when they escaped but didn't appear to go after them.

Anyway, here are some lessons learned.

• Be extremely careful if you think there are raccoons in the henhouse. I was in there three times at least and did not see them. The houses is only about 4'x8'. There isn't any clutter other than the tub. We were very lucky not to have gotten bitten or worse. Had we reached over to handle the chickens that might have been enough to cause all heck to break loose.
• Raccoons will find any and all weak spots in your henhouse. You really need to go over it periodically to make sure that there are no spots where they get in. This means going over just about every square inch looking for gaps and rusted chicken wire.
• Raccoons carry rabies and a really nasty parasite in their feces. The eggs can live for something like 10 years. If you ingest the eggs of the parasite, the worm will work it's way to your brain and eat your brain (that might explain some of the behavior in congress lately). The next day, I wet down the straw to keep the dust down, used a good mask, rubber gloves etc and cleaned the shed out. Even with the precautions, there is some risk to doing that.
• I could use a better lighting system in the shed. Harbor Freight had reasonably priced lights that were solar charged. I'm going to pick one of those up and set it up for lighting the inside of the house if I go in there at night.
• I'm not sure if a motion detecting light would help. Again, Harbor Freight has solar powered motion detecting lights. I'm not sure if that would scare the little buggers off or not. Maybe one of those halloween gadgets that screetches and cackles when you walk by would work.
• I had seen our trashcans overturned a couple of times prior. I should have been more proactive and made sure that the raccoon trap was baited and set.

Final Scores

Birds:0
Raccoons: 3 eggs
People:0

Pheasants and tics - Response to comment

Sorry to whoever posted the question asking if pheasants will eat ticks. I got fumble fingered and accidentally deleted that comment.

As I understand it, gallinaceous birds eat insects including ticks. Gallinaceous birds include grouse, pheasant, turkeys, quail, partridges etc.

The downside is that the birds can also be hosts for ticks to some extent. However, there is evidence that the presence of birds will reduce the tick population significantly. You can get some info on that study from Mother Earth News

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/2003-10-01/Go-Ahead-Get-Guineas.aspx

We are getting eggs now

One of the benefits of chlckens for tick control is that you get eggs.

The pullets we recently purchased just started laying. We are getting two eggs per day from five older pullets. Pretty soon we should be seeing a half dozen per day.

As far as the tick and bug population, it appears that the birds are doing their job well.

More eggs and less ticks, I like that!

Down to one guinea from this year's batch

Unfortunately, it appears that we are down to only one bird left from the 12 we were raising this year. I'm not sure what got the most recent bird.

The local fox is not helping things. Also, we have coons and possum.

Some lessons for next year:

- make sure the coop is ironclad. Crittera will find the slightest weakness.
- Once they learn to roost in the trees, let them all out. Otherwise, the free birds hang too close to the cooped birds.
- If possible, be aggressive in trapping coons and possum. Be aware of the danger of rabies and local laws.

We are really hoping that the remaining young bird will survive the summer and winter to be able to pass survival skills to next year's batch.

We are also considering trying to purchase adolescents although it is harder to keep them near the property.

Guineas can swim !!!!

I was getting my breakfast together at about 8am.. The chickens were still in their pen when I heard a commotion. I saw a fox less than 15 feet from my kitchen window (and my dang camera was upstairs where I knew I couldn't get to it in time).

The fox seemed to be trying to get to something. I realized that one of the younger guineas had landed in the pool and was swimming like a duck. The problem was that, with his feathers wet, he couldn't seem to get out. He tried to get into the skimmer but luckily the filter had not turned on yet.

When I went out, the fox trotted off. I couldn't hold onto the bird when I pulled him from the skimmer and he started swimming again. I got the skimmer net underneath him and old soggy was able to hop out. With the level of chlorine in the pool, I expect to see that we will have an albino guinea fowl for a while.

The old one eyed guy had gotten up in a tree and the other young bird got up on top of the chicken house, out of harms way. Once I got soggy out of the pool, the three teamed up again.

Anyway, I don't have the pictures to prove it, but guineas can swim pretty well. It actually looked pretty graceful in the water. If the bird had worked it's way to the shallow end, it probably could have gotten out on the steps. I'm not sure how long it could swim though.

Our Adolescent Guineas are now roosting with the old guy

We are now down to only 2 of our 12 original keets. A local fox and raccoon have gotten 10 of them. Our son noticed the other day that the 2 remaining birds are now roosting high in an evergreen with the old one eyed guy. That's good news because in the past, they would keep roosting on the ground and end up as easy prey for whatever happened along (fox, possum, raccoon or even cats).

This year I had fenced off part of the outside of the chicken house for the guineas. There was an enclosure where they could get out of the rain if necessary. What I think happened was that the chicken wire kept them relatively safe (We did lose a couple due to a tiny opening. Details, details, details. Anyway, the birds became aware that critters are out there at night looking to eat them and that the ground is not the safest place to be. They had all started roosing on top of the game feeder that was in their part of the enclosure.

Lessons learned so far this year:

• You need to check every square inch of the chicken wire. Predators will find the tinyest weak spot
• If the birds can see what is going on, they will learn to roost off the ground.
• If at least one halfway intelligent bird survives from the previous years, they will be instrumental in teaching survival skills to the young birds.
• Regular 1" chicken wire is not an adequate barrier. In the past critters have reached through and literally pulled the birds through the wire. I went with a double layer that is offset to make it difficult for paws to get through
• Until you let all of the birds free, they free birds will roost near or on top of the enclosure making them vulnerable to predators. However, if you free all of them too early, they might wander off.

Tough month for the Guineas

We apaprently lost two guineas last night and definitely one the night before. There is a fox or coyote in the neighborhood. I've only gotten a fleeting glimpse of it.

I think the problem was that I have not yet released all the guineas. I had them in a portion of the chicken wire enclosure around the hutch. I was keeping a couple in the enclosure so the others would stay nearby. The problem was that at night, the free birds would roost on top of the chicken wire. I think that has been where they've been getting hit. It's getting nearly impossible to get the birds back into the enclosure for the night.

So, it's time to gamble on letting them all out. Hopefully, they will roost further up in the trees out of harm's way. At this point, they should be comfortable enough with us to hang around the property without running off.

Fox, quial and guineas

The neighborhood fox is still coming around. The other night we lost one of the guineas we let out about a half hour before dusk. It appears that the bird was by the door of the guinea enclosure and got attacked. There weren't a lot of feathers around, just a patch on the birds side where it was missing some feathers.

The guineas are starting to get the idea of roosting off the ground. I have an automatic game feeder that I use when we are going to be away. It's a 5 gallon can with an automatic feeder attached. It's perfect for laying down food on a regular basis when we aren't there. Anyway, the birds are piling on that at night. I'm hoping that means that when we finally release them, they will roost in the trees and not on the ground.

I have some work today. The chicken wire on the door to the chicken house is a bit old. I got a 10 gallon air tank which means I can take the air nailer/stapler out to the chicken house. The plan is to replace the chicken wire with new stuff and check the wood framing of the door. It's a lot better to be pre-emptive.

The quail have been doing nicely in their outside hutch. It's a little hutch that is really made for rabbits. I have a heat lamp that is on a GFCI protected extension. I put heavy plastic around three sides and cardboard on the bottom. So far, it's been about 2 weeks and we've only lost 1 out of 20 birds. They seem to like dandelion greens. The little buggers go crazy over them.

Did some tick-dragging this weekend.

Tick dragging is the process of taking a piece of cloth. Flannel is often recommended, but denim should work as well as an old bath towel.

The idea is that you drag it over the grass and leaves and then count how many ticks end up on it.

It can be something very simple. I took half of an old bath towel and stapled that to a 1 x 11/2" board. I put an eye bolt in the middle since I had a broom handle with a hook at the end. It was pretty easy to drag. If you are doing your property, you don't need to use a whole square yard. Something smaller will also work.

Our property is 2 1/2 acres. It took about 30 minutes to cover a good sample of it at a slow walk.


I found a dog tick right near the pool filter. I had a deer tick on my leg a week before. Well, that area got scalped when I cut the lawn. (shorter grass makes a less hospitable environment for ticks) I didn't find any in the open, sunny, short grass parts of the property. I found one in the leaves. When I went through the woods I found about a half dozen clinging to it.

With the smaller drag, you can also pass it easily over bushes, shrubs and small trees.


Thoughts

• I have a little CO2 duster that uses the cartridges for an air gun. I've heard that ticks are attracted to CO2 so I'll try spraying the cloth before starting out next time.
• I have to read the labels on permethrin. I'm wondering if it is OK/legal to spray the cloth with permethrin. The guineas and chickens hardly ever go into the woods. I'm thinking about making up a cloth that I can tow behind the tractor and go throught the woods (about an acre) once a month or so. I just have to make sure that it is in compliance with the federal labelling. The thought is that you can get the ticks to cling to the cloth where they get a fatal dose of permethrin, but the residual that goes onto the ground should be minute.
• Our tick control is working to a degree. We were down to one guinea this year. We now have 8 adolescent guineas roaming (4 on any given day) and 4 chickens. We also use the tick tubes and have tried to keep the deer out as much as possible. There hardly seems to be any squirrels this year, but the fox does look fat. Anyway, the tick dragging, when done in a consistent manner, can provide a baseline tick cencus for you.
• It will be interesting to try this at a neighbor's house who does not have birds.

Tips

• Be careful. Ticks are heat seekers. If you are touching the cloth or wood, there is a good chance of getting ticks on you. Use plenty of repellant and keep checking yourself, especially your hands.
• Deer ticks are, of course, tiny, You have to look closely as they tend to start burrowing into the cloth very quickly
• Don't bring the cloth back into your home or shop since it may have ticks you missed.

Fox attack!!!

Well, we almost lost a couple of our birds this morning. I let the birds out at about 7:30.. All four chickens and 4 of the 8 guineas. I was having some breakfast on the patio when I heard a commotion. The old one-eyed guinea was running for his life with something right behind him. At first, I thought it was one of the groundhogs, but a second later I realized it was the fox. Old one-eyed did a maximum effort climb, circled around and landed in a dead tree about 15' up.

The chickens went for the bushes which would be a good idea if it were a hawk attacking, but I'm not sure what it would do as far as a fox. The 4 guineas are still pretty green. They huddled up by the henhouse which would have made them an easy meal. Hopefully, they'll learn from this that Mr. Fox is not their friend and immediate evasive action is a must.

I took a little walk through the woods which hopefully made the fox move off, at least for now.


By the way, a couple of mornings ago I got up right around dawn. The fox was sitting right outside the henhouse, about 10' away, just looking at the birds.

Picked up some quail today

We picked up 20 quail today from Davis Feedmill in Richland (bucks county). There were $1.95 each. They are about the size of your thumb when you get them.

I have them in the hutch with a heatlamp. I can see that changing the feed and water will be a challenge. The little guys think they are minature roadrunners. I had three jump out just putting them in.

The plan is to keep them in the hutch until they are fully feathered out and then release them. Hopefully they will stay nearby. Quail are natural predators of ticks.