This morning, we were again awakened by the chickens squawking. We jumped out of bed and let one of our dogs out, while we struggled to find the flashlight and put on our shoes. Our dog raced back to the coop, and soon we were right behind her. The motion light was on and the chickens were squawking LOUDLY, while huddling nervously in the corner of the coop. I ran inside with the flashlight and looked around but didn't see anything. I did notice that a log I had put in a small indentation between the ground and the bottom of our chicken coop kennel fencing had been moved aside. "Aha!" I thought, "There was something in here and this is the way it came in." I told M to get me a couple of bricks to block up the hole until morning, when I could do something more permanent.
Meanwhile, I looked in the the egg box to make sure all was safe and noticed a big feather hanging down from the top. I was wondering how it got up there and started to pull it down when, my eyes becoming more adjusted to the dim light, I noticed it was in fact the striped tail of a raccoon! I went to the front of the coop and peeked in and I could see the tail and back end of the coon sitting on top of the egg box.
We immediately shooed the chickens out of the coop and I got my trusty Daisy pump pellet gun. I closed the door to the kennel so the coon was trapped and fired once from outside, hitting him on his back end. He immediately scampered down to the ground, headed for the hole where he came in, but found it blocked by a brick and the log I had originally placed there. Then he made his way to the roof of the coop and, when we looked up there, lo and behold we found a second raccoon! Two varmints in our hen house!
I shan't go into the details of how I dispatched the critters, but we eventually shut the chickens back into the coop, came inside, cleaned up a bit, and got back into bed.
ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK!!! CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK!!!
We were up again with a repeat performance of our first awakening to find the chickens in a similar state. We looked all around again and there, on the roof, was a THIRD RACCOON. The only thing I can figure was that this rascal was laying low on the roof or behind a wood panel on top of the egg box. But there he was, peering at me with those beady eyes in the middle of that sinister black mask!
Dispatch time and clean up time again and then a VERY thorough examination of the coop. While doing so, we heard a noise high above us. We aimed the flash light beam high above our heads and far up in a tree, probably 30 feet high, sat our fourth raccoon of the night. I placed bricks all around the original hole and then we came back in to try to sleep again. We were awakened once more, but the racket was a false alarm. Nonetheless, as it was by now 5:15, we let one of our dogs remain in the yard until we got up at 8.
Chicken keeping is a fun and enjoyable hobby. But one must be prepared to come face to face with unpleasant things from time to time, like dealing with sick chickens that are suffering (think axe and stump) or protecting them from predators. I have never hunted and never will. Yet last night I had to take three of nature's lives to protect my four chickens. It was a sad ending for three Crabtree Creek Critters and a disturbing night for several more.
Sorry - no pictures this time, but this should lighten the mood.
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