Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2014 4:53:31 GMT -5
This winter the chicken wire on the poultry pens in the barn rusted out and for awhile there were a lot of loose chickens turkeys and geese free ranging in the barn. So the weather warmed up a little so I thought I'd get control of the situation and repair the pens, get the poultry contained, and pick up the egg stashes I found.
About a week ago I located a stash of about 20 eggs tucked behind a sheet of plywood. When I went to clean them up yesterday they were mysteriously gone except for two that were completely dehydrated. No shells left behind..nothing. There was another suspected stash on the ground floor that i never actually saw but chickens were seen coming out from under that cart so I'm pretty sure they was a cache there as well. Checked that spot as well and again just a few dried up eggs.
During the winter the geese moved themselves upstairs to the loft and over the weekend hatched out two goslings...If there is a predator living in my barn it has eaten the high protein food that can't run away and I fear my goslings are next. It also explains the geese inexplicably screaming in the middle of the night when I am checking calves. A few weeks ago the latch on the barn door stuck and the door blew open during the night so a vermin in residence is surely possible. Also Sweet Pea knocked out a few panes of glass in her stall window and that was open for awhile, but an animal getting in that way would have had to jump or fly or scale a vertical wall with no place to grab hold.
I looked around for scat and couldn't find any. I am down to a few bales of straw in the loft which limits the area to hide. I set a live trap baited with cat food last night.
I'm thinking opossum is likely...maybe even a skunk...I have captured both in my garage over the years. Coons are bigger and more aggressive...they probably would have grabbed a chicken by now. Skunk and opossum are both animals that eat in place so where did the shells go? Any one have a guess what is going on in my barn?
About a week ago I located a stash of about 20 eggs tucked behind a sheet of plywood. When I went to clean them up yesterday they were mysteriously gone except for two that were completely dehydrated. No shells left behind..nothing. There was another suspected stash on the ground floor that i never actually saw but chickens were seen coming out from under that cart so I'm pretty sure they was a cache there as well. Checked that spot as well and again just a few dried up eggs.
During the winter the geese moved themselves upstairs to the loft and over the weekend hatched out two goslings...If there is a predator living in my barn it has eaten the high protein food that can't run away and I fear my goslings are next. It also explains the geese inexplicably screaming in the middle of the night when I am checking calves. A few weeks ago the latch on the barn door stuck and the door blew open during the night so a vermin in residence is surely possible. Also Sweet Pea knocked out a few panes of glass in her stall window and that was open for awhile, but an animal getting in that way would have had to jump or fly or scale a vertical wall with no place to grab hold.
I looked around for scat and couldn't find any. I am down to a few bales of straw in the loft which limits the area to hide. I set a live trap baited with cat food last night.
I'm thinking opossum is likely...maybe even a skunk...I have captured both in my garage over the years. Coons are bigger and more aggressive...they probably would have grabbed a chicken by now. Skunk and opossum are both animals that eat in place so where did the shells go? Any one have a guess what is going on in my barn?
(not that mine's caught anything yet but I have hopes, one day...)
