The Poultry Keeper

Dusty · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 763 Location: St. Asaph

I know there is a badger set near by and we have a badger run through our garden. (I've seen them with cubs when coming in from work late at night) Very Happy

Are badgers likely to try and get to the girls? Question

Also, what about stoats and weasels etc, there is a river two fields away, will they enter a pop hole that is open/? Surprised

My coop and run is completely surrounded by harris fencing including the roof area but the gaps would allow a rat or something of that size in.

The girls free range and are locked in at night, but if we are going away overnight would it be safe to leave the pop hole open.

I've looked at automatic openers but they are a bit pricey!!!!! Shocked

Am I panicking over nothing??????? Mad

Woodburner · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:54 am Post subject:

Oh dear, badgers can be bad news, they don't jump like foxes but keep your eyes open for digging. I'm pretty sure I have read that stoats and weasels are a nuisance too, taking eggs and chicks or worse. Sad

You need to exclude rats from the coop too as they are notorious egg thieves. Mad

Having said that, it may be a learnt skill so the odd night may not matter so much.

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 479 Location: gwent

i read somewhere badgers and foxes somtimes co habit a sett i think it was on the bbc website we have a set that runs across the back of our land it great to know they are there but i know there are a few unused entrances these change every once in a while but the abandoned entrance is somtimes taken by our foxes as my lab always find their poo and rolls in in the scat Rolling Eyes

and you can smell the foxy smell and find the occasional pheasant feathers around close to the entrance i think you can never be too cautious .i watched a programm once where they tracked badgers by putting dye in food and finding their poo it turned out their sett went on for miles not sure if a fox would go right into a sett but would be cautious incase they use the same route as the badgers do i would imagine a badger would probabley not be to happy about this though

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2126 Location: North Cornwall

Some friends had a big gander killed by badgers. I even lock my tortoises away at night in summer because they've been known to kill them, their jaws are so strong they can easily crush their shell Sad

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7143 Location: isle of lewis

rats need to excuded for the run as they carry a very nasty illness ,i've seen a goat killed though it ,and we had a young lad over on the other side of the isle recovering ,weils ,badgers go though things Wink

Dusty · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 763 Location: St. Asaph

Had a problem with rats with my old aviary but managed to eradicate them and haven't had any further sightings or evidence with the new aviary - mind you it's concreted on the base totally and has no gaps between the wiring sections so hopefully............. Twisted Evil

Just want to try and be one step ahead with the welfare of the girls.

I know it's nature but I really don't want to loose my girls. Sad

I worked with a lad who got weils disease from picking up a mouse his cat had brought in, it bit him!!!!!!!!! He was so ill for months before they diagnosed what it was. Idea

I used to pick up the mice my cat brought in but not anymore

I've seen a fox in the paddock where the coop is ( not recently though) but all the fox poo is in the field next door ( yes the dog manages to find it ----yuck )and we've blocked the entry points where the badger and fox used to come into the garden, yet I know the badger is still coming in because I see their pathway on the grass!!!!!!!!!!!

Sandra Hilton · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject:

We have stoats or weazels here (not sure what they are) and one of them did kill one of my chickens once, I learnt my lesson from that I can tell you!

We found a dead one in one of the dry stone walls once too! couldn't understand why the dogs would go out and stand barking at the wall for ages! One day we investigated further and there it was! At least it was a dead one! LoL

We also have 8 dogs here but also have foxes which have killed two Chinese geese here before, although they didn't get any of the Rhode Islands that I used to have at the same time.

Sandra

Danjwright · Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 27

I think that badgers are only a problem in when there has been little rainfall for a week or so because their usual prey of earthworms etc are too deep for them to dig up easily. My neighbour lost two of his three hens a few years ago to a badger. The thing killed one for no reason because it only ate one of them. Who said humans are the only animals who kill for fun?

Bhindi · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:54 am Post subject:

The others would have been for its larder, but you will have found them before it could have come back for them. Its economical sense to kill or maim as much of your prey as possible in one go.

Gulliver Geese · Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Norfolk

Our goose farm is based in the middle of Norfolk near a fox relocation zone. Hundreds of foxes are releases each year into the area. This all sound very nice but the urban fox lacks the hunting skills of its country cousins. The closest they have go to poultry before is KFC!.

As a result we house all our geese over night in cat/fox/badger proof buildings and employ a rigorous pest control plan to minimise the rodent population.

There is some more information on keeping geese and specifically protecting them on our website.

You can also ask our stockman of 25 years experience questions.