On Thursday morning, around 6AM, just like any other morning I went up to the turkey pen to feed the poults. As I approached the pen door I was shocked to see that one of the poults had managed to get into Jake’s side of the enclosure. After what happened to Junior, I almost panicked, but was relieved to see the poult was unharmed.
We now keep our Tom separated from the poults. He can still glare at them, but not harm them.
I calmly, but quickly scooted Jake out of the way, and cornered the poult. I returned the wayward wanderer to Jenny, and tried to figure out how on earth this tubby little poult managed to squeeze itself through the garden wire fence at the top of the partition in the pen. Jake wasn’t telling, so it was up to us to look for clues.
As I was looking for clues on Jenny’s side of the pen, I noticed a Bourbon Red poult didn’t head to the feeder with everyone else, and just seemed to be snoozing, alone, on the pen floor. Something wasn’t right, and I wondered if the little one might be ill?
The poults spend a lot of time resting and napping, but if one is less active than the others, it’s usually a clue that something is amiss
Jenny saw me approaching this poult, already NOT amused that I’d picked up the poult that had been on Jake’s side of the enclosure, so I had to swiftly reach down to pick it up. As I scooped up the Bourbon Red, it partially opened one wing, and I was shocked to see blood, matted feathers, and missing skin under its wing. Clearly more had gone on in the turkey pen overnight than I’d realized! Perhaps the poult that made it into the enclosure with Jake had been scared by something, and forced its way through the fence in an attempt to escape?
Jenny will let me sit with the poults, but gets quite irate if I pick one up
I made a hasty exit as Jenny was now charging straight for me while I held her peeping poult. I closed the gate, but before heading back to the house, I felt compelled to do a quick head count. Thirteen poults? Really? There were only thirteen poults? Adding the one in my hand, that was still only a total of fourteen. Where are the other two? I counted again, and again, but there was no question. Two poults were definitely missing.
Red Bronze poult at four weeks
As we only had four Bourbon Reds in the clutch, and I was holding one of them, it was painfully obvious that only two remained in the pen with Jenny. One of those missing was obviously a Bourbon Red. I didn’t have time to figure out whether the other missing chick was a Bronze or Red Bronze. It was cold, foggy, and damp, and I needed to get the injured poult inside.
As four Bourbon Reds had hatched, there should have been three left in the pen, but one was clearly missing
I took the little one into the house, set it on a towel, and with the help of Mr. Curbstone gave it a quick glance over. The skin over its back, just above the tail, was raw and blooded, but the feathers too matted to see much more. The skin over the point of the left shoulder though was clearly torn, as was some of the underlying muscle, suggesting a bite wound. The skin in his right inguinal area, where the right leg meets the body, was also torn and bleeding. There were no protruding bones, but it was clear this poult couldn’t stand.
This poult had no appreciable head wounds, except for a scrape down its beak
Knowing I was more likely to lose the little one of fright if I proceeded at that moment, I quickly set up a box, with a heating pad, and some towels, and left it in the guest room, with the light off, where it was quiet and dark, with a small dish of food, and a shallow dish of water within reach.
While we let the little one rest, we went back up to the turkey pen to see if we could figure out if anyone else was injured, and who or what had done this. Jake was off the hook, he’d just been non-chalantly standing next to the other poult when I found him, and the one with the severe skin wounds had been in the side of the enclosure with Jenny, not Jake. As I looked more closely at Jenny I could see she had a small bleeding nick in the skin just above her left eye.
For some time we both just stood there, in shock. Nothing obvious jumped out at us. What on earth had happened overnight? What could have done this? We hadn’t heard anything, and we’d slept with the windows open that night. The dogs never barked. We never heard Jenny or Jake alarm call. The chickens had been quiet too. Whoever it was, this predator was ruthless, and stealthy.
For some reason the poults love to sleep up against the edges of the pen
Frustrated and confused, I continued to look around the pen for clues, not realizing I was actually missing the obvious. As I stood back outside the pen, scanning the wire panels for holes, my eyes glanced over the very bottom of the pen door. Then I saw it. The wire in the corner, low to the ground, had been torn. Part of why I’d missed it is that there are two layers of wire on the door, and the poultry wire had been pulled forward, and mangled, almost twisted into a knot. Then I found four off-white primary wing feathers among the weeds outside the pen. Three from a right wing, one from a left. Clear evidence of the missing Bourbon Red poult.
These primary wing feathers were on the ground just outside the pen, and belonged to the missing Bourbon Red poult
The turkey pen was a converted garden enclosure that the previous owners had originally built. When we added the poultry wire, there was already coated 3″x3″ green garden wire around the entire structure. We’d left that wire in place, not seeing any real reason to remove it. Where the poultry wire had been ripped from the corner of the door, at ground level, I noticed the garden wire behind it had also been pulled on, and the wires appeared to be spread apart. Then I realized that whatever had been responsible for the wounded Bourbon Red, had managed to catch poults through this secondary layer of wire, and pull them through the fencing. I’m glad now that we left that second layer of wire there, or this whole ordeal could have been much, MUCH worse.
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are notorious predators of poultry (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons – Author: Sergey Yarmolyuk)
Although we didn’t witness the breach, this break-in has all the hallmarks of a raccoon attack. Dexterous, and nimble-fingered, raccoons are notorious for grabbing chickens, chicks, and poults, by reaching through fences, and dragging their victims to the side of the enclosure any way they can. When I had checked on Jenny the night before, the poults were all huddled under or around her, and seemed safe and secure. If I’d only known what was about to happen…
The last I’d seen Jenny, she’d had all the poults tucked close to her
It’s not clear if overnight if some of the poults had chosen to sleep on the ground by the door, enticing the attacker, but clearly this creature had no difficulty catching two of them. He obviously had a third in his grasp, and who knows how on earth this little poult managed to get away, but it’s clear this predator meant to kill it.
Young poults clearly are too tempting for our resident predators
Expecting the same assailant to return last night, I spent all day yesterday replacing the poultry wire with 1/2″ hardware cloth anywhere a poult could be approached at ground level, securing the corners, and setting rat traps (the old fashioned snap traps) outside the pen as a deterrent. Then once the pen was resecured, I went back in to check on my patient.
Although his head was spared, the wounds to this Bourbon Red’s back were quite severe
The poult was very quiet, but alert, so I decided to take a second look at the extent of the injuries. The poult seemed to be breathing without distress, and there were no wounds on the head or neck, with the exception of a small superficial graze along the surface of the beak, perhaps from being dragged across the gravel floor. Neither of its wings were broken, which was a relief. Across its body though there were numerous skin wounds, missing feathers, and the one laceration across the left shoulder which looked too suspiciously like a bite wound. As I examined the poult further though, I could see that the right leg was broken, and there was a fracture of the tarsometatarsal joint, which explained this poult’s inability to stand. With the bite wound, the blood loss, and the fracture, the prognosis seemed guarded at best.
The worst of the wounds were covered with wet-to-dry bandages, the fracture was supported, and for the rest of the afternoon I focused on keeping this little one hydrated. The poult was given some mild pain medication to address the worst of the discomfort, but not too much to prevent too much activity, and further disruption of the fracture. By late afternoon the poult’s spirits seemed improved, and he started to eat and drink on his own. Sadly though, just a few hours later he took a sudden turn for the worse, and died very late last night despite our best efforts. In total, we lost two Bourbon Reds, and a Standard Bronze poult to Wednesday night’s attack.
After losing two Bourbon Red poults yesterday, now only two remain
I love the highs of successful hatching, and watching the poults grow, but low days, like this one, make me question what we’re doing here. What are we thinking to even try to raise poultry at Curbstone Valley? Sometimes we both feel phenomenally outnumbered by the predators who are always lurking in hopes of an easy meal.
Anyone who has kept poultry knows how formidable raccoons are, how determined they are to get to chickens at night, and how dexterous they are, perfectly capable of opening simple latches. The damage to the turkey pen was impressive. I wish I’d taken photographs, but as soon as we found the breach we tore the rest away and immediately replaced it, knowing full well that after successfully hunting Jenny’s chicks, that our predator would return last night without fail. We will NOT lose any more of Jenny’s chicks this season to predators.
Until yesterday, all of Jenny’s poults were doing so well, growing, napping, eating, napping…
We’ve never had a loss to a raccoon. Ever. Poultry pen/coop security has always been foremost on our minds. That said, except for losing Zilla to the Bobcat last year, this is the only other incident resulting in injury or loss to any member of our flock in four years, but it didn’t make the loss of three of Jenny’s chicks yesterday any easier for me to swallow. I just didn’t expect a raccoon to disassemble the pen wall. Jenny doesn’t seem to be able to count, and although I’m sure she was stressed during the attack, today she seems completely unaware that anyone is missing.
This afternoon the poults are back to snoozing and sunbathing in the sunshine
Our job now is to ensure we do what ever we can to keep them safe at night. The electric fence seems to be minimally effective, but we’re keeping it charged around the turkey pen as an extra barrier, and we’re considering a permanent double fence system around the the perimeter of the next turkey pen we construct.
In the meantime, Jenny still has 13 poults. Most of the flock seems relatively unscathed, other than a few grazed beaks, except for a wound on one little bronze.
This little bronze is showing swelling under his ‘chin’, and seems to have a small laceration under his beak
This afternoon this bronze poult has begun to show swelling under his beak, so this afternoon we’ll pull the little one to look at him more closely, and assess the extent of this injury.
In the meantime we’re focusing on keeping these young ones as safe as we can. In light of Wednesday night’s attack, we’ve decided not to keep any of Jenny’s young from this clutch, so all the poults will be sold, once we’re sure everyone is over the trauma from Wednesday night. We’ll then turn our attention toward constructing an even more robust, purpose-built turkey enclosure, rather than the current repurposed pen. I’m all for reusing and recycling, but security of the flock is more important. This will give us the flexibility to better engineer and arrange the enclosure as a breeding pen, and build it specifically with raccoons, bobcats, and coyotes in mind. Hopefully then Jenny can try again for poults next year.
For now though, we’ll leave this on a positive note, with a peek at Jenny’s poults at almost four weeks old.
They really are most curious about cameras and their reflections in lenses, and we’re so relieved that most of them survived this ordeal.
OMG! I was spellbound reading, even letting out little “ohs” as I reached certain points in your narrative. So sad that you lost 3, and scary to think what would have happened if the pen had been less secure. Seems like Jenny may have tried to come to the aid of her little ones and gotten a racoon claw for her troubles!
If the raccoon had managed to enter the pen, we probably would have lost them all. I’m so glad it wasn’t worse.
Raccoons’ bad reputations are certainly well deserved. I was thinking ‘raccoon’ before I read to the end of the story. Sounds like some re-engineering is a good idea. And hopefully you have nipped this in the bud before the predation gets any worse.
Raccoons are cute from a distance, but ruthless killers. The frustrating thing with them is they almost seem to kill for the sport of it, rather than just for food. I’m amazed in some respects that we haven’t had issues with them sooner.
My gosh do you ever have your poultry problems. Too many predators waiting for a meal. The little turkey that escaped last week was really lucky you got it back in the pen before some four legged or even two legged critter got to it. I did not know racoons took poults. Where I lived in PA we had a family of racoons come every night. They were cute and I would put out scraps for them. I wonder how many baby birds they got too.
In an urban environment raccoons are especially problematic for poultry keepers, and perhaps the most pervasive predators of urban chickens. They’re so adapted to living around people (and their garbage cans) that their numbers can become quite prolific. Not a creature I would choose to feed personally, I think they’re successful enough without my help 😉
Raccoons are the big reason I worry about keeping hens in Oakland. We’ve got regular visitors.
Do turkeys not sleep in a whatever the turkey version of a henhouse might be called?
Glad you could lessen the suffering of your poults.
Turkeys don’t tend to want to sleep in an enclosed area. In the wild they usually roost on trees, except during nesting season where they can be vulnerable to predation while on the ground. You’re right to be worried about keeping chickens in the city. When I lived in Alameda, I remember seeing some rather beefy raccoons living in the city. Our chicken coop has done fabulously well at keeping them at bay, we just need to be sure our turkey pen is as secure.
We recently had a racoon raid our bird feeder, and Lou reminded me of their bad reputation. Your trials and triumphs make for good reading, but I hope that there will be no more predator attacks! I loved the video. The little poults really are cute. i hate for anything bad to happen to them.
Fortunately, since replacing the wire panels, all seems to be well, and we’ve had no more incursions. We actually don’t feed the birds any more, as it tends to attract all sorts of wildlife that we don’t necessarily want (like rodents), along with their predators too. We’re focusing instead on providing plants that can provide food and habitat, rather than a concentrated source of feed. It does make bird-watching a little more challenging than it used to be though, especially with so many trees here for them to hide in 😉
Oh! I really feel for you. I also hear that opossums will reach in and grab chickens like that too. Well, in the wild a lot more would be gone by now – the quail babies don’t all make it by any means. You’re doing a good job, and they all look fabulous.
Opossums can be problematic too, but raccoons seem a little more persistent, and being so much more dexterous it’s critical to have handles/latches they can’t defeat. We expected we may lose a few poults along the way, but not to a raccoon break-in, we thought we had them well and truly excluded. The quail populations here are interesting to watch over spring. Between the bobcats and hawks it’s amazing how many they can take.
Clare,
These things can happen, glad the raccoon did not get in the pen. It’s all a learning experience, your on the upside of the learning curve for sure.
I’m going to talk to our neighbor tomorrow, they were out at 9pm in a truck freeing one of the goats.
We’re relieved he couldn’t get in the pen either. One thing we’ve learned living here is to never underestimate a determined predator!
so scary and definitely hard to keep nature out with all the predators…I think the snakes in our yard this year kept a lot of birds from nesting or killed off nests of young ones…so glad you were able to figure it out to protect them…
Sometimes I wonder if there’s enough prey for all the predators we have around here…it seems everything wants chicken or turkey for dinner some days. I just wish they’d eat more rats and mice! 😛
I am so sad that a raccoon got to your poults. I want to have chickens but raccoon predation is my biggest fear. They come every night to my back yard to play in my water feature, and I know that if I have chickens they will be merciless and persistent. I plan to have the most heavily secured pen I possibly can. I hope the rest of your poults survive.
The advantage (if you could call it that) with raccoons over some of our other predators is that they really are night predators. Our bobcats and coyotes can be around day or night, making it difficult to even have the hens (or turkeys) out free during the day. Raccoons however can usually be addressed with a fortress-like sturdy coop for them to be secured in at night. Interesting you mention your water feature. We had that same trouble at our first house, and we’ve resisted the urge to install a pond here for the same reason. They really do seem attracted to fresh water in the garden!
Raising chickens seems as stressful as it is rewarding. I’ve read that racoons are intelligent problem solvers. Hopefully, they’ll figure out they can’t access any more of your poults and leave them alone.
I’m hoping that if we have the pen suitably secured now, that they’ll get bored and move on to easier pickin’s somewhere else!
Raccoons are certainly a menace to poultry. My husband has been trying to identify scat he finds in the garden and near our hens. He built his chicken pen out of a chain link dog run with a top that he found on craig’s list.com. It sits on 4×8 timbers above ground and attached to the timbers on the outside of the pen is hardware mess wire that he has buried a foot deep to keep the predators from digging under the pen. The dozen hens are locked up at night in the chicken house. So far our pen and house have not been breached, but with the scat left behind by some critter is snooping around, either a skunk or a raccoon we are concerned too. You write such good narratives about your experiences. I hope that you find a way secure your turkeys and their youngsters. It is discouraging and painful to lose any livestock. Good luck.
Our chicken coop has never been breached either. The turkey pen was much larger, and we didn’t use all the same materials we did with the coop. It had worked fine for our last turkeys, but this time it proved to be not quite good enough. As we’ve been successful with the chicken coop though, we have some good solid ideas for turkey pen design next time, and this pen in the meantime has been thoroughly reinforced!
No!!! Poor little things. I’ve been waiting for a post like this though. I was hoping it wouldn’t come so soon and I hope there isn’t another one.
I hope there isn’t another one either. We seemed to be on track for all 16 doing fabulously well, but the predators proved us wrong. 🙁
I didn’t realize raccoons were such predators, but I’ve never thought about it before. You are doing a great job, and I love reading about the highs and the lows. I’ve often dreamed of keeping poultry, but probably would never actually do it, so I love doing it vicariously through your posts. It’s a blessing that Jenny can’t count!
We had a friend some time ago that got chickens, and made the mistake of housing them inside a chainlink run. The raccoons had a field day, and killed all the chickens in one night. Because of that, I knew when we built our first coop that raccoons especially had to be considered in the design. I feel bad that our friend lost their chickens, but we learned from their experience, and it probably helped to save our own!
I was thinking weasels when I was reading your account but raccoons definitely make sense. So smart and very handy with their hands. There are so many issues to think about when having animals and trying to garden in a remote area. It must be frustrating but at the same time, it’s very encouraging to hear that wild animals are making themselves at home near you as it means you are supporting their natural habitat. Best of luck with the new turkey pen.
We do have a weasel in these parts, although I’ve never seen one on this property. They’re quite elusive here. Sometimes I think the wildlife that is here can read our ‘certified wildlife habitat’ sign though, and view it as an open invitation 😛
This is sad news, Clare. But I suppose the reason turkeys have evolved to have such large broods is that mortality rates are very high in the wild.
Their mortality rates are very high in the wild. There’s no way Jenny would still have 13 poults if she was a wild turkey. Hopefully the rest will stay safe now, and the little one with the swollen chin seems to be healing up very well too.
So sorry for your loss. I understand the feeling of defeat, that’s really hard. All we can do is live and learn – boy it’s an army of hungry critters out there. Carry on, you are doing great in my view.
The wildlife here have taught us a lot. Not just the poultry predators either. The garden predators too. I remember getting to a point with the deer breaching the deer fence, and ‘attacking’ the orchard, I almost felt like throwing my hands up in defeat. It’s a good thing I’m stubborn and tenacious 😉
Oh nooooo! That is such sad news!! We don’t have raccoons so I would not have thought that! I hope the leetle one gets better!! I have nursed a few chicken back to health, so I know what it feels like.
The little bronze seems to be doing much better. He had a nasty cut, probably from trying to push himself through the wire into Jake’s side of the pen. He’s responded really well to treatment though, and seems to be on the mend. You may not have raccoons, but I suspect you have some even more formidable poultry predators!
Dear Clare, I love your poults stories, but this one was a bit too scary for me. Darn raccoons! P. x
We’ll try for a much happier Fowl Friday next time. I don’t like to write the posts about the bad days, but if others can learn from our experiences, I think it’s good to be honest about both the good, and the bad days.
Wow, what an ordeal. I’m sorry to hear about the loss of three poults. I’m sure it must be discouraging, but the security fences you put in helped prevent the loss of more. I love reading about Jenny’s poults and am crossing my fingers that those jerk raccoons (and any other predator) just leave them alone. Keep at it, you’re doing great work!
Putting it in perspective for myself, it’s a good thing we weren’t raising poultry here a hundred years ago or more. There were bears up in these mountains then, and the mountain lion population was much more plentiful too. Sometimes I wonder how the earlier settlers managed to keep any of their livestock safe.
sorry for your loss.
Thanks Greggo 🙂
So sorry to hear of your losses! It can be so frustrating to love wildlife, and yet protect our gardens and animals from them. It sounds like you have fixed the enclosure to keep any predators out. We have had raccoon problems in our veggie garden. They take bites out of tomatoes, etc.
Oh Clare it must have been heartbreaking for you to discover this. I’ve seen a stoat catch a rabbit by it’s neck through a tiny wire fence and manage to pull it through the tiny gap.