Let's talk Chicken.. The pets, not the food..

[jeeper]

You know what's easier than raising your fence? Take a pair of scissors to one wing per chuck. They can't fly over a 4 ft fence with a clipped wing. 90% of the time, it works every time.

We did once, and I think it mostly worked. 1 chicken was still able to escape... so like 90% stayed in..

I am not a huge fan of the tall fence now that it's been a day. So I think I will have to cut it shorter and make the kids clip wings again. That will also help keep this chickens off the hot tub, sxs, ac unit, trailers, other fences, etc..

 

[Cody]

OK hear me out...so you build this and put it at the exit of their entrance tunnel. I call it the brazen cock.


Triggering the heat source might be tricky. Maybe the flap lands back on an on switch for an internal halogen bulb? Or it triggers a torch or something? @cruiseroutfit you're an engineer. Any ideas for igniting the heat source here?

 

[N-Smooth]

I wonder if the rats live in the tunnels...? If that's the case you can attach a hose to a generator (or any small engine, really) and carbon monoxide the bastards. Pest control companies do this for gophers and it's usually just a hand truck with a small engine. Add a little oil to the gas if you want it to smoke and it make it easier to see where the exhaust gas is going...

 

[Kevin B.]

OK hear me out...so you build this and put it at the exit of their entrance tunnel. I call it the brazen cock.

View attachment 171441
Triggering the heat source might be tricky. Maybe the flap lands back on an on switch for an internal halogen bulb? Or it triggers a torch or something? @cruiseroutfit you're an engineer. Any ideas for igniting the heat source here?

Priam King of Troy would like to know your location.

 

[Cody]

Edit: I just thought---what if the laser beams mounted on the chicken's heads were used to super-heat the brazen cock?*

*I'm confident in that the last sentence has never before been uttered, by man or beast, in all of human history.

 

[jeeper]

So I checked the cameras to see if there were any active rats at about 11:30 tonight. I noticed the clear lid was off the trap box.
Review video, the hound went out this afternoon, lifted the lid, and got into the food. She got clipped by a trap and ran out.
However, that left 5 more set traps and food available for the chickens. 2 of them got straight up snapped across the neck in the traps. Murder spikes and all. Pretty sad video to watch as they panic and flap about.. but amazingly both got free and are alive and well (for now). One of the chickens decided not to go into the coop tonight and was found roosting on the fence instead. I’m sure there is some ptsd there. Guess I’m going to have to revisit the lid securement of the trap now.

 

[kmboren]

I bet your dog thinks twice about doing that again. Kinda surprised your chickens lived through a snap to the neck.

 

[jeeper]

I bet your dog thinks twice about doing that again. Kinda surprised your chickens lived through a snap to the neck.

We were too. One chicken laid down and gave up for about 2 minutes in the camera, but then flapped around again and hit its head on a post which knocked the trap off.
Looks like that chicken may actually be blind in one eye now. 😕