Judgment Day
We had a skunk in the chicken house again yesterday. The last time this happened, you may recall, the skunk got away. Back then I actually wasn't convinced that the skunk was much of a threat. Sure, it got into the chicken house and ate some of their feed, but it wasn't hostile. It didn't steal any eggs or hurt any chickens. I had heard from others that skunks could cause a lot of damage and even kill chickens, but I hadn't yet found a person who could give me a first-hand account of such things happening. So, being the nice person I am and being raised in a scientifically-minded family where documented evidence is more valuable than word-of-mouth warnings, I was open-minded toward skunks. I even felt guilty when Roy shot a few, although I agreed that the risk of rabies was a good enough reason.
Yesterday, though, I changed my tune.
Roy got into the habit recently of leaving the birds in their house each morning to encourage the guineas to lay their eggs with the rest of the clutch . I would come along around 10am to let them out. Yesterday was the same as usual. Melise and I went together to let the birds out. Without any concern, I opened the door and stepped aside as the birds flew past. I didn't notice anything off at first.
I reached just inside the door and pulled out the bucket of scratch. I handed it to Melise to throw out some (that's her job) and then I took the bucket back. As I turned to set the bucket in its place, the skunk came waddling out of the back corner. I let a few cuss words fly as I grabbed up Melise and headed straight to the house.
My plan was simply to put on some warmer clothes and then go back out to watch the skunk as I did last time, just to make sure he didn't cause trouble. I was also hoping to find his home for future reference. As I layered Melise and myself up better I realized that the skunk was in the chicken house before I opened the door. Did Roy accidentally shut it in there the night before?
With Melise and myself more snugly dressed, I practically ran back out. Last time, I had watched the skunk through the bushes, but this time I couldn't see the skunk from that vantage point. I decided to sneak up closer. At the door of the chicken house I still couldn't see the skunk. I thought I had missed it and it had already left - only one way to find out! Leaving Melise by the door, I crept into the house. In the dim light, I could just barely see a chicken in one of the nest boxes. I shook my head at it. Then I saw another chicken behind the box of bedding. I leaned in to see it better and my stomach turned over. The chicken was dead and had several obvious wounds. Almost as soon as I realized that, I spotted the skunk again, still in the house. I ducked out.
I was furious! Not only did the skunk kill one of our chickens, but the corner it was hiding in was where the guinea eggs were piled. I couldn't see into that corner, but I was instantly sure that all the eggs would have been ravaged by the skunk. I could picture in my mind a mess of broken shells and yolk. I ran straight back to the house, dialed Big Roy and said, "I need you to come shoot a skunk."
It didn't take much to convince him to come help. He, too, was unhappy about the damage it had caused. While I was waiting for him, I went back to the chicken house and, as quietly as possible, opened the little door to the nests on the back of the house. That one chicken was still sitting in the box. It gave me a little cluck as if to shame for interfering in private business. I ignored its protests and pulled it out. That left me free to close the front door of the house and trap the skunk in without endangering any more birds. I also realized while I was back there that the skunk had dug its way into the house because I could see the large disturbance it had left behind in the ground. Luckily, when a critter burrows like that, it has to fill the hole in behind itself as it goes, so it would take some time for it to dig back out again.
The hole under the chicken house.
Big Roy arrived. He took a look into the chicken house and expressed some doubts about shooting it while it was in there. He said it was back in the corner (opposite corner from the guinea eggs, at least), so someone was going to have to get it out later. With the anger still burning in me, I was more than willing to haul a dead skunk out and dispose of it. So Big Roy killed it. The shotgun blast didn't seem to hurt the chicken house, which had concerned me, but the smell spread out immediately! Whew!
I looked into the house to make sure it was dead and I stole my first glance over to the guinea clutch - where it used to be, at least. It wasn't the mess that I had envisioned, but the dirt was churned up so that I couldn't see more than a few eggs. I didn't have high hopes that more than five were left.
We gathered some tools and I changed into more appropriate clothing for the next job. Big Roy let me borrow a long grabber tool so I wouldn't have to handle the dead skunk and chicken with my hands. We both put on disposable gloves - good idea, Big Roy! Big Roy waited outside with the wheelbarrow. First, I reached in to pull out the chicken. At the end of the grabber, it felt ridiculously heavy. I tried not to look too closely at it. As I deposited the chicken into the wheel barrow, he reported to me that it looked like the chicken had been mauled around its neck.
It took me a couple false tries to go in after the skunk. It was all the way in the back corner where the roof met the ground. Not only was it a tight space, but the smell was unbearable! I took a deep breath and dived in. It took me too long to figure out the best way to fit my body back into the tiny space, so I ended up having to take another breath - hideous odor! I finally got hold of the skunk and dragged it out. We dumped the bodies in our burn pit, which is basically a huge pit in the ground where we put old branch clippings, farm trash, and tumble weeds to burn on windless days. I let Big Roy go home with a big thank you.
Melise and I started cleaning up the chicken house. We propped open the nest doors to help vent it out. I let her collect the few chicken eggs and set those aside. Then I climbed into the back corner opposite where the skunk had died to assess the damage to the guineas' clutch. I combed through the dirt, gently picking up eggs. Without a lot of enthusiasm, I started counting the eggs I found: one, two, three . . . I was amazed when I counted ten and decided to make a new nest a few feet away. I went back to sort through the dirt, just hoping for Roy's sake that I'd find another ten.
"Fifteen . . . sixteen . . . " The more I dug, the more eggs I found, "twenty-nine . . . thirty!" If I wasn't trapped under the support beams of the little house I would have done a dance when I got to thirty! With a big smile I kept digging. I could hear Melise pouring scratch out of the bucket behind me. I guessed that she was making a big mess, but I didn't care,
"Fifty?! No way . . . fifty-one . . . this can't be real . . . fifty-two . . . oh my goodness . . . fifty-three . . . okay, that's it! Fifty-three guinea eggs and not one cracked!" And I found number fifty-four on my way out the door where a poor, unsure guinea had dropped it while I was digging through the clutch!
FIFTY-FOUR!
I grabbed Melise up from the pile of scratch that she had dumped on the ground and gave her a big hug! I know it's silly, it was still a bad day considering the dead chicken and the stench that was covering half our yard. But the guineas' clutch survived the ordeal! I can't begin to say how relieved I was!
Upon telling this story to Kathy, she sympathized appropriately and then congratulated me on how much of a farm woman I'm becoming. She suggested that I needed a merit badge. I agree! I think the dead-skunk-hauling merit badge is in order! I know some other merit badges that are over due, like the killing-a-snake merit badge for my neighbor Brittany. Any other merit badge ideas?
P.S. You may recall that we put up special predator deterrents after we had a bobcat scare. To be fair, we put those by the front of the chicken house, thinking that a predator would try to get in through the chicken wire. The skunk dug in through the back of the house. I don't think that the deterrents failed, I just think we need more behind the house now!
Yesterday, though, I changed my tune.
Roy got into the habit recently of leaving the birds in their house each morning to encourage the guineas to lay their eggs with the rest of the clutch . I would come along around 10am to let them out. Yesterday was the same as usual. Melise and I went together to let the birds out. Without any concern, I opened the door and stepped aside as the birds flew past. I didn't notice anything off at first.
I reached just inside the door and pulled out the bucket of scratch. I handed it to Melise to throw out some (that's her job) and then I took the bucket back. As I turned to set the bucket in its place, the skunk came waddling out of the back corner. I let a few cuss words fly as I grabbed up Melise and headed straight to the house.
My plan was simply to put on some warmer clothes and then go back out to watch the skunk as I did last time, just to make sure he didn't cause trouble. I was also hoping to find his home for future reference. As I layered Melise and myself up better I realized that the skunk was in the chicken house before I opened the door. Did Roy accidentally shut it in there the night before?
With Melise and myself more snugly dressed, I practically ran back out. Last time, I had watched the skunk through the bushes, but this time I couldn't see the skunk from that vantage point. I decided to sneak up closer. At the door of the chicken house I still couldn't see the skunk. I thought I had missed it and it had already left - only one way to find out! Leaving Melise by the door, I crept into the house. In the dim light, I could just barely see a chicken in one of the nest boxes. I shook my head at it. Then I saw another chicken behind the box of bedding. I leaned in to see it better and my stomach turned over. The chicken was dead and had several obvious wounds. Almost as soon as I realized that, I spotted the skunk again, still in the house. I ducked out.
I was furious! Not only did the skunk kill one of our chickens, but the corner it was hiding in was where the guinea eggs were piled. I couldn't see into that corner, but I was instantly sure that all the eggs would have been ravaged by the skunk. I could picture in my mind a mess of broken shells and yolk. I ran straight back to the house, dialed Big Roy and said, "I need you to come shoot a skunk."
It didn't take much to convince him to come help. He, too, was unhappy about the damage it had caused. While I was waiting for him, I went back to the chicken house and, as quietly as possible, opened the little door to the nests on the back of the house. That one chicken was still sitting in the box. It gave me a little cluck as if to shame for interfering in private business. I ignored its protests and pulled it out. That left me free to close the front door of the house and trap the skunk in without endangering any more birds. I also realized while I was back there that the skunk had dug its way into the house because I could see the large disturbance it had left behind in the ground. Luckily, when a critter burrows like that, it has to fill the hole in behind itself as it goes, so it would take some time for it to dig back out again.
The hole under the chicken house.
Big Roy arrived. He took a look into the chicken house and expressed some doubts about shooting it while it was in there. He said it was back in the corner (opposite corner from the guinea eggs, at least), so someone was going to have to get it out later. With the anger still burning in me, I was more than willing to haul a dead skunk out and dispose of it. So Big Roy killed it. The shotgun blast didn't seem to hurt the chicken house, which had concerned me, but the smell spread out immediately! Whew!
I looked into the house to make sure it was dead and I stole my first glance over to the guinea clutch - where it used to be, at least. It wasn't the mess that I had envisioned, but the dirt was churned up so that I couldn't see more than a few eggs. I didn't have high hopes that more than five were left.
We gathered some tools and I changed into more appropriate clothing for the next job. Big Roy let me borrow a long grabber tool so I wouldn't have to handle the dead skunk and chicken with my hands. We both put on disposable gloves - good idea, Big Roy! Big Roy waited outside with the wheelbarrow. First, I reached in to pull out the chicken. At the end of the grabber, it felt ridiculously heavy. I tried not to look too closely at it. As I deposited the chicken into the wheel barrow, he reported to me that it looked like the chicken had been mauled around its neck.
It took me a couple false tries to go in after the skunk. It was all the way in the back corner where the roof met the ground. Not only was it a tight space, but the smell was unbearable! I took a deep breath and dived in. It took me too long to figure out the best way to fit my body back into the tiny space, so I ended up having to take another breath - hideous odor! I finally got hold of the skunk and dragged it out. We dumped the bodies in our burn pit, which is basically a huge pit in the ground where we put old branch clippings, farm trash, and tumble weeds to burn on windless days. I let Big Roy go home with a big thank you.
Melise and I started cleaning up the chicken house. We propped open the nest doors to help vent it out. I let her collect the few chicken eggs and set those aside. Then I climbed into the back corner opposite where the skunk had died to assess the damage to the guineas' clutch. I combed through the dirt, gently picking up eggs. Without a lot of enthusiasm, I started counting the eggs I found: one, two, three . . . I was amazed when I counted ten and decided to make a new nest a few feet away. I went back to sort through the dirt, just hoping for Roy's sake that I'd find another ten.
"Fifteen . . . sixteen . . . " The more I dug, the more eggs I found, "twenty-nine . . . thirty!" If I wasn't trapped under the support beams of the little house I would have done a dance when I got to thirty! With a big smile I kept digging. I could hear Melise pouring scratch out of the bucket behind me. I guessed that she was making a big mess, but I didn't care,
"Fifty?! No way . . . fifty-one . . . this can't be real . . . fifty-two . . . oh my goodness . . . fifty-three . . . okay, that's it! Fifty-three guinea eggs and not one cracked!" And I found number fifty-four on my way out the door where a poor, unsure guinea had dropped it while I was digging through the clutch!
FIFTY-FOUR!
I grabbed Melise up from the pile of scratch that she had dumped on the ground and gave her a big hug! I know it's silly, it was still a bad day considering the dead chicken and the stench that was covering half our yard. But the guineas' clutch survived the ordeal! I can't begin to say how relieved I was!
Upon telling this story to Kathy, she sympathized appropriately and then congratulated me on how much of a farm woman I'm becoming. She suggested that I needed a merit badge. I agree! I think the dead-skunk-hauling merit badge is in order! I know some other merit badges that are over due, like the killing-a-snake merit badge for my neighbor Brittany. Any other merit badge ideas?
P.S. You may recall that we put up special predator deterrents after we had a bobcat scare. To be fair, we put those by the front of the chicken house, thinking that a predator would try to get in through the chicken wire. The skunk dug in through the back of the house. I don't think that the deterrents failed, I just think we need more behind the house now!
Posted by Susan at April 22, 2010 
Categories: Rural Living, Poultry
Tags: shotgun guinea kill egg chicken damage skunk clutch
Categories: Rural Living, Poultry
Tags: shotgun guinea kill egg chicken damage skunk clutch
You definitely deserve that badge. Amazing!
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