guinea hens brooding eggs on nests...need help from SKUNKS

[moxeeguy]

I have had 5-6 specific instances where they have brooded for nearly a
month. 3 times inside my yard ...I knew of the nest and 2-3 times out
in the 17 acre open pasture where I was unaware (believed I'd lost a
hen to a coyote).

My weekend was spent stopping skunks from getting into our 2.5 acre
fenced compound...3000 ft of fence. Here skunks ruin all chances
guinea hens have to succeed in brooding eggs over a 28 day
incubation. A skun in one night will ruin 25-30 eggs....close to a
months effort by a hen...literally 1/2 to 1/3 of her entire years egg
laying. Preventing skunks from getting near nests is critical.

I buried the bottom of the fence line in about 50 spots where it was
not low enough. I placed welded wire along the ground and sewed it
into the fence as a skirting to prevent digging beneath the fence. To
make matters worse; feral cats follow through the skunk holes beneath
the fence line. So by keeping out skunks we also keep out feral
cats. Feral cats are an even greater threat since they kill and eat
the guinea keets that hatch.

A few years back I trapped a total in excess of 70 cats / skunks
within a 9 month period using 3 traps in an area about 1 acre just
outside our perimeter fence line. These two animals do unspeakable
damage to waterfowl, and upland game birds in our region in addition
to our poultry on the farm. I'm going to start trapping again.

Trapping and eliminating the threat of skunks and feral cats is a huge
part of the solution to successfully raising guinea fowl. Few people
complain about dead skunks...cats...people cry...even when its feral
cat with the most miserable of life and relatively short lifespan.
Life is difficult even when the correct path is taken.

Kelly

--
a Message from "Guinea Fowl Assn of America" your personal guinea friends group

[moxeeguy]

I've been concentrating on keeping the skunks out the last few days by
repairing the fence line. They will eventually dig under....that is a
huge problem. I can say I kept them out for 25 days and have 5 nests
with 20 eggs in each nest...on the 26th night I'll have no eggs in 5
destroyed nests. Really a nest requires 40 days to become viable if 2
hens are dumping into the nest. What are the odds of a skunk not
penetrating the fence line in 40 days?....close to zero.

!@#$%^&&* skunks.

Kelly

[Peeps]

How do you know it's skunks? Besides the obvious residual odor they leave behind, just curious how you know it is skunks that are robbing your nests. I hate skunks, vile little creatures, and show them no mercy. Luckily I don't have many here, over on the coast there were tons tho, always stealing my catfood no matter where I put it for my old outside kitty, and there were lots dead on the road all of the time.