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Mongoose and chickens - emilysteng - 09-30-2010
I just joined this forum and read the conversation a few months back about the mongoose problem with chickens. I live on Oahu and work at a nursery in Kaneohe where a feral hen befriended us about a year ago. On the 18th or 19th of September she hatched her first chicks - just two. She is a good mom - but we had a scare last thursday when the chicks were just 5 days old - thought a mongoose had carried them off. Turns out momma had told them to hide and was a little away from them squawking away - I'm assuming to distract the mongoose? Anyways, it was too scary for me and I started putting them in a rabbit hutch covered in chicken wire up on a shelf at night. I let them out in the morning and they scratch around freely all day.
I have a few questions for anyone who might know. I am new to chickens. When do you think they will be big enough to really protect themselves? 6 weeks? I see other hens and chicks around who are quite large at 6 weeks old.
Mongoose mainly hunt during the day right? Mom seems to keep them fairly safe during the day and I see the chicks starting to roost on low branches. What are the dangers to the chickens at night? Would the mongoose - or something else - come then?
How/where do feral chickens sleep at night? I am guessing my hen friend sleeps up on a branch up in the bushes at the top of the nursery. I've seen her up there some late afternoons.But until the chicks are a certain age they need to sleep under her to keep warm right?
Sorry for the long post. Love this chicken and her chicks and want to keep them safe - but also want the chicks to grow up free and self sufficient like their mom. It's a tough balance.
Emily
RE: Mongoose and chickens - Rob Tucker - 10-01-2010
Ours were several months old before the mongoose began to ignore them. From 22 chicks I have 12 hens left. Some of the youngsters were killed right in front of me and the mongoose was running from chicken to chicken ripping out their throats. By the time I could grab my gun five were dead or dying.
No affection for mongoose.
My recommendation is buy a trap and a pellet gun. Use them in that order.
RE: Mongoose and chickens - tada - 10-01-2010
congratulate me!! the hen was going nuts so check it out and found the chick. so I grab it and brought it inside. I'm afraid the mom will never forgive me but I figure it's matter for survival. What to feed??
I'm microwaving dilute rice and oatmeal. My sister suggested a heat lamp but we got rid of it so can we get by covering it with napkins?
RE: Mongoose and chickens - Liz - 10-01-2010
Mongoose will generally leave chickens alone once they are about half-grown. As Rob pointed out, that's a couple months old. They are attracted to the peeping sounds of younger birds.
Mongoose are daytime hunters; rats hunt at night and will go after young chicks & eggs. Don't know how old chicks would need to be to be 'safe' from rats. Cats hunt both day & night so that could be a consideration, though they won't usually go after a full-grown chicken. Our flock is enclosed in a large yard with a wire skirting to keep mongoose from digging their way in. Rats can climb though so if you have young birds you need to provide more protection.
Feral & wild chickens roost high in trees. Once the chicks have their real feathers they don't need an outside source of nighttime heat in this climate. If you are at a higher elevation, they may need for longer. (We are at 400')
Tada - You don't need to cook chicken feed! Just give them cracked grain & fresh greens and they'll be fine. Or get some chick starter from any of the feed stores.
A great resource for chicken info is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hawaiichickens/
aloha, Liz
"The best things in life aren't things."
RE: Mongoose and chickens - Rob Tucker - 10-01-2010
The wire skirting was of no use for me. I discovered that the mongoose can chew through chicken wire. So I put in quarter inch rat wire. Then I discovered that the mongoose can climb. At that point the chickens reached an age/size where they were no longer bothered so I opened the gate and let them roam. They nest and roost at the chicken coop but the mongoose are still stealing eggs. Lots of eggs. My roosting boxes are four feet off the ground. The chickens fly up. The mongoose levitate it seems. The only thing I have found that works with mongoose is to catch them and kill them. Not a joyful moment.
RE: Mongoose and chickens - kani-lehua - 10-01-2010
being that we're at a higher elevation, we needed the "heat" lamp. just hung up a regular lamp without the shade to provide the much needed warmth.
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
RE: Mongoose and chickens - emilysteng - 10-01-2010
Rob- that is so awful!! I can't imagine how horrified I would be if I saw that happen. I thought about trapping them - but I could never kill an animal - even if it is a mongoose. I definitely can understand why you would, just can't do it myself. Guess I'll just have to try to protect them the best I can.
I was wondering how well mongoose could climb. I knew the rats could definitely climb, I just thought mongoose didn't climb as well. Maybe it depends how hungry they are? Do they actually run around near you? The ones around the nursery always run whenever we are near.
Liz - thanks for the info. I suspected the chickens slept up in the trees at night. How long do you think till the chicks will be able to do that? I see them getting their feathers already. How long does it usually take t get fully feathered? Also a couple months?
They have been safe so far in their hutch at night. Do you think the rats would ever try to chew through the chicken wire? Or would they ignore it because momma chicken is there? She sat on her eggs in an open box on the same shelf for three weeks and nothing happened so hopefully that means nothing comes up there to bother her. It's not that high, maybe 4 feet.
I think Kaneohe is about 100'. I think nighttime lows of 70 right now. I read the chickens need to stay 100 degrees the first week, then 5 degrees less a week. If that is correct, they need to stay warm with momma for 7 weeks till their body temperature equals the low night time temps. Guess it is looking like 2 months is when they will be "safe"
RE: Mongoose and chickens - Liz - 10-02-2010
Rob ~ That rat wire sounds like a nice improvement for the skirting. It's thicker wire so it'll take longer to rust out, too. I've seen mongoose climb our chainlink fence but never saw them attempt the chicken wire - so far. I hope those super-powered, levitating mongoose don't ever make their way down here! I wonder if a flared metal collar around the legs of the hen house would work to keep them out? (Like they use to keep squirrels out of bird-feeders.) Trapping & killing is the only answer if you can't keep them out. An icky job, for sure.
Emily~ That's correct about the temps required. They can't fly until their real feathers come in - downy feathers help them stay warm but won't support them for flying. They'll huddle under mama hen or a heat lamp until then. About 6-8 weeks about sounds right (from memory; it's been a while since we had chicks).
aloha, Liz
"The best things in life aren't things."
RE: Mongoose and chickens - emilysteng - 10-02-2010
Hey all - just let out my hen Casino and her two chicks from the hutch. I noticed there were quite a few feathers in there today though. Do you think this is a problem? I think it may be because I didn't get here till 9:30 AM to let them out and they have been accustomed to 7 AM during the week. The chicks are now 2 weeks old.
Should I be worried - is the feather loss natural or from being too agitated from being confined?
She seems fine - ate some food - got to scratching right away.
RE: Mongoose and chickens - Rob Tucker - 10-02-2010
My best advice is to check out this poultry forum. It's really cool. Lots of friendly people with lots of experience.
http://poultryone.com/forum/