Egg thief/ chicken killer

In the last couple days I have lost 2 young leghorn chickens About a dozen chicken eggs, at least 4 peafowl eggs. Last night I was woke up at 2AM by my Showgirl rooster screaming his head off. I jump up grab a flash light and see some thing had stole a Black frizzle hen And sucked 2 more eggs. So tonight I thought well I will be out there by 1AM and wait for what ever has been doing the stealing and egg sucking. So about 12:45 I head on out and inspect the The pen. I see fresh dig marks. Thought well lets have a look around. I go walking out back where the peafowl like to lay their eggs and see a big old skunk setting there sucking a peafowl egg. She was so caught up in enjoying that big old egg. She did not even notice me standing there with the flash light pointed on her from 6 foot away as I took aim. R.I.P you chicken killing egg sucking skunk

Hope that's the only one coming in & raiding your hen house.

Had a possum doing that to me recently. Was getting the baby chicks, I gave him a fair trial,,,,, and then shot him.

I am applauding your justice system. Currently my poultry are being attacked by raccoons. And not just at night. No, these brazen thiefs and killers are coming in the middle of the day. I plan on introducing them to a jury of .22

How on earth do you shoot a skunk without it spraying?

This is not just hypothetical, we've been trapping a lot of nuisance raccoons, possums and groundhogs, and I dread the day I find a skunk in the trap.

This one spayed like crazy. The stench even drifted into the house and front yard. I have shot them right between the eyes in better light and they never sprayed.

When I was small my Great Grandma told me if you pick a skunk up by the tail it can not spay. She told me it has to have its hind feet on the ground in order to spray, I found this to be untrue. I grabbed one by the tail and watched its little spayer point right at my head and give it to me full throttle. And yes they can aim that little gland. So in good humar I have passed this little secret on to my kids that skunks can not spay it you pick them up by the tail.

I've heard that if you trap them in a live trap that's covered in a tarp or something so they can't see you, they won't spray because they can't see you. And then to kill it you drown it. Honestly, I think it's horrible and I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it.

I know someone who trapped one, used a water hose turned on it to keep it from spraying, and then humanely killed it with a rifle shot.

Ok, I am a city girl, so forgive my ignorance. But, if you shot it with a shotgun, like blew it's head off real quick, it wouldn't spray, would it? It can only spray if you don't kill it instantly, right? Or it an automatic relfex action, dead or alive?

If it's in a trap, and you shot it with a shotgun, you're not going to have much trap left. If it's a metal trap, I'd worry about the pellets deflecting and ricocheting. And you'd have to be careful of what was behind the trap as well.

If you can get a clean head shot with a .22 short and the animal dies instantly, it won't spray. But if it doesn't die instantly, it absolutely will spray in its death throes. A skunk is a small animal with a tiny brain; getting that perfect shot is not a sure thing at all.

And you have to figure out how to get close enough to get the shot before the poor skunk panics and sprays.

Fortunately this is all still hypothetical for us, but I am very much preparing for the day when we find a skunk in the live trap.

On another note, I'm really interested to hear that a skunk was killing chickens, I had no idea they'd do that. Eating eggs doesn't surprise me, but killing chickens really does.