Will,
Sorry for your loss. Seven birds in one night. That\'s awful.
I did an area code look-up and see you\'re in KS. I wish I could help. I have 20 babies and when they\'re old enough I\'m going to sell/give away all but three of them. They\'re 5 weeks old now and I see myself having to wait three to seven weeks before I can positively ID the cockerels from the pullets. If you can wait that long -- and if you\'ll ever be around NYC metro, in that time, it could work. I could also ship \'em, but that\'s a bit expensive and the weather has to be just right.
My birds are not show-quality. They\'re the result of Ameraucana Silver males crossed with Ameraucana Silver and Wheaten females -- and RIR females. The majority of them are the RIR mixes -- EEs. I don\'t think it\'s worth your extending extra effort for EEs and that\'s what most if not all of my birds ultimately are. They\'re beautiful birds -- don\'t get me wrong -- but if you\'re looking for showers, mine are not what you\'re looking for.
The pure silvers, if I have pullets are not for sale at any price. :-)
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Also...I know you didn\'t solicit it, but I\'ll offer these steps to guard against future raccoon raids:
1. Lock your coop at night. This is a must.
2. Remove all feed from runs and pens and store in shed.
3. Chain link fence with PVT slats surrounding your run and coop....with a chain link roof.
3. Bury tin two feet deep to discourage burrowers.
4. Electric fence -- two strands near the ground and one or more strand around the top of the fence about the periphery of the roof. For the top strands to work, the chain link must be connected to your ground system to form a ground return. Put on the most powerful controller you possibly can; make sure it\'s low impedance and pulsating -- no continuous. As a final line of defense, you run an electric fence tape in front of your coop doors at night. Run the electric fence outside the chain link if electric fences are legal where you live. Leave it on full-time, but shut it off if anyone is doing chores/maintenance inside the runs/coop. My electric fence is inside, because of where I live and we\'ll leave it at that. Mine is off during the day and on at night. Oh...and be sure you walk the fence daily. Electric fences do break, short out, etc.
I lost one last year that was only here 10 days. She had pet status and I posthumously named her \"Innocence.\" She was three months old -- still a baby. Her sister, Angelina -- still runs around my yard with a poultry version of PTSD. Everything spooks the daylights out of her. I\'m $3K into the fortified fence and still have do my front pen -- another $500 - $750 for that job. I never thought chickens would be such an expensive habit....
