Killer hedgehog - my fault

As I understand it hedgehogs are nocturnal so if your hens are shut in before the sun has set surely they should be safe. I'm wondering about a chicken decoy you could plant in your garden to catch him, a rubber chicken wouldn't do it, but maybe something similar??!!!

Hedgehogs have a wide territory and don't stay in one garden. They wander. It used to be very common to see them run over but rarely now because their numbers have declined steeply.
They like neglected old gardens, not modern estates with wooden fencing everywhere and slug bait must be the number 1 hedgehog killer. Dreadful stuff, it kills all wildlife.
Sorry about the poor little bantams. I put out mealworms for my hedgehog visitors.

The downside of leaving holes in the fencing for the hedgehog means the pesky rabbits can also use them.

Indeed it does spoil their image.

I'm afraid hedgehogs are very good at this and having seen them decimate an aviary of rehabilitating pigeons it is quite horrid. It rather taints the Mrs Tiggywinkle persona! Still love them in the garden and they are welcome to my slugs anytime they like.! ?

I used to work in a hospital and one night saw a hedgehog chewing a blood covered sheet out in the laundry pick up shed . He'd burst through the bag - it was pure horror !

Providing a low table with ladder they can jump, fly or run up to would help.

AGain- your local hedgehog charity is your best bet. Phone them again and ask them for practical help this time. At the end of the day- you may have to adjust your husbandry- as hedgehogs will come back and so will foxes- so you need to get your bantams some escape routes- upwards and out of the way and have them free range but within fencing dug into the ground at an angle- or have a moveable coop on wheels so you can move it to free patches of grass regularly.

Just reread and they are free ranging during the day, but my second point still stands, even more so.

Been pondering all this. A killer hedgehog?

How did it get into a chicken coop?
How did it get close enough to kill chicken?

OK possible there were gaps in the coup netting, but banties, in my experience are fast little chicks and can fly sufficiently well to escape a hedgehog surely?

Are you sure it wasn't a rat?

CCTV wouldn't help much if your rear garden is very overgrown as you said though. What if you do manage to get it over to next door- what if it has babies?

But as soon as we think it's gone next door I would block the hole off. Mmm, CCTV would be really useful right now.

I'd feel much better if the vet could see it first though. Dish of yummy food out, and torch at the ready. Fingers crossed.

Hi Jalima, if I have no luck next couple of nights then I might do that. My neighbour's very keen on the idea.

Just noticed that Anya made a similar but more detailed suggestion

GrandmaRoo you say your garden is 'very secure'; can you open a gate, remove a bit of fencing and then the hungry hedgehog may wander off to another home where there are plenty of slugs and snails?
Just a thought.

Sadly no, they said to contact them immediately if it was out in the daytime. Otherwise no suggestions aside from the obvious. Might call round some others in the morning.

Surely the local hedgehog charity that you contacted is by far the best to advise here.

Great idea, Anya, my neighbour would love to have my hedgehog! And it's a great idea to extend their territory. But it won't work for us - I have to catch it first so my vet can make sure it's ok, and in any case I don't want it back putting my new bantams at risk. Even when the nematodes have done their grisly work, hedgehogs do like to help themselves to eggs and chicks.
Anyone have any ideas about how to do it? The obvious 'put out cat food then throw a towel over it' isn't working, and although I've searched, my garden is densely planted so it's easy for it to stay hidden.

Bravo Anya- there has been a lot of research showing the allowing travelling between gardens is essential for hedgehog welfare, and for mixing the genetic pool, etc.

PS nematodes can cause lung disease in hedgehogs and other animals. I can see that they could also migrate to the brain. Your hedgehog might need to see a vet.

And there was I pleasantly surprised to find hedgehog poo on my lawn this morning. Now I have to protect my chickens from the Curse of the WereHog

Have you given your hedgehog the chance to get out of your garden and into that of the neighbours? We have just put up new fences all around our garden and, with the agreement of our neighbours, we have left hedgehog pathways (holes at the base of the fences) so they can wander from garden to garden ... hopefully eating up all our slugs and snails.

Great news GmaRoo.

Be calm, my friends, I have absolutely no intention of harming the wee beastie! They are Nature's good guys, well, mostly. However, my garden is for me and my hens, they have a fox/hedgehog proof house and run, but they are free range until roosting time. That's not going to change.

One of the first things I did was talk to my vet and a local hedgehog charity, who were concerned that it was out in relative daylight. Hence my worry that it's very hungry. So I need to catch it so we can check its ok, if it's a nursing mother, and eventually relocate it somewhere suitable.

That's very dramatic, breeze, but hedgehogs don't have sharp teeth. It actually crunched their bellies and backsides and caused internal damage.

Nematodes are microscopic worms which you get in dried form, add water and pour over the soil. They feed and multiply inside slugs. Horrific. Can't believe I did that. Although they are widely used. Not here, not ever again.

And can't believe some of you thought I was going to kill my spiky little starveling! Just want him somewhere else.

Probably a mother with hungry babies- who saw the hens- and perhaps experienced the hens- as a danger to said babies. Catching it (then what?) would mean the babies would suffer too and perhaps die.

One of my good friends and neighbour was a 'hedgehog' expert and rescue- and there is one of more in each area- so why not ask them to visit and for advice, and perhaps re-home into a more suitable home.

You say you need to catch 'it' has it occurred to you that there is probably more than one ?
It's sad you lost the bantams but what good is kulling the local hedgehog population going to do now

What's a nematode btw! Some kind of hedgehog steroid!