They are fast, very strong, way too clever for their own good and extremely destructive! No, they are not government, they are the ‘Boggom-bende’! Like I’ve said before: “never a dull moment!”
Boggom-Bende Trashing!
Our latest predator, or rather ‘band of thieves’, turns out to be a problem troop of baboons. (I have nicknamed them the ‘boggom-bende’ …’boggom’ being the sound of a baboon’s call and ‘bende’ being the Afrikaans name for thieves).
Rudy and Elise now harvest approximately 10 dozen eggs a day. This is the product of both the Eggceptional Team and the young Piranha hens. The baboons got into the runs a total of 9 times in September taking a minimum of 40 eggs per raid! Sometimes they come several times in a day!
They jump on the net covering the run until they break it or find a weakness. If a door to the laying hut gets in their way, they just rip it loose, leaving the bolted locks in tact on the door frame and the door broken! Should they be held back by the net in an attempt to escape, they just force a hole in it…and it’s a strong net!
I actually think these guys should be working for the defence force or something. They manage to slip into one chicken run and eat all the eggs while someone is working in the other run bordering it! They are like stealth fighters – ‘flying under the radar’ and as silent and effective as a sniper. I’m sure that with their physical strength they would give Arnold Schwarzeneger a serious run for his money.
Piranha Laying Hut
The laying huts in the Piranha run have locked doors with little openings at the bottom (approximately 20cm square). These allow the hens to go in and out to lay their eggs. We have seen a huge male baboon leaving the chicken run. On inspection we found that all the eggs had been eaten and some laying boxes destroyed!
At first we thought that the big guy bribed a little one to go in and collect the booty. It might have sounded something like this:
“Hey kid, here’s what I want you to do…”
“Hey kid, listen carefully. I will allow you to go in and get me some eggs. If you don’t break any, I won’t give you a hiding and I may even let you have one!” But we were mistaken since we saw only the large baboon scramble over the roof after his commotion inside the hut! That probably means the little guy said, “You can take your offer and stick it where the sun don’t shine, Mr!” 😉
We have been very fortunate that the ‘Boggom-bende’ haven’t ever injured or killed any chickens…even when taking all the eggs from a sitting broody hen. Praise the Lord! 🙂
Wilderness Chat 