Something is getting in my hen & chicks tearing the leafs off and pulling it out of the container. Any ideas?

Question

I live in a heavily wooded area. Lots if birds, squirrels and chipmunks. I have hen & chicks in a large strawberry pot and also in another planter in another part of the yard. I noticed the ones in the planter were attacked first. Every leaf was ripped off and the rest of the plant was laying on the ground. Several days later the ones in the strawberry planter were attacked. I have had the mother hen for a very long time and hate to loose everything. Any help will be appreciated

Thanks to all for the great advise.
I have an Upate-- I brushed one of my long hair dogs and placed the hair all over my hen & chicks then put a plastic owl with a swivel head right next to it. You won't believe it, but something took the whole hen!
We have a full fence around the yard and no deer in the area that I am aware of. My neighbor did see some racoons out back. We have 3 dogs that are out alot doing their business and wandering the yard.
I think I might have to try the chicken wire as terrible as it may look, I really want to save my hen and chicks. I don't want to use anything that the dogs could sniff and get a nose full of hot pepper.
And would rather not use any type of chemicals. I really thought the dog hair would do the trick.

Answer 1

OOHH the tasty morsels of hens & chicks!!! It can be any of the critters you mentioned, most likely the sqruirrels, something about this plant must be like chocolate cake to us, as this plant is to them. There are several enviromentaly friendly things you can do. A small cage of chicken wire over your plants....Whirly-gigs, anything that moves alot (I have pinwheels everywhere!)....human hair sprinkled about(most barber shops will give it eagerly) ...Moth balls
( do not recommend if you have small children)...Pepper spray although I have not had alot of luck with it....Crumbled mint (tea bags will work)...Other smelly things, onion or chive heads, dill, etc. ....dryer sheets though not very pretty work well...Decoy predators
(owls and snakes etc.) you can purchase them at most garden centers I have even used stuffed animals and have had good luck,looks cute too.
If you use the smelly method, you will have to repeat it often depending on how hot it is and how much you water....I battle those guys constantly, I do not mind really part of where I live, they keep me busy moving things around and trying new ideas. God Luck and God Bless
Grandma

Answer 2

The fact that the plants have been up-rooted leads me to the conclusion that you may have deer loitering in the woods, too. Try spreading some cayenne pepper around your plants. Most critters don't enjoy a sniff of that and will probably feed elsewhere. I convinced cats to desist from using my planter box for an outhouse with this method.

Answer 3

It could be a couple of things. You need to look around to see if you see any footprints around the area. My first guess would be a raccoon. They have a bunch of babies that they are trying to feed around this time of year, so they go hunting pretty hard for food. It could also be a possum, skunk, dog, or even an owl. I recommend penning them up or taking them inside to protect them and setting out a live trap with cat or dog food in it. Within a week you will probably have your culprit. If it's raccoons, there may be several that are attacking.

Answer 4

More than likely it is squirrels. You might try a product called liquid fence and spray the hens and chicks with it.