- Dec 9, 2014
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I am so so frustrated! We have been dealing with hawks, but our last killing was in January, and now I have this other predator to deal with. We had a fox last year and a raccoon the year before that, both are dead now, but this other thing has popped up. I went out this morning and noticed a trail of feathers leading away from near the coop. I had locked the coop up at around 8 so when the bird was taken was probably around dusk. And that stupid predator just had to take my favorite hen! I know you have to deal with predators when you have chickens, but they always take the favorites. Anyway, the clues to the identity are, small clumps of feathers making a trail, a hole dug under our 4 foot chicken wire fence and then the feathers ending on the other side of the fence. When we had a fox take them, there were big circles of feathers and the fox came over the fence on the far side of the pasture away from the coop. So, I crossed out fox. But the raccoon we had would lift up the egg doors on one of our coops, snatch a chicken, and then leave a trail of feathers. The evidence seems to point to a raccoon, but I can't be sure. Our neighbors have seen coyotes, and we know we have foxes, hawks, and raccoons, but except for the ones we dealt with, none of these have harassed our birds. One other possible predator is our neighbors dog, probably a 30 pound terrier that barks at our chickens all the time, but has never killed one. The hole was right by our neighbors property line. I am now very worried because I have some chicks in our garden which is right by the coop. The garden is surrounded by 8 foot tall fencing and the wire is dug deep in the ground, but I am still worried about them. We have a live trap so I will set that tonight and wait up to see if there are any more killings.
