Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

Quote:
So sorry to hear about your flock.

Hope you have some sweet chicks hatch soon.

Happy Country Hen(s)

Quote:
So sorry to hear about your flock.

Hope you have some sweet chicks hatch soon.

Happy Country Hen(s)

i had a large red male fox that tried to get into my pen this a.m., we have an electric fence...he was trying to dig under and got one foot caught in the netting that i have around the bottom to trap snakes and he then bit the electric fence and it killed him. he had got one of my little banty roosters last week and i guess he came back for more. wish he had been somewhere else as he was so pretty...there are four more in the area about a block up the street, hope they stay away.

I'm grateful to be able to say we haven't lost any yet. We've had a couple of bald eagles and a couple of great horned owls in our backyard in two different instances where I swear they were making a game plan, but luckily no attack attempts were made. Admittedly I'm a little nervous because we just moved the girls from a smaller enclosed coop to a larger more open coop that is farther from the house. I worry that they are too exposed back there, but I'm not sure what to do. Maybe we'll look into electric fencing around their coop for night time.

Kris

Just lost two and a third one is injured by the neighbor's dog who burrowed a hole under the fence separating our yards. If he had it in him to kill them, I'm surprised it took him 2.5 years to do it.

a family of skunks wiped out our entire flock of 30 in one nite...

I haven't lost any chickens to predators in the 2 1/2 years since I started up with chickens again and caught a coyote attacking them tonight - just like a dog - she killed 2, left 2 more for dead, and was trying to attacking a 5th one when I ran outside and caught her in the act and chased her off before she called the 5th one. The coyote didn't even eat any of them - it was just as bad as a dog killing, but it was easily able to leap over our 6 1/2 ft block wall.

I would say Mink. I had never lost a bird to a predator before (our dogs keep everything away) this winter. I had picked up 10 show quality silkie hens from a breeder two hours away (the drive was boring and the birds were VERY spendy), and roughly two weeks later I found them all dead in a pile with their heads bit into. I was FURIOUS. So I thought I had patched up any little hole in the barn, but then two weeks later I found my adorable tufted roman goose (she was full grown) dead with a pool of blood around her head. So I removed the patches over the two little holes in the barn (both were gaps under doors), and placed live traps with parts of my goose as bait (that was difficult for me to do). A week later I heard my guineas screaming bloody murder, so I raced to the barn. I found a very ticked off mink in one of my traps. I'm a huge animal lover, but the almost cute animal had to go. I had to kill it, as a didn't want him coming back or else bothering someone elses birds. Long story short, after constant weeks of worry, I can finally sleep again. Lol.

It definately depends on the dog! And the location! I wonder if this poll consists of free ranging chickens or if some are lost insidethe coop.... crafty little coons.

I am so sorry to hear all the loses of your precious chickens. I lost two this year also, I believe it was a fox, do racoons come out at night?
one was a hawk I saw that one, those were my only in about 4 years. I guess I am very lucky.
The fox found a way to get in to the coop, I was remiss, he started by eating the eggs, I found the shells then as some of you say he came back for more and got my favorite one. Then the hawk got the other in the snow she was not watching.
I am more diligent and secure since then, But life in the wild must go on and they have to get their food from some place I am just sorry it has to be our animals.