Poultry Predator Identification

[gawildlife]

Opossums will take down full grown hens. Seen it with my own eyes several times over the years. Not in the "classic" predator charging out of the bush attack. Instead it almost always occurs at night on the roost. As we all know a roosted hen is pretty simple to grab and a opossum will just cozy up to a hen on the roost and take a bite out of one.

 

[gotthefever]

Hey GA wildlife,

I'm glad you shared. Like the Bible says, 2 witnesses to a crime (nowadays video will suffice). So you actually saw the Possum grab a hen?

I could see that absolutely with chickens in the sleep coma, something could slowly grab them. But I would still think it to be a rarity.

Unless, someone has the coop door open and a welcome mat to the chicken buffet (hope that's not to harsh?)
They don't dig, their hands are delicate and easily damaged. If it's easy, I guess they will go ahead and get it.

FYI, I had been feeding the little possum on my porch roof by happenstance (food was crumbs and old nuts and stuff for the birds).

I saw its tracks in the snow last week. Directly under the far gate in the yard, walked 3 ft away from the run (electrified) and up the tree. I spooked it 2 days ago and I heard it hit the live poly wire running from porch to chicken run.

It has not been back. glad and sad, but I don't worry about him or her or them. Coop is solid enough to stop them, its the foxes and the coons and mostly weasels that worry me.

 

[gotthefever]

Need some help. I lost three chickens in September.

The first was a Silkie in my back yard (that backs onto other 3-acre properties with bush). I found a poof of feathers near the coop about 30 feet from my back deck. I found some feathers on the fence where whatever killed her took her through the fence (about 40 feet from where she was initially taken/killed). I never found any blood or body parts. I assumed fox.

Next were two very big 7-month Ameraucana cockerels. I was away so don't know when they were taken. My son was taking care of them so who knows the truth. He did tell me one night some roosted in the trees. It took me a few days to find the feathers of these birds.

One bird was initially attacked on my side of the fence (huge amount of feathers) and ended up on the other side of the fence with poofs of feathers in several places. He fought hard for his life. Again, no blood, no body parts, no wing feathers, just neck, body and tail feathers in patches.

In the same area, I found a big poof of the other cockerels feathers and a few places where it looked like either he had gotten away and been grabbed again, or the animal just put him down. Again, no body parts, no blood and no wing feathers.

While searching the area (my neighbor's property) looking for a trail of feathers indicating either a den or a direction the animal took them, I found a lot of scat with lots of seeds in it. It wasn't in a pile, but there was a lot in an area about 15 x 15 feet. I would guess the animal was larger than a big house cat.

At first, I thought a fox but now I wonder if I don't have a raccoon (because of the latrine). Or maybe I have both.

I also have a smallish opossum that climbs into one of my pens and eats the spilled feed during the night. I would guess s/he is about 8 to 10 pounds. (My dog had it cornered on top of the pen one night so I had a pretty good look at it. I just left it alone--I don't think it will touch my big chickens and they are locked up safely at night.) Do opossum leave a lot of scat in the same area?

I intend to get the largest human trap I can find and set it hoping to catch whatever is getting my chickens. My neighbor lost a chicken around the same times as well.

Will a raccoon take away a big chicken the way a fox will?

I'm in South Central Texas and we also have bobcats and a mountain lion or two fairly close. Lots of deer (neighbor feeds them) and lots of road kill deer, so I would think many of the predators are really well fed.

I would appreciate advice/opinions. Thanks.

Sorry to quote this.

Gently as I can, If you want to keep chickens, they have to be safe. Chicken wire, free range without a chicken sitter, no cover to run, no dug under hardware cloth or electric fence, only slide bolts or hook and eyes with out safety hasps and you "may" never keep all of your chickens. I tried to imagine if I was a chicken and I had a choice, I would rather be free range sometimes with my human protector and be safe in 100 sq ft run the rest of the time than have to be afraid and die early and violently.

Nature will fill in the gap of the fox or coon you kill or trap. You will lose chickens again in the future. Because Coons move into new territories and Foxes have more babies to fill the gap. I would rather have a safe coop and run and KNOW that the wild animals in the area are aware that they can not get dinner here. A new fox won't know that and may test different areas than the educated fox who knows about electric and chain link...

Do you see what I mean?

IMOSHO

 

[gawildlife]

Dad rarely built closed coops. Most often three sided open sheds with attached open top runs. Loosing hens was a normal occurrence but alleviated somewhat by keeping our dog pens next to the coops.

 

[gotthefever]

Yep, seems like 2 kinds of chicken people.

Those that keep it simple and calculate losses...and those that name their birds and will not accept that a posable thumb and a huge brain can not stop predation.

I am in the second category, but those dang weasels...

 

[jajeanpierre]

Hey there, sorry to quote the whole story. I have been researching Opossums and they are not an 'Attack", type of creature. They feed on easy pickins and a great job of cleaning up human messes. They are so slow, as you know, almost sloth like, it's hard to believe they would kill a chicken. They are known not to predate but eat carrion. If you worry about Foxes, Weasels, and Raccoons, the possums are the least of the worries.

I agree. I mentioned to Opossums because of the many piles of scat I found in the area. I was trying to get an understanding if the scat could have been from a big Opossum. There were many, many piles, all with a lot of seeds in them. The make up of the scat could have been either fox, raccoon or fox. I know raccoons do have latrines, but don't know the characteristics of a raccoon latrine. I also don't know if an Opossum or fox could leave so many piles in such a small area. It seemed to be spread over a 20 x 20 foot area.

I think I've identified my culprit (or one of them). We had inches of rain over a couple of days and what I finally identified as a raccoon left a lot of prints on the roof of the egg boxes. I hope I also don't have a fox because I think I can deal with a raccoon.

I did buy a really big humane trap, but haven't seen evidence of the raccoon coming back. S/he was coming back climbing all over the little hutch every night (as evidenced by new muddy tracks) but seems to have stopped. I kept wetting the ground around the coop/hutch at night to monitor (it would leave muddy tracks) but I haven't seen evidence it has been around since. It's also dried out and I haven't wet the ground for awhile, just made sure my coops are extra secure. Maybe the road got it. Or my neighbor. The scat pile was just across the fence on my neighbor's property and she has a lot of chickens, too.

The raccoon may not be the main culprit. It might just be a coincidence one was trying to get my chickens. S/he might always have been around watching and trying, but I only noticed when had a lot of rain and saw the tracks. After all, predators are everywhere. I live in the country just outside of the city. The houses are all on from two to five acre lots, not farmland. Lots of live oak and Ashe juniper bush. I've seen fox often near my home. They're there, just not sure they want to come on my property with all my dogs.

I did get a scare the other day. It was late afternoon and one of my pullets, just about laying age, was on the other side of the fence in my neighbor's property. That area is just left wild with tall grass and bush. It was where i found feather poofs from the two cockerels and where the little Silkie hen had been dragged. As I looked past the pullet, I saw two pointy ears and what looked like the pointy muzzle of a grey fox peeping through the grass about 30/40 yards from the fence line. I popped over the fence while the predator watched. Finally, it turned and ran away and was not a fox but a cat. Whew!

I don't believe in removing predators from their natural habitat just because I happened to move in to THEIR backyard with chickens. If I remove one, another will just move in to fill the empty space in the ecosystem. I don't know what I will do if I find a wily fox determined to get my chickens which free range (Silkies are in my back yard, and the Ameraucanas are in the two-acre fenced yard.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[gotthefever]

jajeanpierre,

We are in the same type of environment it seems.

The feelings on predators are so extreme. If thought through, higher level thinking with research shows(and I have surely done hours upon hours of research and not thought everything through) foxes have more kits when there is a "gap". This is proven research.

Digging deep hardware cloth under ground or an apron of pavers, wire etc stop digging predation, Chicken wire is not acceptable, seem to be the main themes. However, All this in mind and wanting chickens, immediately! And experience with hawks and fox at another location, I went with a chain link run with electric. i don' want to dig up my yard and i want to move the run and electric is cheap and clean and easy.


My run is 20 feet from the house, moveable (argh, sorta), covered with snow fence. My theory is that hawks and owls can see a barrier and really cant get a clear view of my lovely pets. I will build something more attactive asap!

Can I say again, ELECRTIC fence is so easy and cheap for peace of mind. I promise, if you need help, let me know. I think you don't even need chain link or hardware cloth with electric.


I let the chickens out when I am home, they hang under big arborvitaes and try to hang on my covered porch (eww, poo!)

I can not tolerate the cold like they can, so I hang out a while and use the baby monitor (reversed) If I hear a funny squalk or sound I check it out. Oh my back yard is also fenced so it keeps the random dogs out during the day. My worry is from above while they are out (have seen foxes across the street and a coon at my neighbors trash during daylight hours and coonsthough)

 

[TJordan]

a week ago I came home just after dark to find my birds were attacked... The roo and one hen had a chuck out of their bottoms under tailfeathers and one hens breast ripped up enough that we put that one down... Now... After almost a week... it's happened again... Another hen with same area wound and one just gone.... Missing... Vanished.... No sign of feathers, blood nothing... Any ideas? How can I help the wounded without putting them down? I've only had chickens sense last spring and this is the first attack!!!!

 

[jajeanpierre]

My first guess is a dog. Dogs go for multiple animals, just ripping them up. Other predators go after just one, except something like a weasel but I don't think a weasel carries anything off. Your missing hen might have escaped and be hiding somewhere.

The chickens that my (#$*&(#$&# dachshund ripped up (it looked like a battle field--carnage everywhere) healed up really well with just Neosporin original formula ointment (DO NOT USE THE FORMULA WITH PAIN-RELIEF MEDS ALREADY IN IT). I culled one immediately and one died, but most healed up just fine without any infection. They were a little shocky for a day. Some had obvious punctures through the pelvis bones and no skin over their back.

Don't feed them because when they are in shock, their gut shuts down and you will create a lot of problems for them if they have food. Give them water. Slather the wounds with the ointment. They do surprisingly well even with horrific wounds. By the way, infection in a bird looks completely different than infection in a mammal. Pus is not liquid like a mammal, but cheesy and almost solid in texture. I kept them all crated until they were well on the road to recovery. I've never had a chicken go after a wounded one, but all mine free range, so they don't have the frustration that other chickens have that are crowded.

Good luck. What looks today as impossible to heal might just heal up fine. They can be surprisingly hardy.

 

[TJordan]

My first guess is a dog.  Dogs go for multiple animals, just ripping them up.  Other predators go after just one, except something like a weasel but I don't think a weasel carries anything off.  Your missing hen might have escaped and be hiding somewhere.


The chickens that my (#$*&(#$&# dachshund ripped up (it looked like a battle field--carnage everywhere) healed up really well with just Neosporin original formula ointment (DO NOT USE THE FORMULA WITH PAIN-RELIEF MEDS ALREADY IN IT).  I culled one immediately and one died, but most healed up just fine without any infection.  They were a little shocky for a day.  Some had obvious punctures through the pelvis bones and no skin over their back.

Don't feed them because when they are in shock, their gut shuts down and you will create a lot of problems for them if they have food.  Give them water.  Slather the wounds with the ointment.  They do surprisingly well even with horrific wounds.  By the way, infection in a bird looks completely different than infection in a mammal.  Pus is not liquid like a mammal, but cheesy and almost solid in texture.  I kept them all crated until they were well on the road to recovery.  I've never had a chicken go after a wounded one, but all mine free range, so they don't have the frustration that other chickens have that are crowded.

Good luck.  What looks today as impossible to heal might just heal up fine.  They  can be surprisingly hardy.

I thought my dog at first as well... But no wounds on the back or head... JUST on the breast and bottoms... She's a big dog...

Here's a picture of her with them... She's on a chain but still would jump the fence to lay down with my birds...