Something's taken a turkey - I'm puzzled.

[SAHMof2]

I got home late tonight and asked dh to come with me to the coop to close the gate. (I get scared walking to the back of the property at night) Good thing he came. As we got closer I heard some squeeking and caught the back end of something running toward the enclosure. Smelled faint skunk and we ran the other direction.

I'm a bit perplexed though and maybe you can advise as this is my first encounter with a preditor and my birds after 1.5 years.

The mesh around our seconarary run is 8 foot deer fencing but we have it so that it leans forward into the run. Think candy cane. So this thing couldn't have possibly run up and over the deer mesh?? I can see it getting in but surely not out???

We did find a space under the run that dh could but his shoe into and a turkey feather on the other side. Can a skunk REALLY squeeze under such a small hole and drag a 10 week old turkey with it? Tmo a.m. we are going to search for carnage.

This stinks! I'm so .... ROAR!

Based on the above can we assume a snunk got in under the run, grabbed a turkey and ran back under with it?

We live in Southern Alberta and haven't had racoons as far as I can remember. There have been sightings of racoons at the river some 30 kms away though. Do racoons smell terrible? Also do they hang out in praire. There are not many trees around us. Just crop.

Thanks all.

 

[sourland]

Do you have fishers? They are agile enough to scale that fence and belong to the mustelid family along with skunks, minks, etc and have the family odor when disturbed.

 

[SAHMof2]

Wow! I had to google fisher (I'm sure we dont have them). They look terrible. We do have badgers but they are huge. Have you ever heard of a badger stealing chickens/turkeys during the night?

 

[bluesub]

Raccoons do smell terrible and leave a lingering odor.

 

[sourland]

Doubt that a badger could scale that fence--they would be far more likely to destroy the fencing with their digging "tools." Are you sure you don't have fishers? They are relatively common in the New England states and Eastern Canada and are starting to show up in NY and Pennsylvania--perhaps even northern NJ.

 

[SAHMof2]

We are in the West above Idaho. I've lived here my whole life and never heard of a fisher. We have weasels but they are smaller then a farret and then of course badgers.

We've put cinder blocks around the space we think it might have gotten in but that enclosure really was never meant to be secure just keep them from the road and my gardens. Dh went to put them in twice last night and they were still playing in the larger area. I think it was a bad combination fo timing and the chickens and turkeys just not wanting to head in early. The run that is attached to the coop is very secure and that's what we close up. A preditor coming back for seconds will tell us if its secure enough now that they know where the buffet is.

So much energy mental and physical into these little fluffy butts. Such a shame when terrible things happen.

 

[Kudzu]

A lot of people mistake the smell of a Fox for a Skunk, but anywho, why you scared to walk by yourself?

 

[SAHMof2]

ooo, do foxes hunt at night? My worst case scenario is actually a fox. Clever daytime when they are not locked up "safely".

lol. Our coop is at the far end of our property. Its pitch black and no good flashlights around this place for some reason. We've walked into skunks a few too many times as well as the howling coyotes. Being scared in the country sound funny doesn't it? Nothing compared to strange ppl looking to hurt someone in a dark alley.

 

[sourland]

I'm thinking 8' is a little high for a fox to scale and doubt that one would then be able to exit over that inward flange. Kudzu is right they do have a musky odor similar to mustelids-- although it is more noticeable during the breeding season.

 

[SAHMof2]

Could a skunk fit under a space the height of a shoe with a turkey? That is where we found feathers.