Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

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I lost 2 chickens to a owl it came from the top of the run feathers were every were

 

[bunnibird55]

I feel your pain - I lost 13 ducks and chickens to an owl before I found it was coming in at the very top of the sliding doors on the pole barn. I had hardware cloth stapled all the way up except for the top foot area where I ran out of wire. I had the live traps set all around the barn and finally was out there at 4 a.m. when I saw the big grey owl on my barn. I tried to get the doors shut, but they are wooden doors and I wasn't strong enough to get them shut by myself. I found my favorite Khaki Campbell hen the next morning....part of her....We need to keep the barn somewhat open for ventilation during the summer, so my husband got the extension ladder out and we now have hardware cloth all the way to the top of the barn. I have put hardware cloth all the way around the bottom of the barn - 40 ft by 60 ft barn - and am not losing anything else. There was also a mama opossum that had gotten into the hay and we had to move it all to find her with a nest and babies. Got them out of the barn too. Everyone tells me that owl will keep coming back until it finds another way into one of the barns - we have to make sure and get all the barns shut up before dusk. I have seen this owl flying around at night several different times so I believe they are right - it is stalking my barns. Not sure how to get it to stop coming back since it is protected......my chickens and ducks are very valuable to me.....

 

[Howlet]

why is it ALLWAYS. husky's?!

 

[sourland]

why is it ALLWAYS. husky's?!

It's not.

 

[Howlet]

It's not.

Kinda is :/ read alot of the dog posts

 

[bunnibird55]

Right now I am just very dscouraged. We have been through an unknown very large footed predator that got into a couple barns in January. We put up five foot high fence around all four of our barns so the chickens could free range and be protected. We reinforced the barns with harware cloth in May when the coon dug under the barns. We cleaned out all of the old hay and straw when a mama opossum made her home in one barn. We put hardware cloth over all the windows and sliding door openings in August when the Owls found us . Now we have several hawks swooping into our chicken yard and we have been unable to stop them. We have more than an acre of ground for the chickens around the barns and covering the whole area with netting is technically impossible. The small hawk came in just to kill for the fun of it and got my one gold laced partridge bantam cochin pullet that was signed up for Ohio National show in November. She was dust bathing in what I thought was a safe spot under the willow tree. The hawk just plain killed for fun and left the bodies lay. I saw the hawk after the fact, so I know what it was. A very large hawk killed one of my khaki campbell drakes that I was going to take to the show. He keeps just out of reach in a tree out in our field. We are keeping the chickens locked in the barns most of the time, but they love the sunshine and need the grass. We have tried keeping our Giant Schnauzer out in the middle between the barns but the hawk is not afraid of her. The bad part, the hawks are federally protected.......why??????

 

[bruceha2000]

What sort of cover do they have other than trees and how wary are the chickens of the aerial predators? Maybe a number of low (meaning chicken low, not people low) structures, lean-tos, A frames, etc would give them somewhere to escape in a hurry. My chickens like to hang out under the lilac bushes and the pool deck which has lattice all around except where it joins another deck which is attached to the house - that is their "door" and I really doubt an aerial predator would try to get in. The lilac bushes are useful only when in leaf of course and around here that means mid May to November.

Is this normal raptor migration season for your area and are you on a known migration path? If so, it might be worth noting the spring and fall migration times on your calendar just to remind you it is time to keep the birds in.

At the very least, though terribly frustrating as it has been, it sounds like you have added protection for most every predator you get one at a time and next year should be a lot better!

Best of luck.

 

[Michael Apple]

My experience has been that early morning and late afternoon/early evening are the worst time for predators if birds are free ranging. I know they can't get in my yards because they are covered top to bottom. Chickens prefer shaded areas during the day, but will venture out in the open when it isn't sunny and warm. Those days are the worst for hawks. I also notice a hawk in late Spring/early Summer building a nest every year in the hills above my property. I don't mind the crows since they often war with hawks. That keeps them distracted. I check for any digging every so often around the perimeter of my chicken yards. One yard is electrified so I never worry about that one. I keep an eye out for fox and coon scat when I stroll around the property. I often take my dogs along with me and let them mark around the areas.

 

[gypsy767]

We lost 26 two week old BO chicks in one night to a big female raccoon. We got the chicks around the first of june 2014 and after a week in the brooder inside the garage we put them in the coop that was pretty new...same place where we housed 16 BO layers that we had sold earlier in the year. The coop is very well built and tight...or so we thought. We had not lost a single chick before this attack.

The run (32' X 56') is covered with poultry wire as we have a LOT of hawks in the area...they raise on our place and have done so during the 30 years we have been here. All Ventilation was covered with hardware cloth.

The problem: At the top of the coop next to the metal roof which sits about 8 feet off the ground there is (was) a 3.5" gap (the width of a 2 X 4) between the top plate and the metal roof. I knew wild birds could get in there but nothing else could get that high and the gap was too narrow for predators, so I wedged hardware cloth into the space with the cut edges gripping into the wood of the 2 X 4.

Later, when I added the poultry wire to cover the run I added a 2 X 4 along the front of the coop at 6' high in order to fasten the wire. Never did I think of raccoons, or any predator getting that high or entering a space that small...but enter she did, a very BIG female raccoon walked along the top of the fence rail and pulled herself up and squeezed in thru that 3.5" gap and killed all 26 chicks. She only ate or took 4, the rest were left in the coop dead. The tracks were evident as to what happened.

I knew she would be back the next night and prepared the trap and sure enough she came back and could not resist the smell of the fresh honey bun (they have a sweet tooth, so I caught her and sent her to the raccoon happy hunting ground.

But it was a sad loss...and the gaps are now filled and that won't happen again. But it was a hard lesson to learn. I was so sure the coop was very secure. I have since learned that a raccoon can "flatten their head" to about 2" and can squeeze thru and the body will follow.

So take heed folks...learn from my mistake.

Good luck.

 

[Roxannemc]

Last night something took a hen who has roosted in my cedar tree with about 5 other chickens for 2 years.It climbed up as I see feathers on the limbs and took it to my side yard ..lots of feathers...and I think tried to get it through the fence lots of feathers in the side yard then body against the fence with head and chest eaten.Not sure if it ate them off trying to pull it through and couldn't or just a possum who eats heads.First time ever I've had anything come in my yard and get one.I have 10 coops didn't get in any just up the tree.