The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ki4got]

I need help identifying these tracks. I have seen them around in the snow but not always consistently... There were a lot of rabbit tracks in our dusting of snow last night and then these.... before I just chalked them up to a cat but honestly cats are few and far between in our area.... and I am not sure why a cat would be so interested in my fenced in back yard. Anyhow another thing that I found curious is that I would imagine that the stride and such would be different for a cat. These actually had some prints from each leg very close together and at times right on top of one another. Could this be a weasel?





In these next photos the prints are right next to / on top of one another.... that doesn't seem like a trait of a cat....









Any help is greatly appreciated....

judging from the first pic and the fallen flower bud in the snow, I'd say they're domestic cat tracks.

if the cat is trotting quite often their rear foot falls the same place as the front foot. the same with many animals actually. individual conformation may change exactly where the feet land for individual animals, but on the average.

you posted while I was... the weasel track you picked out is 1.75" across, while a cat is about 1". I still vote cat, since you said about a nickel, so maybe a young cat.

and cats explore, so they're likely to show up anywhere. remember what they say about curiosity LOL

the tracks being on top of each other, again indicates he was trotting. a weasel because of his long body, doesn't have that pattern.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

judging from the first pic and the fallen flower bud in the snow, I'd say they're domestic cat tracks.

if the cat is trotting quite often their rear foot falls the same place as the front foot. the same with many animals actually. individual conformation may change exactly where the feet land for individual animals, but on the average.

you posted while I was... the weasel track you picked out is 1.75" across, while a cat is about 1". I still vote cat, since you said about a nickel, so maybe a young cat.

and cats explore, so they're likely to show up anywhere. remember what they say about curiosity LOL

the tracks being on top of each other, again indicates he was trotting. a weasel because of his long body, doesn't have that pattern.

that would be awesome if it is a cat!!! they were around the coop... I am not so worried about a cat. We are shut up tight at night anyway...

 

[Jewelwing]

I need help identifying these tracks. I have seen them around in the snow but not always consistently... There were a lot of rabbit tracks in our dusting of snow last night and then these.... before I just chalked them up to a cat but honestly cats are few and far between in our area.... and I am not sure why a cat would be so interested in my fenced in back yard. Anyhow another thing that I found curious is that I would imagine that the stride and such would be different for a cat. These actually had some prints from each leg very close together and at times right on top of one another. Could this be a weasel?





In these next photos the prints are right next to / on top of one another.... that doesn't seem like a trait of a cat....









Any help is greatly appreciated....

Wow, those are really nice pictures you got of them! To me, it looks like a cat, because of the overall roundness of the print (rather than oblong or oval), and in that third picture you posted, with two prints almost right on top of each other, it looks like the central pad is really well-defined and looks shaped like a cat's - like a thick "M," rather than a thick inverted "V." And the toes are not as skinny and long as I would expect for a weasel.

I think cats can have prints one on top of the other, depending on what gait they're using and how fast they're going. What kind of area do you live in? How much human population is there? What is the habitat like?

I agree with Leah's Mom, though - size is important. Are they the size of a house cat (about 1" diameter) or the size of a bobcat (about 2" diameter)? Also, you can measure the "stride" - distance between prints - and "straddle" - width of print track from side to side. This seems to be a good site to learn about identifying mammal tracks:

http://culter.colorado.edu/~kittel/WEcol_Handouts/MammalBasicTrackPatterns_SOlson06.pdf


FWIW, if I had to guess, I'd guess it was a house cat. But I'm really not that good at identifying tracks. You need a wildlife camera!!

 

[Jewelwing]

Oh, I see that while I was thinking about it, others posted! Well, at least I agreed!

 

[delisha]

Quote: It is a long story..
30 years or so ago I started to buy cornish..cheap to grow out and butcher..they were the bomb back than. Well they started to have bad legs when you got them so I kept a few hens and bred them to my daughter's 4H Rocks. I have brought in new blood and more Cornish through the years..I never took notes..They re mostly rock and Cornish. Easy to butcher out at 8 weeks. They are not as large as the cornish and you can keep and breed the hens and roosters with out much problems. I can free range them pretty easy. They are still food aggressive and males are horrible. I can't let baby's out with male meaties. They will kill them over food. So all males are shut behind a fence during feeding. They do not tid bit hens ..they do not give up food for hens...lol..shameful abusive husbands they are. I keep them for 8 months and butcher them out. I can't live with them any longer. I did not keep one over the winter this year so I will be breeding my Cornish girls to dotties. I love dottie meat flavor profiles..and I am looking forward to trying it this year. I tried sussex and dottie..and the chicks grow like mad. I have 4 week olds all feathered out and look like they could go outside..

Quote: Some weasels do.. but I think these tracks are kitty kitty...

 

[mlowen]

I'm not worried...just surprised & interested: I got a bantam egg, yesterday, but have no bantam chickens.

Today everybody laid and all were exactly the size and color they've been being. I'm sure someone just had a "hiccup." I was going to eat it this morning. The yolk seemed full sized, but the white was small and it was way waterier than a usual egg. So I gave them back to the girls. (just a teeny bit grossed out by the extra liquid.) Here are some pictures.



Far right is the usual size.

The top one is the tiny egg, bottom one of the very large leghorn ones.

 

[TeaChick]

uh... nothing predictable. backyard mutt? usually leghorn is dominant white, so the fact this one isn't is curious... but the color will change before he matures. he might end up looking incompletely laced or it could be anything mixed, since white hides all other mutations.

delisha, is that descended from hatchery meaties or making your own? and if so what went into it?

Thanks for the info!!! =)

 

[chick rookie]

I need help identifying these tracks. I have seen them around in the snow but not always consistently... There were a lot of rabbit tracks in our dusting of snow last night and then these.... before I just chalked them up to a cat but honestly cats are few and far between in our area.... and I am not sure why a cat would be so interested in my fenced in back yard. Anyhow another thing that I found curious is that I would imagine that the stride and such would be different for a cat. These actually had some prints from each leg very close together and at times right on top of one another. Could this be a weasel?





In these next photos the prints are right next to / on top of one another.... that doesn't seem like a trait of a cat....









Any help is greatly appreciated....

looks like a cat

 

[armorfirelady]

I found tracks this morning so out I go with the iPad to compare them. Thanks Leah's mom for posting the chart again. Mine are sometimes close together as well. I know there are outdoor cats around but I wasn't sure if it was them or not. And the squirrels are out now running thru the snow.

I also saw deer tracks at the coop. I'm guessing they were hoping to munch on the hay bales surrounding the coop. To bad they are frozen solid.

Last night I found one of the big girls in the old run bedded down on the plastic bag holding leaves. I picked her up to find an egg under her. This morning 2 more eggs on the bag. Needless to say I dumped the leaves & removed the bag. A few days ago someone got the bag open and laid inside the bag. Thank goodness I looked inside it to see why it was open I plan on removing the nesting boxes from the old coop & putting them on the hoop coop. They rarely use the plastic box & they pant in it so much during the summer. So I am hoping they will like the old nesting boxes better. Plus more room and air movement.

But first it needs to warm up. The sun is shining beautifully today but it's only 30. Needs to be a little warmer to work OutSide but I am happy its warmer than the single digits .

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I had my husband look and he immediately said "cat".