Sorry about your loss bunnibird55. It would be interesting to know what predator did that. Keep us posted. What type of material did the predator manage to break through? Can you post pictures?
Cat food or tuna is good bait too for coons and possums. The marshmellows are good too if you have cats around because cats won't eat them. Peanut butter for rats and mice. Shotgun works on all of them.
Those coons will get thru that chicken wire if they want in. Replace it with "hardware cloth" and your coon problem is over.(provided you lock them in behind it). With all due respect catching coons and releasing them elsewhere is like trying to fill up a bucket with a hole in it. When a area...
I'm betting some will come back this evening. I would watch for them so they are not locked out tonight. The rest of the predators come out at night so they don't need that. Let us know it will be interesting to see how many come back.
If you click on "Forum" at the top of the page and then click on "chicken behavior and egg laying" you will find plenty of help with that problem. Hope that helps. Good luck.
Coons are a serious problem. Their numbers are out of control in many areas if not most areas. Not many natural predators who prey on coons. Hunting and trapping them has declined. So the numbers go unchecked. Don't hesitate to take out a problem coon. It is more humane than rabies, distemper...
Even large chunks of concrete piled around the perimeter will work. To dress it up plant Ivy or some kind of plants that will grow over it and cover it up. It will make a nice evergreen border around the perimeter that will harbor lots of insects and keep the predators out. And you know what...
ACW makes a good point. Heavy rocks make a good perimeter to prevent predators from digging under chicken enclosures. Large flat creek rock are ideal. They must be heavy so the predator can't move them and the wider the better. If you can get them free it is a lot less expensive than fence wire...
Buried hardware cloth serves one purpose. To stop a predator from digging. No reason to staple it to the floor. If there is any place where you could dig under anything with a shovel and get your arm thru the hole thats where you need to focus with buried hardware cloth
You seem pretty informed about predators so i'm sure you know that that if in fact that was a fox attack he will most likely return again for another one.
Yes the Red Tail Hawk will put everybody on high alert with that screeching sound they make. Squirrels go on high alert and every other small animal on the ground. Its like a air raid siren and they know exactly what it means. Its when the hawks sit and watch that is serious about killing something
Hawks attack only during the day. Owls at night. And dozens of other predators attack night and day. Keep them in a protective run or accept the fact that you will lose them eventually to predators.
A hawk has excellent eyesight. Often they will perch in the top of trees while watching their prey on the ground until the right opportunity to make a move. That opportunity could be when you go in the house. Most of the time its over for their prey when they pounce on them often killing them...