Bobcat and Chickens...who wins?

[marin chicks]

This is from my game cam over the holidays. The girls are locked in the coop so they are safe. The run has double layers of hardware cloth on the sides and one layer is buried 12 inches in the soil with a concrete footing. The top where the bob cat is walking is plastic roofing. They seem pretty safe at 3am but it may be a problem if he comes back during daylight hours as the rest of the roof is plastic mesh to keep raptors out off the run. The bobcat could probably claw their way through the mesh roofing in the run. never a dull moment.

 

[escapepodowner]

WELL LAST YEAR OUR VET CAUGHT A BOBCAT (WEST OF RED BLUFF, CA) PEELING BACK THE CORNER OF HIS REINFORCED CHAIN LINK KENNEL/COOP AND METHODICALLY TAKING 35 CHICKENS ONE AT A TIME ALL NIGHT. HE TRAPPED THE BOBCAT AND IT WAS UNUSUALLY LARGE FOR THIS AREA.

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO ADDITIONALLY REINFORCE THE ROOF IS GOOD- ALSO YOU MIGHT CALL NITEGUARD.COM AND SEE IF THEY KNOW WHETHER THEIR SOLAR PREDATOR LIGHTS ARE EFFECTIVE FOR BOBCATS. THEY ARE VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND GUARANTEE THEIR SOLAR LIGHTS THAT REPLICATE THE EYES OF A PREDATOR TO DETER NIGHTIME PREDATORS. THOSE LIGHTS HAVE STOPPED THE RACCOONS AND COYOTES FROM THEIR ROUNDS NEAR OUR COOP.

GOOD LUCK ON THIS- GREAT TO HAVE A HEADS UP FROM THE TRAIL CAM!

 

[ChickenHermit]

I would be worried about the top of the run and bobcat returning in daylight- bobcats will jump a run, in broad daylight.

At my old house, we had a large run with metal sheep fencing across the top to keep predators out. Bobcats came, middle of the day, jumped the tall run fence and pushed between the layers on the roof to make off with multiple chickens. Finally had to carefully wire everything together to keep them out.

 

[ChickenHermit]

Also to add, noting your location- I was living in Sonoma county at the time. Huge issues with bobcats in the north bay area!

 

[Jake777]

This is from my game cam over the holidays. The girls are locked in the coop so they are safe. The run has double layers of hardware cloth on the sides and one layer is buried 12 inches in the soil with a concrete footing. The top where the bob cat is walking is plastic roofing. They seem pretty safe at 3am but it may be a problem if he comes back during daylight hours as the rest of the roof is plastic mesh to keep raptors out off the run. The bobcat could probably claw their way through the mesh roofing in the run. never a dull moment.

Raptors !?

 

[dmanhefner]

Electric fence. Associate your chickens with pain and move on

 

[marin chicks]

Birds of prey.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Bobcats are capable of reaching through fencing or mesh and hooking a chicken with it's claws. The cat then pulls the helpless chicken closer to its mouth where it begins to feed on the closest morsels. Bobcats are so enthralled with chickens that a tuft of feathers twisting in the breeze is often enough to get a bobcat to put his paw in a steel trap.

 

[GodofPecking]

Feral cats are everywhere humans are and do the same thing. I lost about 7 before I caught the last feral. They attack through the mesh, even the toughest steel mesh you can stand on, with 19mm square holes in it, and the cat killed the chicks on the other side.