Bobcat Killing My Chickens HELP!

[azygous]

Glad you've made progress on protecting your flock. Baiting the hot wire is necessary to draw the predator into making direct contact with the hot wire so it gets a significant shock when touching the bait with its mouth parts.

Most predators have thick hides that won't allow effects of an electric shock. You need to trick them into grabbing the hot wire with their mouth. So you use bait.

Peanut butter won't work to entice cats as it does with most other predators. So you need a bait that appeals to cats. Fish. But a fish is hard to smear onto wire like you can peanut butter. So you will wrap the fish in a fold of small mesh chicken wire or a little piece of hardware cloth. This will contain the fish. To attach this "envelope" of fish to the hot wire, use a little bailing wire woven into the fish envelope to fasten the bait to the hot wire.

The wire envelope of fish and the bailing wire will conduct electricity, effectively charging the fish with voltage. When the cat is drawn to the fish by smelling it, it will then try to snag the fish with a damp paw or will try to bite the fish off the wire. Either contact should result in a nasty shock. When my bobcat has encountered the fish bait, it never returned after doing so.

My fish bait wire envelopes remain on my hot wire for a year or more. It becomes dried out like jerky, but retains its fishy appeal, continuing to be effective as bait long after being attached.

 

[FrappcinoObsession]

Glad you've made progress on protecting your flock. Baiting the hot wire is necessary to draw the predator into making direct contact with the hot wire so it gets a significant shock when touching the bait with its mouth parts.

Most predators have thick hides that won't allow effects of an electric shock. You need to trick them into grabbing the hot wire with their mouth. So you use bait.

Peanut butter won't work to entice cats as it does with most other predators. So you need a bait that appeals to cats. Fish. But a fish is hard to smear onto wire like you can peanut butter. So you will wrap the fish in a fold of small mesh chicken wire or a little piece of hardware cloth. This will contain the fish. To attach this "envelope" of fish to the hot wire, use a little bailing wire woven into the fish envelope to fasten the bait to the hot wire.

The wire envelope of fish and the bailing wire will conduct electricity, effectively charging the fish with voltage. When the cat is drawn to the fish by smelling it, it will then try to snag the fish with a damp paw or will try to bite the fish off the wire. Either contact should result in a nasty shock. When my bobcat has encountered the fish bait, it never returned after doing so.

My fish bait wire envelopes remain on my hot wire for a year or more. It becomes dried out like jerky, but retains its fishy appeal, continuing to be effective as bait long after being attached.

Thank you! I will try this solution out.

 

[Betsy57]

Darn bobcat has gotten 4 of my chickens so far. It is coming during the day. I have ran it off 3 times and can't handle the losses anymore. Will do what needs to be done if I get a chance. I have razor wire around the fenced-in chicken yard but I guess it is able to jump over that (5' high fence w the razor wire on top of that). I raised it some so hope that stops it.

 

[azygous]

Darn bobcat has gotten 4 of my chickens so far. It is coming during the day. I have ran it off 3 times and can't handle the losses anymore. Will do what needs to be done if I get a chance. I have razor wire around the fenced-in chicken yard but I guess it is able to jump over that (5' high fence w the razor wire on top of that). I raised it some so hope that stops it.

You need hot wire with fish for bait. Read this thread. It should explain.

 

[Betsy57]

Bobcats are a huge challenge because they are very cunning and very determined. I've lost more chickens to bobcats than to any other predator. Even with chickens enclosed in a covered run, bobcats have the uncanny ability to find every vulnerability and get to their prey.

The only sure method of protecting your chickens is to build a secure run and run hot wire around it with a fence charger putting out electric pulses that will shock the animal when they make contact with it.

The trick is proper bait that a bobcat will go for. Peanut butter dabbed on the hot wire will lure most other predators to touch the wire, but bobcats need a special bait.

I use canned mackerel wrapped in a "burrito" of chicken wire and then attached to the hot wire with baling wire and this will in effect conduct electricity to the fish. (Do this with the charger off, please!)

The bobcat will smell the fish, try to get the fish off the wire, and end up getting a 10,000 volt shock to its tender mouth parts. It will never return.

I have electric wire around my fenced-in chicken yard as well as razor wire and it is still getting over it. I hadn't thought about the bait trick. Will try that. Thx.

 

[azygous]

Bait is the only wait to engage any predator to make contact with the hot wire in such a way (wet mouth parts) so that it can experience the full effect of the shock.

Take canned mackerel and wrap it in a wire burrito, then wire that to the hot wire. This is the only thing that works with bobcats.

 

[Betsy57]

You need hot wire with fish for bait. Read this thread. It should explain.

Metal wire or will the woven/twine wire work?

 

[azygous]

It must be metal to conduct electricity.

 

[azygous]

Take a three inch square of hardware cloth and fold it in half. Stick a fish in the fold. Wire that to the hot wire. Turn the power off while you secure it to the hot wire or you will get a taste of what the bobcat will feel when it tries to liberate the fish.

 

[Betsy57]

Take a three inch square of hardware cloth and fold it in half. Stick a fish in the fold. Wire that to the hot wire. Turn the power off while you secure it to the hot wire or you will get a taste of what the bobcat will feel when it tries to liberate the fish.

Got it all wired up at one coop, working on the second one. Then will make the "burrito". Thx