Bobcat took a layer

[BasenjiFan]

This morning around 7:30 a bobcat took my BR girl. I saw it jumping the fence with her (Jubjub) in its mouth. It looks like she put up a good fight, there were two piles of feathers in different spots in the yard. She was a good little layer, too!

Now I'm down to four pullets, and only three of those are laying (of course the bobcat didn't eat the one that isn't laying!). The poor girls look so confused without Jubjub, they called and called for her. The four aren't venturing past the back door without human supervision.

Any ideas to keep the remaining girls safe until an aviary is completed? They have a small coop/run, but I have been letting them free-range for a good portion of every day. I'd hate to leave them locked up all the time, but I also hate feeding the wildlife.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Well, I can guarantee you that the bobcat will be back. You may just need to bite the bullet and keep your girls inside unless you want to offer the local predators a free buffet. Seeing them inside all the time, wanting to go out, just might be the motivation you need to get their run finished (and now you REALLY need to think about a safe and secure run design!).

 

[hick1132]

I too have seen bobcat take my chickens in broad daylight, and they don't stop until the chickens are all gone. In a rural area there is no way I know of to let the chickens roam once they are discovered. Our pen has wire sunk into a cement filled trench, and the chickens gaze longingly at the green grass. Wish it didn't have to be that way, but I wouldn't harm the bobcats.

 

[BeckyLa]

The only way to keep your birds safe is to keep them securely locked up. However, depending on where in Az you live, you might be able to call animal control and report the bobcat. It is also a danger to pets and small children and hopefully could be trapped and relocated. I'm sorry you lost your girl, here the problem is hawks.

 

[BasenjiFan]

Thanks, everyone. It is indeed motivation to complete that large and secure run!

I'm not sure that wildlife relocation is an option in my area, in fact, I wouldn't be shocked if release areas are close to where I live... and since females are territorial, another would surely move in.

We have bobcats, coyotes (the girls managed to escape from at least one coyote attack unscathed), hawks (the chickens have been able to find plenty of hiding spots in the backyard), owls, neighborhood dogs and cats, kit foxes, gray foxes, and though I've never seen them raccoons. Since the chickens have all survived since May, I guess I was begining to think I had super-chickens, invincible to predation.

 

[erin0415]

We lost 3 chickens 2 Mornings in a row to a bobcat. My husband saw it yesterday coming back for a 3rd day. It actually tore its way into our pen. I like the idea of live trapping and relocating. I hate to shoot it, but I also hate to keep losing chickens. The wildlife must be hungry around here right now because I have seen several coyotes out during the day in the last week.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Where in AZ do you live? Are you in a city or rural? We had either a bobcat or coyote take one of our chickens a couple of years ago. I had assumed it was a coyote but AZ game & fish told me it could have been a bobcat. I was shocked to hear that bobcats may live here in the city.

 

[BasenjiFan]

Quote:
I'm technically located in a county island in Maricopa County near Cave Creek. It used to be pretty rural, but it's growing fast - we are among the few people in the area that still have livestock.

I feel really bad for the bobcats, with the way AZ developers like to sprawl rather than build up, wildlife gets pushed into increasingly urban areas. Of course, that doesn't mean that I wish to feed them my chickies! So far, I haven't seen anymore bobcats, and my girls have been kept in lockdown, unless someone is right there, playing mother hen... hopefully that new large run will be secure enough to deter any more hungry predators.

 

[seesthru]

I have my silkies in a coop, because of coons and possums. They are safe. But on Jan 2nd, a bobcat killed 1 of my cats and badly injured another. I'm assuming he killed the one because it's gone. The other cat may lose his eye and had a big gash on his head... I didnt' see it happen, but I found the bobcat 1 street over.. dead. Too decomposed to tell what killed it. Animal control didn't believe me until they saw the carcass that it was a bobcat and not a manx or something. They aren't seen here. I'm in NE pensacola Fl, and near busy highways, etc.... I have raccoons galore, possums galore, but never have heard of a bobcat here . Again, the woodsy swampy areas are being developed into ugly condos and such at a fast rate. He must have been trying to find another territory.

 

[sandypaws]

i had a bobcat come back every night for WEEKS and weeks.. he would grab a chicken, jump the fence, and there were coyotes there to mob him.. he would drop the chicken and hop back over the fence and grab another.. we lost 100 of 120 chickens.. my X-husband would not help me build a better coop...
so i contacted animal control, zoos, "trappers", everybody i could think of, NOBODY would help me... so i went to get a hunting liscense to shoot it legally,, the guy at the gun shop asked me why i wanted to hunt bobcat.. i told him bobcats were killing my chickens,, he said i did not need a liscense for that (if predators were killing livestock) just shoot it..
so i did... sad, it was a beautiful 25lb male.. but i could not keep loosing chickens EVERY NIGHT...