Bobcat :(

[SunnyDayz]

My husband was outside taking care of some ant mounds around the yard, the chickens were free ranging~I was just about to put them up for the night although it isn't dark yet. It is 7:30. Dh said he saw a bobcat come out of the woods and grab one of our chickens (a white leghorn roo). He tried to chase it off and it ran away with the chicken in it's mouth

How can I prevent this from happening again? Do bobcats come out in the middle of the day too? Will this same one keep coming back?? Can we trap it, kill it, etc? The coop hasn't been messed with, so I'm sure they are safe in there, but they love free ranging.
Ugh. My son is devastated. We were just out there playing with them and feeding them a few minutes ago, and now there are feathers all over and the other chickens look terrified.

 

[SunnyDayz]

Does anyone have any experience with bobcats and their chickens?
I did some research but would love to hear others' experiences.

 

[Wolfwoman]

If it's legal in your state, you can trap it. Bobcats and lynx all love birds for dinner. In fact one of the ways that the trappers here catch all the lynx they do is normally with some sort of bird wing or feathers in the area of the trap. You will have to be prepared to dispatch the critter if you do catch it.

 

[zazouse]

So sorry for your loss

They hunt anytime around our place or did.

They are not that hard to trap if you can find their last kill, i set a trap right where they covered up one of my ducks(i got a great tracking dog) and caught the cat that night.

Keeping areas clear is the best deturent for bob, they hunt on the skirts of weeds, brush and debree, they will set down hidden and wait for their prey to walk past the area and pounce, and cats are very paitent, not much different that the domestic cat when hunting just on a bigger scale.

Bob really does not like open areas from my experience with them keep fields cut low.

My dogs got this cat out of the trap, that was in feb of this year, we have not lost any more livestock. Put the fear of dog in poor bob

I now have dogs that work in the day and dogs that work at night, they keep our place in check.