Coyotes or Wild Dogs? Racoons?

[chickenannie]

Quote:
You will have to get rid of that 6 inch gap. Even if you manage to find and kill any predators, another will just come along to prey on your birds. If that gap remains, I would expect your last bird to be killed as well, and any new ones you get. I speak from the experience of losing 11 chickens in one night to a fox who got inside the coop because I came an hour after sundown to shut the door. the fox was shot, but there are others around, so I ALWAYS shut the door before dark, now.

 

[Boyd]

well it's too dark to shoot anymore so I came in. Going to sleep in the armchair by the backdoor and let my dogs and chickens tell me if they are in trouble.

As for the fly poison, I use this kind

http://www.gemplers.com/product/147985/QuickBayt-Fly-Bait-5-lb-Pail-Granules

It's good all around the farm. You use the pepsi so it doesn't smell so bitter. But if you have barn cats, they may fall prey to this as well.

 

[CritterBazaar]

Sorry for your loss. I have had the same problems with my birds and rabbits in cages. It was narrowed down to minks getting the rabbits and birds in cages - pulling them through wire and leaving the heads or going into the cage and stripping them. And a fox and owl outside. The owls will come down and all you will find is feathers. They are the hard ones to get rid of. What finally worked for me was free range geese. They make enough racket that my dogs respond to the problem, or they take care of it themselves. Geese will attack foxes or anything else getting in thier way. It may have helped too that the geese were raised from goslings with the chickens so they are rather protective of the whole backyard.

Keeping my fingers crossed that between the dogs and geese life will be better this spring.

Good hunting.