Do wild predator attacks occur seasonally?

[Daisy8s]

For those of you who have had chickens a long time...have you noticed that there is a seasonal aspect to when attacks from wild predators might occur? For example, at the end of a hard winter when food is scarce, or, in the spring when young are born/hatched, or, in the fall when animals are stocking up for the winter?

Do you think different kinds of animals are more likely to attack at different times of the year? For example, would you suspect an attack was a raccoon if it occurred at a certain time of the year whereas you'd suspect foxes if it was another time of year? I suppose migrating birds would fit this category but I'm wondering about other animals, too.

(Of course I'm not talking about attacks from dogs as these are domestic animals with a regular food source.)

 

[Kevin565]

Oh defiantly. I see quite a few more predators in the spring and summer versus fall and winter. Especially with raccoons and Possums

 

[Daisy8s]

Oh defiantly. I see quite a few more predators in the spring and summer versus fall and winter. Especially with raccoons and Possums

I was wondering about this because I lost one chicken mid-summer and then had no problems till last week when I lost another hen. I would have thought mid-winter would bring more attacks with limited access to naturally occurring food supplies but that didn't happen.

 

[christineavatar]

I think the issue has to do with having young. When there are more mouths to feed, before natural attrition winnows the number there is more hunting done by the parents.