I know what coon attacks, possums , dog attacks ect. look like. Been a long time. I lock my ducks and geese into 4ft kennel fenced area at night with NOW 3 strands of hot wire around it. The gates only have one at the top. Daytime my birds get let out in 4ft tall fenced small pastures with Super African geese. The first attack or two , then we realised fence was not making contact, so I beefed it up, added more strands. Now I am locking most of my show stock and new babies up in cramped night pens because of attacks . Except for 2 other groups that only have open shelters or nest boxes (inside the night yard that is fenced.
This is what I am finding. Lost 3 Grey Runners with necks torn off, 2 with necks eaten, not the head or bodies in late morning a couple days apart (inside the night yard). Then a week later , nobody in morning, but later in afternoon I found one who must have gone inside night yard to drink or look for food... with head and neck totally gone...body intact. Again I checked everything, put out trap. Then I found a runner in the other side in a different night pen with it's neck and head gone totally. (this is when I started locking as many as I could at night up. I had a young African goose with neck shredded, but alive in my day yard, but considered that maybe she had not come in with others and my dogs did it, before we let the others out (dogs are not out when birds are in that area, but they have hurt birds in past when mistakes were made... At this point I was wondering if I had an aerial predator and a 4 legged one. ..Finally after catchin neighbors cat one night in trap, a possum was caught. I thought maybe that was it . Still I locked up. Tonight I was late locking up and it was after dark. I found one of my Welsh Harlequin ducks still mostly on her nest, against the aviary , under a partial overhang. with neck and head missing. No sign of struggle. her wings neatly folded, no feathers loose in area. Blood not completely dried. I had noticed with the other runners that not many feathers flung around. But this one, it was if she was killed immediately without any struggle , body not moved from nest. .......Yes we are in farm lands, forest behind, plenty of trees and bushes...I know there are coyotes, bobcats, seen foxes on my land, hawks overhead, and of course raccoons, possums, skunks. In North Ga. You name it we probably have it. (and the college 15 miles away are breeding bald eagles ... I am beginning to think hawk or owl. There are large oaks and Sweet gum in night pens ... and it is smart enough to only be getting the birds in the night pen area, not outside in the pastures... Or maybe I have 2 predators? ... This predator had to go between 3 fences, like an alleyway , with an overhang about 4 ft above the nest, next to a fenced aviary... so tight area, several fences did not deter it... There was still one gate open, , but it was again an area it had to go over a couple fences, and I had my solar lights all over the place, so it is partially lit... I would say typical dusk , early morning attacks... except for the one or two I know were not there in morning, but mid afternoon to early evening. (and the goose seems to be an outlier). ... Once I did hear the geese making a racket one of the days a bird was killed ... I don't have any trail cams, they seem complicated or take pics of everything, and would be snapping photos all day of 15-25 birds freeranging, and seem complicated to set up. I am not a young techy type. But if anyone can recommend a simple one or that might apply in this situation, just reading the boxes doesn't help.
This is what I am finding. Lost 3 Grey Runners with necks torn off, 2 with necks eaten, not the head or bodies in late morning a couple days apart (inside the night yard). Then a week later , nobody in morning, but later in afternoon I found one who must have gone inside night yard to drink or look for food... with head and neck totally gone...body intact. Again I checked everything, put out trap. Then I found a runner in the other side in a different night pen with it's neck and head gone totally. (this is when I started locking as many as I could at night up. I had a young African goose with neck shredded, but alive in my day yard, but considered that maybe she had not come in with others and my dogs did it, before we let the others out (dogs are not out when birds are in that area, but they have hurt birds in past when mistakes were made... At this point I was wondering if I had an aerial predator and a 4 legged one. ..Finally after catchin neighbors cat one night in trap, a possum was caught. I thought maybe that was it . Still I locked up. Tonight I was late locking up and it was after dark. I found one of my Welsh Harlequin ducks still mostly on her nest, against the aviary , under a partial overhang. with neck and head missing. No sign of struggle. her wings neatly folded, no feathers loose in area. Blood not completely dried. I had noticed with the other runners that not many feathers flung around. But this one, it was if she was killed immediately without any struggle , body not moved from nest. .......Yes we are in farm lands, forest behind, plenty of trees and bushes...I know there are coyotes, bobcats, seen foxes on my land, hawks overhead, and of course raccoons, possums, skunks. In North Ga. You name it we probably have it. (and the college 15 miles away are breeding bald eagles ... I am beginning to think hawk or owl. There are large oaks and Sweet gum in night pens ... and it is smart enough to only be getting the birds in the night pen area, not outside in the pastures... Or maybe I have 2 predators? ... This predator had to go between 3 fences, like an alleyway , with an overhang about 4 ft above the nest, next to a fenced aviary... so tight area, several fences did not deter it... There was still one gate open, , but it was again an area it had to go over a couple fences, and I had my solar lights all over the place, so it is partially lit... I would say typical dusk , early morning attacks... except for the one or two I know were not there in morning, but mid afternoon to early evening. (and the goose seems to be an outlier). ... Once I did hear the geese making a racket one of the days a bird was killed ... I don't have any trail cams, they seem complicated or take pics of everything, and would be snapping photos all day of 15-25 birds freeranging, and seem complicated to set up. I am not a young techy type. But if anyone can recommend a simple one or that might apply in this situation, just reading the boxes doesn't help.
