Cougars, bears, or coyotes? Because beyond the normal mix of raccoons, weasels, birds, and so on we also have the big critters moving through every now and again. Especially in the summer. So has anyone ever known any of them to bother chickens? And if so what can you do to send them on their ways?
All of the above, with bear being the worst. Hot wire is the only way to slow them down. But if the bear wants in, it will get in. I am dealing with a mountian ion right now. He goes up a tree and down into the yard. Once I see him, Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson will do the rest.
We haven't had cougar or bear yet, but we have a coyote problem. You can hear them yelping a lot at night. I agree, you have to kill them to get rid of them. A coyote dug into my uncle's chicken coop last summer and killed over half his chickens. 2 years ago, the coyotes even attacked our chocolate lab!! He survived but had to have surgery and many stitches to repair his hind leg. They are VERY hard to trap. We have had luck by sitting in a tree stand with a coyote call and when they come into view shoot them!!
I just (as in I am just now coming inside) had a coyote go after my corgi. We went out armed with a bucket (me) and a shot gun (hubby) and the lab. Yote ran off, he didn't want to play. I don't worry about the chickens so much as they have a concrete foundation, so no digging. They'd have to break a window. But I worry about my mini horse and calves. I think I need a bigger outside dog. My poor corgi just doesn't have what it takes to take on a coyote. I know we have mountain lions around here, but luckily I haven't had any troubles with them yet....
My dog can chase off the coyotes. He's bigger then they are and was a stray for enough years. We have hot wire and the local bear are black bears and after the garbage, I've chased them off a few times, they're not to pushy but it's still a concern. We have both a young male and a middle age female mountain lions that territories seem to come in range of my house, so far they haven't been troublesome but we'll see.