Hello,
I'm having predator issues. I've lost 5 chickens over the last few months to what I think is the same predator. It usually comes at dusk or early night if I don't get the chickens shut up in their coop before then, and yesterday it took a chicken at around 4 in the afternoon. That was the first daytime strike, and it was especially surprising because we were home.
It takes one chicken at a time. Sometimes there's an injured chicken that escapes...it always gets a second. The injured chickens have always survived, and all have had the same injury--missing flesh and/or feathers on their backs, just above the tail. I've got 3 chickens with the same injury.
When the predator strikes, there are usually some feathers around, and signs of struggle. I was able to follow a trail of feathers a good distance into the woods during the winter. I found the carcass 100-200 yards from the coop beside the predator's den--looked like a hole under a log, but I was afraid to go too close in case the animal was feeling territorial. The carcass had been eaten into at both ends. The head was missing.
I think it's a coon, but it seems like it could also be a fox or possum--or even a bobcat.
I was especially surprised by the mid-day attack yesterday, but I guess it's spring and the predator could have some babes to feed right now, so it may be feeling desperate.
Any help in I.D.ing will be much appreciated!
-Emily
I live outside Asheville, North Carolina, on 8 acres adjoining a couple hundred acres of undeveloped forest. We have bears, coyotes, and most everything else that lives in the Southern Appalachians!
I'm having predator issues. I've lost 5 chickens over the last few months to what I think is the same predator. It usually comes at dusk or early night if I don't get the chickens shut up in their coop before then, and yesterday it took a chicken at around 4 in the afternoon. That was the first daytime strike, and it was especially surprising because we were home.
It takes one chicken at a time. Sometimes there's an injured chicken that escapes...it always gets a second. The injured chickens have always survived, and all have had the same injury--missing flesh and/or feathers on their backs, just above the tail. I've got 3 chickens with the same injury.
When the predator strikes, there are usually some feathers around, and signs of struggle. I was able to follow a trail of feathers a good distance into the woods during the winter. I found the carcass 100-200 yards from the coop beside the predator's den--looked like a hole under a log, but I was afraid to go too close in case the animal was feeling territorial. The carcass had been eaten into at both ends. The head was missing.
I think it's a coon, but it seems like it could also be a fox or possum--or even a bobcat.
I was especially surprised by the mid-day attack yesterday, but I guess it's spring and the predator could have some babes to feed right now, so it may be feeling desperate.
Any help in I.D.ing will be much appreciated!
-Emily
I live outside Asheville, North Carolina, on 8 acres adjoining a couple hundred acres of undeveloped forest. We have bears, coyotes, and most everything else that lives in the Southern Appalachians!
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