Loosing birds just before dusk

[kari_dawn]

for the record, bobcats do not necissarily fall into the category of diurnal, nocturnal, OR crepuscular. They will feed whenever their prey is most readily available, so their hunting patterns can change seasonally. They are also cash predators. This means they take their kill with them, and hide what they don't eat for later. That being said, bobcats generally don't like prey as big as a chicken...they are too much work. Bunnies and squirrels (their all time favorite) are more their speed. Small, quite (ever heard a chicken in distress? They are loud, flapping, screaming wirlwinds of "pay attention to me!" the exact thing a bobcat doesn't want...their prey drawing attention to them), clean, and easy to efficiently carry off and eat in one sitting.

Since this is happening at dusk, I would guess bird of prey (owl), or fox. One way to know for sure, like others have already said, is sit out and watch the activity around that time. What you see may supprise you. Another thing would be to get a game camera set up so that you can learn what predator you are dealing with, and from there find the best solution to the problem.

Unfortunately, merciless predators come with the territory when raising a bottom of the rung prey animal. Especially once they have discovered where there is an easy meal to be had.

 

[RaZ]

I don't mean to be snarky or anything, but could your birds just moved on to another area?

 

[nwfl]

i lost birds in the past to coyotes who left no evidence, no track, flattened grass, feathers, nothing. same with bobcats. we did stakeout duty to figure it out. they vaulted over the 7' dog proof fence onto the wire roof and slipped into an area that wasnt connected well. now my coops are nearly predator proof. we really need to spend more time walking the perimeter and checking everything but we get lazy. we have some favorite birds and as soon as we think everything is safe and going well something happens. its frustrating to lose birds and not know why.

 

[teach1rusl]

I know in my area, owls are out at dusk. Could that be a possibility??

And it IS fun keeping chickens. Maybe you should just downsize your flock and keep them in a run - only free range them when you're out and about each day??? Sounds better than totally giving up keeping them...

 

[cybercat 2]

Quote:
I've been losing birds to bald eagles. Sometimes they kill and eat the birds on my property, but I stopped an attack a couple of weeks ago, and while the eagle had hooked my duck and was dragging her off, there were NO feathers.

 

[Axel]

Well, I'm on the Central Coast in California, so it's down to owls, hawks and bob cats. No coyotes since the entire property is fenced in. I am ruling out racoons due to the lack of any blood or feathers whatsoever. Whatever is grabbing them grabs them and runs.

 

[cybercat 2]

Quote:
Oh yeah, I was going to suggest that you look at the behavior of the remaining birds. Are they staying under cover of trees and shrubs? My chickens all do that now since the eagles showed up and they alarm call at almost any type of bird that flies over. Maybe you will see something that will help narrow down the predator list...

 

[kari_dawn]

My vote is owl, but don't discount a coyotes ability to scale a fence or dig a hole.

 

[littleoak]

Do you have foxes there? I had a fox last winter steal a chicken at dusk with no trace of anything. He came back the next night at the same time but didn't leave.

 

[Greg in Carpinteria]

I'm in a rural part of the Central coast too, and I've lost quite a few birds at dusk in the exact same way and 95% of the time it has been a bobcat. They are very quick, take one bird at a time and leave little trace beyond feathers. In my experience coyotes and racoons are messier and often kill several birds. Diligently rounding up the birds into their enclosure by 3 PM or so has reduced losses but the one time I forget....it's chicken dinner for the bobcat.

Good Luck.