Lost half the flock between last night and the night before...

[Triggerjay]

Hello, First time posting here. So, I have what we call a "Mini Farm" at our house. I have a 30x40 shop, and fenced three sides coming from the shop to create a large place to house our animals. Our coop was constructed with leftover building materials. Here is a pic of it:

So, on to the problem. Night before last, something went over the fence, and killed one of my large barred rock hens, A small duck, 4 misc chicks, and a rabbit. I freaked out about this, and went to the local farm supply store, and bought an electric fence, and all the stuff that goes with it. I had the intention of running two wires,.. One at the top of the fence, and one at the bottom. I only had time enough to get the top wire done, and heated it up.

This morning, I go outside to care for all the animals, and more livestock had been killed. Today I lost two more ducks (very large ones too I might add).. A rhode island red , an amercuana SP?, and a barred rock hen (all about 4 months old). Some of the dead have only been wings and feet left, and some beheaded, and some just dead with damage to the neck area. I found a place in the fence where something had dug under it. So, so far I have these clues to what it may be:

Sometimes tears heads off
Sometimes eats most of the body
Digs
climbs (went over the fence the first time)
Kills nearly everything in sight.. not just one bird a night.

So today I have been working on the bottom wire on the fence, and went and got some smallish bear type traps, and a live animal trap. While I was out working on the fence, I set the live animal trap near the outside perimiter of the enclosure. After only a couple minutes, I cought a cat.. seems semi-tame, and scared. I took the cage inside my enclosure to see how my remaining birds would react to it, and they seemed to run up to the cage out of curiosity, and did not seemed bothered by the cat in the cage. So, I wonder if it could be this cat doing the killing, or if it is something else? Its really frustrating. We put a lot of hard work into this adventure, and want our beloved pet poultry to be safe at night..

I have two goats, two turkey, and HAD 4 ducks in with the chickens. The area they are in is about 40X50. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.



Jason in Missouri

 

[KellyHM]

Sounds like a dog...they tend to chase and want to "play" with the birds without eating them.

 

[Triggerjay]

I was thinking dog too, but my fence is over 4 ft... We live in the country, and have coyotes, coons, foxes, and they say bobcat too... It went over the fence the first night... Also tried to drag my large barred rock over the fence.. Two of the chicks it got are totally gone... and most of the others have been massacared...breast and heads eaten on all but one duck.. I have the cat I cought in the cage still, and don't know whether to kill it or not..I have seen this cat around a lot since getting my chickens. Every time I have seen him though, he has been outside the fence..

Jason

 

[deerman]

Raccoons, cats with take smaller birds. Coons will take full grown ducks. They also will kill many in one night. Eat part of one then move on to another.

Coons will go over, under, or thru a fence.

 

[Southernbelle]

I had some confusing predator attacks this past winter and bought a motion activated wildlife camera and turned out the little monter was a fox! He would rip the heads off and partially consume the neck and breast, leave the rest... he'd kill 2 and 3 a night, when he could. I was really surprised that such a small predator could kill so much!

If you set up the wildlife camera between the fence and the woods, you'd get to see what kind of animals have been sniffing around.

 

[KellyHM]

Quote:
Could have been a coyote or fox or anything else. I have a dog that can clear a 4 ft fence from a standing position though.

 

[Davaroo]

are you able to stay up nights or set some traps and maybe see what it is?

 

[Triggerjay]

yeah, I have traps and I plan on camping out tonight with gun in hand. The mini farm is far enough away from the house that when the attack happens, we can't hear it inside our bedroom... but we also sleep with the TV on. I am pretty sure it happens shortly after dark. early this morning, 8:00am, the carcasses were already stiff, which tells me they were dead for a while before I found them.

Jason

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Are you able to lock your birds up in the coop? 4' fence isn't all that tall.

I wish you luck finding whatever it is.

 

[beefy]

its not a cat. my guess is raccoon.