So we have had several occasions where we have lost birds to some animal but we had never been sure what it was.
1st: We lost our silver laced wyandotte male to something, we found him pretty much whole some way away with pretty big puncture wounds on his back. Night time killing
2nd: Our chickens had decided to start sleeping outside really high up in a tree so we couldn't really get them down. They had been out a few nights so we thought they'd be alright. Come down next morning and all 5 are gone, 4 young birds and their mum. Still had 5 left in the house though. All we found of them were lots of feathers caught in the branches and around the ground. Night time killing
3rd: Lost a hen near the border between our neighbours house and ours. She was on our side. Only found a pile of feathers. Day time killing
4th: Lost another cockerel, only found feathers. 3 chickens left now. I think this one was a day time killing
We still have those three hens and we don't let them free range any more. But I also keep a few Golden pheasants as pets. They are my babies and are very tame, one female will sit on my lap and fall asleep. However yesterday morning I went out to feed them and arrived to a mini massacre. I had three pheasants, 2 female 1 male, and I only found 1 and a half. There were a huge amount of the boy's feathers near the door and I found part of him on the opposite side of the run (they are in an enclosure, dirt floor but with wire that goes down pretty far and rocks buried under the ground to deter foxes). There were also a lot of feathers under one of my girl's favourite perch and she was missing completely. My last girl, the one that falls asleep on my lap, was lying on the ground under her perch, dead, with large puncture wounds on her back, similar the the ones on our first casualty. Everything had been knocked over or pushed out of the way by something, but the weird thing was that I couldn't see how it had got in initially. There was a large area on the outside where the dirt had been dug at by the wire, but it hadn't broken through that way.
And then I saw the holes halfway up the run. We had wire mesh for the lower half and then fabric mesh for the roof and upper half (something we are NEVER going to do again). I have no doubt now that it is a cat doing this because we have seen our neighbour's cat hanging around our area. It had climbed up the wire mesh, chewed its way in and then killed all of my babies! I had been planning on getting chicks from them this year because previously all 11 had been eaten by rats (but we've killed most of them this year so no problems there). I have had them for 3 years and raised them from eggs and if I hadn't got pheasants we never would have got into chickens
I just wish I could have done something
So now I don't know what to do. I live in England and I'm pretty sure that due to stupid laws we aren't allowed to kill domestic pets (although a farmer can shoot a dog if it is bothering his livestock) so I don't know how else I can protect my remaining chickens and the pheasants I'm going to hatch out this year. I have a dog that really doesn't like cats and is brilliant at disposing rats, so I'm going to have him on guard and if the cat 'happens' to get caught by him then that's the cat's fault, not mine.
But how else can I protect them? I can't exactly tell my neighbours to keep the cat shut away and I can't get rid of it because it's a pet. What do I do?!?!?!?!?!
1st: We lost our silver laced wyandotte male to something, we found him pretty much whole some way away with pretty big puncture wounds on his back. Night time killing
2nd: Our chickens had decided to start sleeping outside really high up in a tree so we couldn't really get them down. They had been out a few nights so we thought they'd be alright. Come down next morning and all 5 are gone, 4 young birds and their mum. Still had 5 left in the house though. All we found of them were lots of feathers caught in the branches and around the ground. Night time killing
3rd: Lost a hen near the border between our neighbours house and ours. She was on our side. Only found a pile of feathers. Day time killing
4th: Lost another cockerel, only found feathers. 3 chickens left now. I think this one was a day time killing
We still have those three hens and we don't let them free range any more. But I also keep a few Golden pheasants as pets. They are my babies and are very tame, one female will sit on my lap and fall asleep. However yesterday morning I went out to feed them and arrived to a mini massacre. I had three pheasants, 2 female 1 male, and I only found 1 and a half. There were a huge amount of the boy's feathers near the door and I found part of him on the opposite side of the run (they are in an enclosure, dirt floor but with wire that goes down pretty far and rocks buried under the ground to deter foxes). There were also a lot of feathers under one of my girl's favourite perch and she was missing completely. My last girl, the one that falls asleep on my lap, was lying on the ground under her perch, dead, with large puncture wounds on her back, similar the the ones on our first casualty. Everything had been knocked over or pushed out of the way by something, but the weird thing was that I couldn't see how it had got in initially. There was a large area on the outside where the dirt had been dug at by the wire, but it hadn't broken through that way.
And then I saw the holes halfway up the run. We had wire mesh for the lower half and then fabric mesh for the roof and upper half (something we are NEVER going to do again). I have no doubt now that it is a cat doing this because we have seen our neighbour's cat hanging around our area. It had climbed up the wire mesh, chewed its way in and then killed all of my babies! I had been planning on getting chicks from them this year because previously all 11 had been eaten by rats (but we've killed most of them this year so no problems there). I have had them for 3 years and raised them from eggs and if I hadn't got pheasants we never would have got into chickens
So now I don't know what to do. I live in England and I'm pretty sure that due to stupid laws we aren't allowed to kill domestic pets (although a farmer can shoot a dog if it is bothering his livestock) so I don't know how else I can protect my remaining chickens and the pheasants I'm going to hatch out this year. I have a dog that really doesn't like cats and is brilliant at disposing rats, so I'm going to have him on guard and if the cat 'happens' to get caught by him then that's the cat's fault, not mine.
But how else can I protect them? I can't exactly tell my neighbours to keep the cat shut away and I can't get rid of it because it's a pet. What do I do?!?!?!?!?!