Major attack - is this a bear?

[Dancingwnature]

I don't think we have cougars here - we're in the Hudson Valley in NY. It's a pretty big hole that it tore in the cloth, which is why I thought bear...

I'm so sorry for your loss! It's really heartbreaking! How are you doing?

Looks like a young black bear. I've got them here and had a 2 yr old claw his way into my well house. Luckily, the birds hid up in the rafters of their temporary housing and I didn't lose any.

 

[inogsus]

My answer is without wisdom, but sure looks like bear marks. I too send my sympathies to you for this loss. So much time, money and heart is put into small flocks. Get a camera and a trap.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Bears have been known to attack chicken coops.

Yes. If it’s hungry enough it will do it for an easy meal. Bears attack chickens for simply that easy meals. Their smells go a long ways and when the wind is right their smell is often carried on the wind just the right direction. Bears can smell for miles away. When they are hungry they will follow a smell for food for miles until they reach that smell and eat anything they find along the way until they reach that easy meal. A chicken coop is easy pickings even sometimes if it’s made of 1/2” gauge hardware cloth. Their paws and claws are superior strength to ours and that or raccoons. So if you have seen what they can do to well built cabins and windows then a coop is no big deal. Don’t be fooled into thinking that they can stop a well or so to speak a bad intentioned bear.

 

[Lynn Woehrle]

So sorry. I think the wild critters are getting use to us and aren't very afraid of humans anymore.

 

[AllieMac]

After losing a chicken a day to a fox/foxes when free ranging, we thought we had the problem sorted by only letting them out for 30 minutes before sunset. Between being locked up last night and checking this morning, something visited the coop and tore a big hole in the 1/4" hardware cloth, getting 11 of our 16 birds (4 ISA browns, two bantams, two guineas and our three barred rock hens). We're left with two guineas, a bantam, a barred rock cockerel and one ISA brown hen.

Any idea what could have got through the cloth? Claw marks on the sides in various spots as well and a few black hairs left as evidence. Thinking maybe a raccoon (though didn't think they could get through the cloth) or a bear?View attachment 2343917View attachment 2343918View attachment 2343919View attachment 2343920View attachment 2343921

Wow that does look like a bear. Raccoons do not make big claw marks on things. How about tracks?

 

[AllieMac]

Yes. If it’s hungry enough it will do it for an easy meal. Bears attack chickens for simply that easy meals. Their smells go a long ways and when the wind is right their smell is often carried on the wind just the right direction. Bears can smell for miles away. When they are hungry they will follow a smell for food for miles until they reach that smell and eat anything they find along the way until they reach that easy meal. A chicken coop is easy pickings even sometimes if it’s made of 1/2” gauge hardware cloth. Their paws and claws are superior strength to ours and that or raccoons. So if you have seen what they can do to well built cabins and windows then a coop is no big deal. Don’t be fooled into thinking that they can stop a well or so to speak a bad intentioned bear.

My Mom had bears in her very remote area, and one tore the side off the coop and ate the feed! She got a Pyrenees guard dog and had no more trouble with bears. The only thing that scared the Pyrenees was Bigfoot.

 

[margaretbyrd]

You might be able to enlist the help of the Fish and Wildlife Department. They might relocated the bear?

 

[Chris Long]

After losing a chicken a day to a fox/foxes when free ranging, we thought we had the problem sorted by only letting them out for 30 minutes before sunset. Between being locked up last night and checking this morning, something visited the coop and tore a big hole in the 1/4" hardware cloth, getting 11 of our 16 birds (4 ISA browns, two bantams, two guineas and our three barred rock hens). We're left with two guineas, a bantam, a barred rock cockerel and one ISA brown hen.

Any idea what could have got through the cloth? Claw marks on the sides in various spots as well and a few black hairs left as evidence. Thinking maybe a raccoon (though didn't think they could get through the cloth) or a bear?View attachment 2343917View attachment 2343918View attachment 2343919View attachment 2343920View attachment 2343921

What height are those scratches?
Definitely appears to be a bear.
I'm sorry for your loss.

I live in central Florida and the bears are very active here. I lost 3 of my girls to bears and when he came he ate 2 of them right away and left 1 to eat later. We he returned I was in the run and was in within 6 feet of him. Yes they do come back for more!! We called the FWC and they came out and trapped him, but in Fla. they release the culprit and shoot rubber bullets, paint guns, and tiny bags to haze him to let him know that we mean business!! It does work and the bear will not come back as long as he remembers. Sorry for you loss as they are part of the family of pets. Get an electric fence. They do work!!

 

[Foxinthehenhouse]

Its weird it didn't eat them all. It wouldnt make me think bear, I don't see why a bear would want anything to do with chickens. I am thinking maybe cougar, wolf, or coyote, but I don't think a coyote would tear that hole. Fro me I am thinking cougar, if you have them where you live. Whatever it is, will likely come back again. I don think there si a big enough liv strap to catch a bear, but there is one for a cougar, you could set. I don't know what you would do with it ounce you caught it though. You could get both of these things, the lights work of rme, I had never used the pee, but I believe it would work well.

Bears go after chickens! Here in the mountains of NC I’ve know of bears tearing into coops and killing chickens.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

After losing a chicken a day to a fox/foxes when free ranging, we thought we had the problem sorted by only letting them out for 30 minutes before sunset. Between being locked up last night and checking this morning, something visited the coop and tore a big hole in the 1/4" hardware cloth, getting 11 of our 16 birds (4 ISA browns, two bantams, two guineas and our three barred rock hens). We're left with two guineas, a bantam, a barred rock cockerel and one ISA brown hen.

Any idea what could have got through the cloth? Claw marks on the sides in various spots as well and a few black hairs left as evidence. Thinking maybe a raccoon (though didn't think they could get through the cloth) or a bear?View attachment 2343917View attachment 2343918View attachment 2343919View attachment 2343920View attachment 2343921

So very sorry for your losses! Definitely bear claw marks. The Hudson valley has a ton of bears. DEC might be of some help and can advise you also, if there are any improvements to your setup to be made. Was there feed available? A young bear, actually most black bears, will want the feed more than the chickens - more calories there.