Major attack - is this a bear?

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I live in the Colorado Rockies & my friends chickens were all killed by a bear but they were not all eaten. Everything up here is putting on fat for winter but I agree, whatever it was will return. Sorry that happened to you.
 
Years ago when I still lived at my parents farm I walked up the hill to the barn and chicken coop, just after lunch, sometime during the summer. Look up to see a sow with two cubs inside the chicken run, and a third cub outside. They had ripped the roof off and had climbed inside. The sow was literally sitting on her butt grabbing chickens, taking a bite, dropping it, grabbing another one, etc. I yelled and started banging the barn door and threw a couple rocks at them, they took off and luckily never came back. But they had killed 17 of 25 birds.

The following spring my mom got some trail cam pics of her locking the girls up at 8pm, and a young bear standing up and scratching the door 10-15 minutes later. It apparently decided that it wasn't an easy enough meal and didn't come back.

My sister and BIL had a juvenile bear hanging around for a few days last month. They watched him for a bit and he was far more interested in trying to get to the feed then to the chickens. They scared him off and put some bells where he was snooping around and he hasn't been back since.

*Knock on wood* we've had a couple bears on the trail cam back in the bush at our place, but they've never ventured close enough to bother my birds.
 
Lsox said:
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
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It looks like a bear or maybe even another fox
 
Lsox said:
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...
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I am not an expert, but the claw marks and the size and strength to tear that hole look like a BEAR to me. You need the advice of a tracker.

I recommend MOTION SENSOR solar lights, coupled with a motion sense alarm, (and maybe even a motion sensor CAMERA?)
 
Lsox said:
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
Click to expand...
The size of hole in the hardware cloth... gosh I think it has GOT TO be a bear!?!
 
Maybe a bobcat? the claw marks look rather small for a bear and a bear would most likely have done way more damage to the coop . They have been known to peel back a car door with little effort and destroy a barn door to get to animals . What about a fox or raccoon? They will go crazy once ia coop and just kill anything that moves . Don't be surprised if you discover you have a cougar in your area BTW
 
Quote from the original poster, on page 4 of the thread:

Lsox said:
confirmed it's a bear (or multiple). I followed the trail of feathers into the woods, found various parts of birds and eventually half a guinea. Then I stood in bear scat (cleverly wearing my slippers...). About five feet further in, I saw one or more bears - looked like a cub or two and a mother. Mystery solved! Decided the best move was to back out, as I didn't really want to stare them down.
Click to expand...
 

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