noises in the night

[chickenmama]

Hi everyone!

I need some help and I'm really hoping that you guys may have some ideas about what could have made these noises. This am at 1:30 am my dh and I were jolted out of bed by a "screaming" sound in our backyard. Our coop is about 50 feet from our house so we immediately thought that something was after our chckens. As my dh was getting himself together to run out there we heard it again two or three more times.... this horrible piercing scream... it really sounded more animal than human, but it went right through you....

So my dh runs to the coop looking for this predator or creature in trouble or whatever and nothing was there... chickens are on their roost like nothing happened? Fortunately our coop is pretty much a chicken fortress so they are safe at night... theres really no way anything could get in unless it climbs up to a high window (the possibility of which I haven't ruled out, it needs more wire over it)..

But my question is any ideas of what type of animal would make such a noise, and is it connected to or after our chickens? We actually live in the city but on the edge of a few miles of woods so we have lots of predators including foxes, raccoons, fisher cats, coyotes, skunks, possoms....you name it, we've seen it. The kids and I even saw what we think was a bobcat walk across the backyard last spring. I'm wondering if maybe it was that?

ANY ideas at all would be great! I could not go back to sleep after it happened... it was so crazy.

Or are we crazy, my dh and I couldn't believe that we heard this!

Hope your all having a great day, I will, but I'm really tired!

Michele aka chickenmama

 

[thndrdancr]

It was a bobcat. They make that exact sound you described.

Was camping one time with my Mom and one sounded off like that in the tree just next us, my gosh, talk about bolting upright in your sleeping bag.
It may have been scoping out how well fortified your coop was.

They are normally pretty shy, so you probably would never see it making its noise.

Jill

 

[tiffanyh]

Racoons will scream too. So will rabbits, but the rabbit you can usually tell its an animal scream. My guess would be racoon.....

 

[Patchofheaven]

What about an Owl - A Screech Owl?

 

[lacyloo]

panther,? we had a big pine tree pleantation behind are house and we heared them all the time.if u dont hav4e panthers it waz probably a bobcat

 

[chickenmama]

You know the last thing my dh said before he started snoring was 'do you think it was the bobcat?"... and I was thinking that just as he said it and we hadn't talked about it being that until he said it. hmmm...

We keep a have a heart trap set out there all the time and we catch lots of racoons (which my dh relocates to fields and woods far enough away totry to keep the population down).... so the recoon seems like a good possibility too.

I didn't know that racoons could scream...

I'm afraid to go to bed tonight because I don't want to ever wake up that way again!

 

[chickenmama]

Do owls attack chickens? We do have owls here but I haven't seen any in a long time..

I think that we're too far north for panthers... we live right outside of Boston.... that would get the kids (and I) worried

 

[Southern28Chick]

Maybe it was the screams of the Salem Witches.

Sorry I couldn't help myself.

I have no clue what on earth it could have been. If you think your windows aren't safe go get some better/more wire. I hope you find out what is was.

 

[SpottedCrow]

I would think bobcat...I've heard that they sound like a woman screaming.
I've never heard a raccoon scream; I have heard them make a chittering/chirping sound.
Owls will attack chickens, if the chickens are out after dark.
I wouldn't relocate the coons either, because they'll keep coming back.
Hi from another MA person.

 

[lizardz]

Yeah, I'd go with bobcat or cougar. We have both around here and I was out walking one night (yes, I like walking around in the dark), and I heard something scream like that. Sent chills through my whole body and made my hair stand on end! I made it back to the house real fast! Didn't go out for night walks for awhile, either!LOL