noises in the night

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Are there any stray cats around? I went through a period of kitty humping about this time last year. The sound was horrible!! Scared the snot out of me AND my indoor cat and dogs. Might you have heard a bout of kitty lovin'?
CG

 

[6chix]

Sounds like a fisher cat to me. There are a lot more of them around than you may think. From another Ma. person

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
I'm sorry but I'm a southern girl....what in the world is a fisher cat????

 

[Southern28Chick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-FisherCat.html

Nevermind I found it. We don't have them things down here.

 

[greenmulberry]

I hear that screaming in the night too and have always assumed it was raccoons.

What I hear is not cats, (I know what those sounds like-- not this) and there is no way it can be bobcats just because I can't believe they could be so plentiful and to sit outside my bedroom window and scream most nights in the summer but I have never seen a paw print or a dead one on the road.

What I hear sounds like raccoons fighting, but I would love to know for sure. It is very spooky and earie.

Maybe it is fisher cats.

 

[chickenmama]

Thank you all for your replys! you came up with:

Cougar--- one vote

Bobcat--- three

panther--- one

racoons--- two

fishercat---- one and a half

rabbit--- one

owl---- one

cat---- one

and, my favorite, a Salem witch LOL!!

My dh is going to call the animal control officer and ask if there have been any other sightings of bobcats up here.... I'm interested to hear about that. I think the bobcat seems like a possibility because it was just such an unearthly noise. We have racoons around all the time and we have never heard them do this.

The plan for the night is to set the trap outside the fence and see if we catch anything. We did actually catch a fisher last fall and had NO IDEA of what it was so we let it go. That was before we got the chickens. I always wonder if the racoons travel right back here. He goes far away with them. One of these days we're going to spray paint one's tail to see if it does return.

I'll let you know how the night goes. I'm hoping to sleep better!

Chichenmama Michele

 

[chicknmania]

My first guess would be an owl (not a screech owl though; maybe a Great Horned owl.) They make noises like that. We had the exact same experience a few years ago; first year we lived here before we really had any animals and a lot less human neighbors. Sounded just like a woman screaming...it was blood curdling. I researched it on the 'net and was able to find a recording of the exact same cry on a site about owls. My second guess would be a bobcat. If your chickens are secured at night, I wouldn't worry about it...actually I think it's kind of neat to hear something like that.

 

[Southern28Chick]

I'm sticking to my Salem Witch guess.

 

[ratlummountain]

my guess is a fisher cat too.

we had some around last year, more than once i was jolted out of deep sleep by some of most horrible screaming. i described it as someone being murdered in the woods.

what i was told ... it's a fisher cat making a kill. fisher cat's love porcupines & house cats ~ apparently their favorite meals. but will go after any small animal really.

i was also told to keep an eye on your squirrel & chipmunk population. if you have no squirrels & chipmunks, then you most likely have a resident fisher.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
On rare occassions one may come this far south. You've got to worry more about weasels