Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[SoJoChickens]

I haven't lost any chickens so far but my neighbor just lost his whole flock (13 chickens) to a dog. What is worse is that it was his own dog!

 

[Schultz]

I say hawks because in my area they are the only daytime predator. At night my chickens are locked up in Fort Knox so the coons aren't a problem anymore. This year has been the worst for hawks. I havn't lost any birds to hawks yet but that's because I've been afraid to let them free range very often. We have a couple little seramas that like to run around with the big girls and have already had to chase off a hawk that went after the little white one during their little supervised free range session. Terrorists from the sky! We have Cooper and Redtail hawks here.

 

[Aimless Farmer]

Since starting with chickens 4 years ago, we lost a couple to coyotes, when the chickens were flying OVER the electric net fencing. Then 1 to a redtail hawk (too large a space to net over). This year, I've had a young, male red fox popping THROUGH the electic net fencing on SEVERAL occasions late this spring, and joy riding around the chicken yard. We saw him pop right through! Just chasing, killing and maiming, not trying to take away and eat. He killed 2 on a day we were away, and injured about 5 in total. I had one in the house healing for about 2 weeks. Still waiting for the bugger to come back again. We tried a live trap for a month (caught the same skunk 5 times, and a racoon). The .22 is by the back door...

A neighbor lost all 25 hens to weasels in one night. Didn't even discover how they got into the coop until they dismantled it for cleaning. 1 inch hole behind the nesting boxes

 

[conniesue27]

Racoons bye far are the worst of the worst...I've lost over 25 chichens to these crafty devils. I've learned the hard way to keep EVERTHING under lock and key. My solution to a bad racoon problem...Coca cola and fly bait. GREATEST STUFF IN THE WORLD!!!!!

 

[Crossbreedchicken]

racoons are so smart, the ladie at my local tractor supply told me she has seen the mother racoon send in her babies to take chicks before. I have walked into 2 racoons trying to tug the chicken wire off the coop run, but my little staffy bull terrier took care of one of them and i haven't had a problem sense.

 

[evhammond1200]

We hope it wasn't the case but we lost 10 chickens possibly to our own dog! Evidence points to her being the guilty party!

 

[Delta3013]

Our friend lost six to a hawk a while back.

 

[ChristyDawn]

Most of my casualties have been to opossum, but I blame it on myself for having not built a secure enough coop. Since I have made repairs and disposed of a couple of opposums that were in the wrong place at the wrong time I have not had a problem. I have also lost two to hawks, one to the neighbors dog, one to a rat and one to the FedEx guy.

 

[Ted Bird]

I raise parrots (Macaws, Amazons, African grays, Cockatoos, Conures) and chickens. I have been doing this for over 50 years and racoons have been by far the worst predator of all. With the value of parrots I have learned to double wire all of by cages and flights that are located outside. The separation needs to be 6" or greater. When disturbed at night, the parrots will climb up the wire on the sides of their flights and also hang from the roof where the coon can grab them. They will pull off legs and wings before they finally kill the birds. They are butcherous!!! They also work in groups, with some scaring the birds while another one will grab it.

Also under flights I suspend 2 x 4" mesh welded wire well below the bottom of the cage. This not only protects the birds from the coons pulling their legs off through the wire on the floor of their pens (and yes, they can pull legs off through 1" x 1/2" weldend wire) but it also prevents them from getting under the flight or cage and flipping the feed pans over so that they can eat the feed off of the ground. All of my flights and cages are 3' or more off the ground to protect from mice and snakes. The loss of one parrot will buy many rolls of wire. And don't use chicken mess. This is fine for inside the hen house, but not outside. But the parrots will even tear through chicken mesh. But the coons can tear through this is a skinny minute. Only use welded wire or chain link fencing. By using the larger mesh wire under the pens, this allows droppings and spent food to fall to the gound and not collect in the wire.

One can never be too careful. Don't think that just because you have never had a coon problem, that you are exempt. I live in the country, but when I kept some birds at my business in town, I lost any number of them to coons.

And don't think that you can relocate a coon. Carry it 150 miles away and it will be back in 6 weeks. They have the best homing instinct of any known mammal. Put him in the stew pot. I catch all of coons in live traps, so to be humane. And if you don't like coon, just advertise. I have been offered $40 each, but I have never sold one. I give them to someone who thinks coon is food from heaven. If someone likes coon, they will walk ten miles for a coon for supper.

If the game warden only took the owl 4 miles away, it will be back tonight, guaranteed. So be prepared. She is probably feeding a nest of babies. That takes a good chicken or duck a night.

 

[woogie g3]

it all depends on your location. like where i live there is no weasels we have problems with opossums raccoons and a a few foxes