Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[Vamvakas]

Years ago it used to be racoons then they left, then it was foxes for alittle bit, then they left also. Now hawks are an issue I see so many around here where I live and they killed few of my younger chicks but they leave my full grown chickens alone.

 

[mrs b. bates farm]

a loose board feel on a rooster but i didnt know and when i went to put the chickens up i lifted up the board to find a 5ft chicken snake..i guess he thought he found him a free easy meal. but other than that i havent lost any to predators.. chicken little should of watched out cuz that time the sky really fell..lol

 

[foxypoproxy]

I have 2 predators that i feel both are number 1.

The raccoon is the worst at Night time
The Hawk is the worst during Day time

No time of the day is safe -_-

 

[fatsu]

Our biggest problem is hawks in the day and opossums at night. The hawks tend to go for the smaller birds and the opossums go after the eggs and the chicks. So far all my large fowl have been doing well. Dogs by far do the most damage. Neighbor lost 25-30 in 1 night to a pair of dogs let run loose. They kill just to kill once that ones dead they move to the next

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I have a pic of a young bear that took over 200 organic free range broilers in less than a month. The farmer had no clue what was doing it. He asked me to try and find out and it took about 10 minutes of waiting before she came out and went into the chicken tractor. So I think black bears are the biggest threat in my area. My little dog treed another one about a year ago.

 

[EM Squared Farms 2]

I lost a few to a bobcat.

 

[Spotsyltucky]

We're new and small time - 1 cock, 3 hens. Had 4 hens until two days ago - one or our RI Reds was killed by a dog that we and the neighbors have seen in the area before. Called animal control, they set a live trap - caught the collarless mutt within 24 hrs. Control picked him up straightaway. Now we just have to make it thru deer season with packs of dogs running thru the property flushing deer.

 

[brownysfp]

Buzzards for the day, no problems at night. The local hunt sweeps the woods every w/e. OK, so they're after boar and deer but they'll take down anything predator-wise.
Double whammy the other day: a pair of red kites and a pair of buzzards circling overhead but they buggered off after a while.

 

[waysidedesign]

REALLY??? I had one in my coop eating the food the other day!

 

[melcurran]

I just lost one last night. Pretty sure it was a 'possum. We've seen him skulking around tonight, but haven't been able to catch him. He got my favorite one - a golden comet raised from a day old chick. My first layer. She would sit on my lap every night for petting. I'm going to get that SOB that killed her tonight.