Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[Spanishchick]

I vote dog because my dog killed most of my flock last year, I cannot even count the number of guineas that I lost to her.

I can imagine how you must have felt.

 

[jstef]

I lose mine mostly to racoons, but the Hawks have eaten some too. I made an automatic door which really helped allot. Its a 14" linear actuator with a lead screw, connected to a relay and a timer. The coop door opens ( depending on daylight) at 5 am and closes at 8 pm. The pen is fenced in but racoons have burrowed underneath, but if the chickens are in coop behind closed door, they are safe. I also made an automatic waterer from an old well tank, fill it up with 30 gal and they are good for quite a while. Connects to a hose and a float in their water bowl that always keeps it full.

Joe

 

[BridgetBarger]

I can imagine how you must have felt.

It horrible my poor six year old sat outside for hours as the last dying bird was dying. There was a very large massacre last October.

 

[outdoor family]

I keep my dogs chained up close to my chickens and turkey pens. They keep coons, cyotes, cats, and other dogs fended off very well. I guess my dogs and cats have gotten so use to our birds they really pay them no mind at all. My cats are actually scared of them i believe. lol When the old time farmers had a dog that killed chickens they use to take the dead chicken and tie it up real close to the dog on its collar and leave it there for days. The dog would learn to stay away from them. It sounds gross but i have seen it work. I actually did it with a dog who would constantly chew up shoes. I took the chewed shoe, yelled at the dog and tied the shoe to the collar leaving it for the rest of the week. That dog never chewed a shoe again.

 

[pound4pound]

first the cats of my neighbor grabs the chick then eats the head, leaves the body behind hats why i hasnt had any chicks

second the dog, my jackal looking dog ate my fullgrown hen.

 

[Bert2368]

I read lots of these animal/predator horror stories while the chicks were still indoors. Plus my sister had lost birds to weasel, fox, hawk, raccoon and coyote. I have seen all of those on our property, plus: Feral cats, stray dogs, big owls, bear, mink, otter, bobcat and wolf.

So the chickens never got to free range. They didn't set foot outdoors until the chicken yard was fenced, hardware cloth dug in around the perimeter and 2" snow rated netting covered the whole run.

For the time and money spent, maybe we should have just bought grocery store chickens and eggs instead- But I do like our own more!

Started with 26 chickens spring of 2013, have not lost one yet to an animal other than one rooster who killed a rival rooster. I am worried about weasels though, when there are new chicks this spring.

 

[Cluckysnap123]

I say weasel, but really fisher (they are related) thats why I only have 9 roos instead of 18 and 12 hens instead of 20.

 

[chickenlover247]

I say dogs are the worst because the only birds we lost were 2 hens that the neighbors dogs killed.

R.I.P. Snowball and M.J.

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

This past fall I lost 6 in two nights to a raccoon. I used to leave to coop door open all the time and never had a problem for a year and a half. One morning really early I looked out the back door and some of the chickens were roosted on the fencing in the yard. Went out to find my roo and a hen dead. So they went on lockdown and were ok the next night but the second night of lockdown the raccoon came back and chewed a hole in the floor of the coop as it is elevated and killed 4 more. So I placed a live trap out and caught him and took him for a ride. He looked like he had been through a war missing an eye, his tail, and 3 fingers so I couldnt bring myself to do him in. Here recently Ive noticed more tracks in the snow around the coop so will be setting out another live trap.

 

[Deerling]

We had a huge problem with Bobcats and Coyotes. I can't decide which is worse. The Coyotes seemed impossible to kill, the bobcats were clever and unrelenting.