Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[lawnguy]

I live in SE Pa and basically in the woods so obviously have various predators. I did cover my vents with hardware cloth after the last casualty. I also bought 2 dog safe coon traps and baited with tuna and successfully caught the female coon that was raiding my coop! She is no longer a problem.
I still never found any evidence of an entry point though. My wire fence is buried at least 6-10" and also have 2' tall hardware cloth around base of entire enclosure. The cover is heavy duty deer netting with 2" square openings covering entire enclosure. Fence is synched up tight to posts and netting is over lapped as well. I am continuing to set traps each night to be on the safe side. All losses were at night. I had checked several times up to maybe 11 pm with no losses so it was after that and before 7 am. Hopefully this was my only culprit as it took 11 of my birds in only a few weeks. The last being one of my roo's. The chickens had been caught around the neck it appeared and partially eaten.

 

[tntchix]

So far it's been just a barn cat and partially my stupidity. I'm prepping fro attacks from raccoons, coyotes, and hawks tho.

 

[JJSS89]

Just had a magpie discover a weakness in my aviary cover. Then he/she broke in and killed my 24 bobwhite chicks. They were about 3 weeks old.

Didn't even eat them, just broke open their heads and left them strewn around the pen.

 

[gander007]

Over the last couple of years I have let the Ravens have the egg's they find in the yard as a way of saying thank you for keeping the hawks away and a great job the Ravens have been doing and I haven't lost a single chick or chicken to the Hawks in several yeas but this morning after I fed the chickens around 6 AM I noticed that all the chicks just before 7 AM were making a lot of noise so I finished what I was doing in the shed and checked what all the racket was about and every chick, duckling and gosling was hiding in the brush or under something so I looked a round a saw one of the Ravens and thought nothing of it and I went around the house to check on the chicken coop and all along the fence was these Ravens 6 of them total so now I know how many baby Ravens she had 4 total and the entire family came over to eat the chicken feed and what ever else and after seeing me they split for higher ground .....

Just another thing to worry about .......




After eating everyone took a nap this morning .....






Goslings and a duckling catching the morning sun .....






Chicks being sized up for the pot .....











gander007

 

[Michael OShay]

Nationwide, raccoons probably kill as many chickens as the other predators put together. They are common, intelligent, tenacious, and crafty, tearing open chicken wire and even figuring out how to open many latches.

 

[JJSS89]

Nationwide, raccoons probably kill as many chickens as the other predators put together. They are common, intelligent, tenacious, and crafty, tearing open chicken wire and even figuring out how to open many latches.

This is definitely true. Emphasis on common, they are everywhere. I'd rather deal with raccoons than a weasel or snakes though. Raccoons are strong and tough but you can pretty much beat them by out-muscling them with your setup. Snakes and weasels can fit through just about anything. When you have a weasel problem - especially if you don't know how to trap - then you have a real problem. They can squeeze through anything and are anxious to drink bird blood.

 

[genrail1]

5 pieces of chrome on a Pinto and it's a Bobcat.

 

[Big Hoot]

It was a toss up for me with hawk or dog. I picked hawk because I am over populated with hawks. Dogs are only bad around my home during hunting season when deer dogs run wild and aren't found until after they eat a chicken or two.

 

[Michael OShay]

This is definitely true. Emphasis on common, they are everywhere. I'd rather deal with raccoons than a weasel or snakes though. Raccoons are strong and tough but you can pretty much beat them by out-muscling them with your setup. Snakes and weasels can fit through just about anything. When you have a weasel problem - especially if you don't know how to trap - then you have a real problem. They can squeeze through anything and are anxious to drink bird blood.

That's why its imperative to use hardware cloth on your coops and runs. Even weasels and snakes can't squeeze through the 1/2 or 1/4" inch mesh. And of course, make certain that there are no other small openings anywhere in the coop structure.

 

[Triple Willow]

That's why its imperative to use hardware cloth on your coops and runs.  Even weasels and snakes can't squeeze through the 1/2 or 1/4" inch mesh.  And of course, make certain that there are no other small openings anywhere in the coop structure.

Yep but you also need a heavier layer along with the hardware cloth to keep dogs out.