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Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

The worst predator?

  • Raccoon

    Votes: 699 25.1%
  • Opossum

    Votes: 65 2.3%
  • Weasel

    Votes: 135 4.9%
  • Mink

    Votes: 71 2.6%
  • Mountain Lion

    Votes: 16 0.6%
  • Bear

    Votes: 47 1.7%
  • Coyote

    Votes: 146 5.2%
  • Fox

    Votes: 321 11.5%
  • Eagle

    Votes: 17 0.6%
  • Hawk

    Votes: 475 17.1%
  • Owl

    Votes: 42 1.5%
  • Dog

    Votes: 416 14.9%
  • Snake

    Votes: 33 1.2%
  • Man

    Votes: 106 3.8%
  • Bobcat

    Votes: 58 2.1%
  • Skunk

    Votes: 27 1.0%
  • Rats

    Votes: 56 2.0%
  • Cats

    Votes: 53 1.9%

  • Total voters
    2,783
I looked for over an hour and now unfortunately it's nighttime here so I figured I would restart the search party first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed cause I feel bad for my ladies.
 
I looked for over an hour and now unfortunately it's nighttime here so I figured I would restart the search party first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed cause I feel bad for my ladies.
I feel for ya & your ladies. I had the same thing happen to me about 3 years ago. The whole flock besides 1 showed back up in the morning. Ever since then I lock them up every night and let them out first thing in the morning. So far I haven't lost another with that method.
 
Bad thing is this happened during the day about 1 hr before dark. I was going out to put them up when I noticed them missing. but I have always locked them up at night guess I will have to put them up sooner or make a chicken tractor for them
 
We lost 3 to raccoons a month ago. Chickens got locked out of their coop accidentally while we were out running errands. Came home after dusk and all but 2 of 6 were missing. Our neighbor came over and informed us that our roo was under his porch. We searched around for an hour and found most of the hens. Then piles of feathers were discovered from the roo and the missing girl. His tail feathers surrounded an area where her feathers started then lead under the other neighbor's porch.

We kept them in the coop and run for a while, which at the time we thought was predator proof. A week later we come home from work to discover the body of our other barred rock and just the head of a RIR. The raccoons found a way to climb into the coop. We have since reinforced the coop to Fort Knox level and have no longer had any incidents.

Raccoons are more dangerous at night than dogs because of this cleverness and ability to get in when digging doesn't work. We do have dogs in the neighborhood that run loose and I've had to chase off. I'm not sure of the other predators as we live in a more urban area in the Pacific Northwest. Coyotes are scarce in this little part of town; they keep to the woods.
 
All of our casualties have been to an opossum.

I was going to start my own thread and ask if opossums kill chickens. Someone I trusted (at the feed store? I don't remember) told me no, that they would go for eggs and feed but not the birds. I was told where I live hawks and raccoons were the things to worry about most. I am not in the country, I am a suburban homesteader wannabe. While moving we kept our chickens (rather insecurely) at my mother-in-laws for a few months.One day I found one of my hens dead with just her belly opened up. I think just her egg making organ was gone, the flesh/meat wasn't even bitten into. I suspect Opossum but what do I know? Thanks for any insight.
 
Opossum is a good guess.

Where do you live?
I'm in the suburbs toward the edge of a large metro area and have mink, weasels, opossum, raccoons, fox, coyotes, owls, hawks, not to mention neighboring dogs and cats.
I haven't seen a bobcat yet but they've been reported in an even more central location of the metro. Foxes and weasels are often seen right in the middle of town. At the opposite end of town from me, a cougar was caught on a game cam and black bears have been sighted in the same area.
When people don't think they have many predators, they're surprised when they get chickens. Except for hawks, dogs and cats, the rest are mostly nocturnal, so unless you have a game cam, quietly walk your property at night or have chickens killed, you'd never know they were there.

ETA
There may be the occasional person at a feed store that knows about your chosen livestock, but don't count on it. Based on past experience I wouldn't trust their advice at all.
 
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We live on the central coast of California, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. We live outside the "city limits" but it's pretty much the same as in in the city. Im not sure if we have too many foxes or weasels around here but I don't know. We have caught opossums in the yard both in our new place and the old house (about 15 miles away from where we are now). At the time I assumed they were going after eggs/feed. They are easy enough to scare away, but gosh they're ugly! I built "the garden coop" from plans I found through backyard chickens, and once inside, they are fully protected with 1/2 inch hardware cloth all the way around, on top, and down one foot under ground around edge. The problem is while we were moving and before the coop is put back together (almost done!) When we first brought them home to our new place we would forget to shut the door on their temporary coop, but after spotting opossums I do it consistently.
 
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We have caught opossums in the yard both in our new place and the old house (about 15 miles away from where we are now). At the time I assumed they were going after eggs/feed. They are easy enough to scare away, but gosh they're ugly!


I am just far enough North in MN now that the opposums can't make it- Their naked tails and ears get frost bite, and they just don't do well here. Thank god!

Opposums were very common in southern WI where I was raised, and caused a good bit of trouble. Not master criminal level 2nd story men like the raccoons, more like numerous, thick witted street thug level chicken muggers!

I have a cheap thrift store slow cooker. It is used for such times as I catch a varmint being too persistently interested in the chickens... (Mostly used for raccoons where I live now)

If you're scaring them away, they will come back when you're not around. A better solution: Catch opossum. Kill humanely, and then put it in a slow cooker for 8 hours or so... Give the chickens the whole opossum!

"When life gives you chicken eating varmints, make varmint stew"
 
From reading these replies, it seems like it has a lot to do with geography (here in the Willamette Valley it's raccoons and weasels). We have a good fence (with electric hot wire at the top) and a guardian dog, but an impenetrable nighttime coop has proven to be our best defense method.
 
Lol opossum stew. The last time we saw some (only time at new house) we did actually"take them out." I held flashlight and my husband killed the first one slowly (on accident) and the second one quickly with pellet gun. The first one was old and smelly even before we killed it so there's no way I would have cooked it, but the second one was young and healthy in appearance. I will consider the stew making (which would shock my more stereotypical California beach-girl friends, but that's how I roll)
 

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