Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[LynninTN]

A hawk tried to get my chicks today.

 

[hogges]

Caught two raccoons and one opossum in the past six nights. In the city no less. Everything wants to eat our chickens!

 

[ctalen]

I chose Mink..I lost several to a mink (or weasel) last winter..

Does anyone know how to catch a weasel? We have an aviary and lose at least one bird a day and we just can't catch the thief

 

[Quaicken108]

A hawk tried to get my chicks today.

Are your chicks alright?
What breed and age are they?

 

[Swiftbow]

We haven't lost any to predators (knock on wood), but a hawk had a near miss on one of our girls about a month ago. My wife managed to throw off its descent enough to save the day!

 

[Doggirl08]

Okay, we have lost 6 of our birds to our pet dog, but that was our fault because we accidentally let him with them, but he had to hunt his for his food before we found him, so it was our sloppiness and arrogance that killed those chickens. We lost 3 to an opossum, who reached through the wire, and pulled their heads off! We then covered them with wire that had smaller holes. A fox pulled back the wire, and grabbed one, but my mom was home, and she yelled at it, and it ran away. Both of my parents are veterinarians, and they saved her, she just lost a bit of her chest. However, this is all nothing compared to how many chickens humans slaughter and eat.

 

[Doggirl08]

We had a snake eating eggs, but not killing. We got lucky.

 

[Wellbie]

Still kind of New to chickens. But have had game camera out and spotted several raccoons on camera. Got a live trap and have caught 5 coons in 8 days. Also saw what I think was a opossum and a few cats. This has been since April. Raccoons are quite dumb though. They see there buddies in trap then boooom next morning there they are....

Still kind of New to chickens. But have had game camera out and spotted several raccoons on camera. Got a live trap and have caught 5 coons in 8 days. Also saw what I think was a opossum and a few cats. This has been since April. Raccoons are quite dumb though. They see there buddies in trap then boooom next morning there they are....

Still kind of New to chickens. But have had game camera out and spotted several raccoons on camera. Got a live trap and have caught 5 coons in 8 days. Also saw what I think was a opossum and a few cats. This has been since April. Raccoons are quite dumb though. They see there buddies in trap then boooom next morning there they are....

 

[BDutch]

Okay, we have lost 6 of our birds to our pet dog, but that was our fault because we accidentally let him with them, but he had to hunt his for his food before we found him, so it was our sloppiness and arrogance that killed those chickens. We lost 3 to an opossum, who reached through the wire, and pulled their heads off! We then covered them with wire that had smaller holes. A fox pulled back the wire, and grabbed one, but my mom was home, and she yelled at it, and it ran away. Both of my parents are veterinarians, and they saved her, she just lost a bit of her chest. However, this is all nothing compared to how many chickens humans slaughter and eat.

Yeah, nasty things happen with predators. And you can say humans are the worst predator with lot’s of surplus killing.
If we eat les meat/chickens, especially from the grocery store, there would be less suffering, less pollution and more room for growing vegetables and fruit.

I always feel bad at a normal BBQ for this reason and do like the more healthy BBQ with lots of salads and roasted veggies.

 

[MattHarrison]

i put opossums mainly because it annoys me so much they don’t even EAT the chickens! they just take the head off! So annoying!!!