Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[Opa]

Enough barbecue sauce will make any meat palatable.

 

[kawonu]

Lost 2 call ducks to an owl this week!

 

[kota1369]

In my particular neighborhood the worst problem is hawks. I am very greatful to have one cocker spaniel who will not hurt my chickens PERIOD, and I can leave him out with them to help deter any preditor. His brother will try to play with the chickens if they all get excited, so I deter that. My rotty will chase all the bad guys away and if she kills a chicken in mid run, she didnt mean to hurt them (what ever their name is). She is just as scarry running her silly butt through my yard after squirrels as she is spaniels or chickens. She pays less attention to the chickens and the spaniels as she has grown up with them and learned from day one you do NOT pick on animals smaller then you. Period! NO questions asked. I do not allow one animal to target the other Period. I do not care the species. I am the boss of my domain. I am not cruel. I am fair and honest and everyone is treated equal and held to certain standards.
Merry Christman

the lady with the 4 dogs and 4 city chickens

 

[GraceAK]

I would think that bears would be the worst where I live if I had a structural fence only, because they can rip anything apart. I'll be getting an electric fence for the summer though, and that should keep them out.
Dogs I guess, because nobody in my neighborhood has fences or keeps their dogs on their property. I would feel bad if I killed one, too, which is the real problem.
Bears are still scarier.

 

[KirstenRichter]

I am so sad to say that this morning we woke up to find a bobcat inside of our coop and had killed 3 out of 4 of my girls. Ms. Claus lived and she has been searching for her sisters today. So the bobcat is now on my very large nonsense!

 

[TheDuckCrew]

ugh i need to vote for multiple! weasel, bobcat and raccoon! i do think the raccoon was the worst though. he did the most damage to the duck house and went in there only to kill my baby and eat their food

darn raccoon. we've had multiple problems with them, so i'll vote raccoon

 

[darrell]

I've kept chickens for 35 years and never had a problem with coons until 3 years ago. I lost several chickens over two nights. The third night I waited up for them. It was a mama coon teaching 2 little ones had to kill. Had I not stopped them they would have got all of them. Then 2 years ago I again had a problem with a lone coon. They are not satisfied with killing just enough to eat. There seems to be only one way to make them stop.

 

[hrdwrkgrl]

I am most affraid of coyotes... We have one of those wildlife cameras in the woods and the big coyotes always scare me... xoxox

 

[M To The Maxx]

I thought I should bring this thread back.

 

[Billjr]

Hi All,
This is my first post as I just joined. I saw this thread and had to vote. RACCOON! A friend gave me 6 RIR's last Feb. A hawk got one, one was pecked to death by the others, and this July the raids started. I found one bird ripped apart, right through the floor of the coop. Then another. Then another. I was down to one bird when I heard her screaming in the middle of the night. Then I heard some popping sounds and saw some flashes. The next morning I went to check on the last bird and she was fine. But there were 3 coons "sleeping" around the coop. Try as I might they would'nt wake up. I took them for a nice ride to the local swamp where they could meet some friendly snapping turtles. I have no more problems. So far.