Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[chicknmania]

Shoot shovel and shut up? Seems you're forgetting the last one. Laws are in place for a reason. Better to use brains to figure out how to keep a fox out.
And re the beavers, I'd rather have a flood plain or a pond to look at, than a home, yard, parking lot, or playground, any day. Funny, we have beavers here, but I don't recall seeing flood plains everywnere as a result.... Raccoons are another story; they are not protected, here, anyway, and there are thousands of them. No natural predators to speak of.


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[mkcolls]

We lost a turkey to an unknown predator Saturday night. Turkey was in a barn coop and got out a hole 10 ft up from floor and into the open area of the barn. We found one wing and many feathers. Possibly a stray cat or raccoon? Hubby had to climb a ladder to wall up the hole and we now check the barn each night before closing up the coops.

I would say the worst predator is the one who hurts or kills any backyard fowl.

 

[cleoandtheo]

Are gophers a threat to chickens?

 

[Britt417]

I had a racoon break into my chicken house and eat my meat chickens. One night, it killed two; ate one and left one in with the chickens for the following night. I haven't caught it yet, but came really close to it.

 

[Aimless Farmer]

And re the beavers, I'd rather have a flood plain or a pond to look at, than a home

I'm afraid you'd be in the minority in this opinion, Chicknmania. Most of us work too blasted hard to pay for our homes to be consoled by the "view" as they become flooded and uninhabitable from beaver dams. Like your racoons, our beavers now have no natural predators. Lucky for you something is keeping your beaver population in check.

Foxes, on the other hand, once they've become habituated to people, can become so bold as to be dangerous. Fortunately or unfortunately, in my neck of the woods, our foxes must look over their shoulders for the huge coyotes we have which hunt in packs and bring down full grown deer, and the occasional large livestock animal...and plenty of free range chickens.

Racoons are just so darn smart, but, in comparison to foxes, very, very easy to trap in a live trap, in my experience.​

 

[chicknmania]

Yes, well....let's just say notice I edited this post.

Whatever.

 

[JD4570]

Raccoons by far are the worst. The critters are smart, determined, tough, and not to forget vicious! Over the last 17 years they've cost me 23 chickens,1 duck, 2 cats ,not to mention 3 litters of kittens. One coon in particular killed 11 of my hens in one night. It terrorized my 92 pound German Shepperd which normally would rip a coon apart. One night I finally hit it with a load of buckshot and all it seemed, to do is make the coon mad, it turned and charged me! One more round of double ought and seven 9mm rounds from my sidearm , the final one was to the head , got it.

That monster weighed 36 pounds and had a one and half inch fat layer. After that it was more than a year before anyone within a mile lost another chicken.

 

[hens4thehudds]

I wonder if the question should be posed for different areas of the country, because it does it depend on where you live right?

 

[RHRanch]

I find the biggest culprit that leads to bird loss is not usually one particular predator or another. Usually it is inadequate or flawed housing (with the exception of day loss from birds of prey or whatever). For example, I have noticed that although I can get away with some aspect of my poultry housing being less than %100 secured for a time, the predators will eventually notice the problems in my housing - This could be if I havn't gone to the trouble to wrap wire on a chain link run, or not noticing a burrow under an outbuiling which allows acess to the run, a hole or weak spot in a building, etc. When it comes to predation losses, I can generally point the finger at one culprit: Me! lol

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

i have never lost any. knock on wood. however my biggest problem has been hawks. i live in an area infested with foxes, coyotes, and raccoons, but have never had a single problem with them. knock on wood. however hawks have always been the problem always stalking my girls and trying to kill them. my vote went for hawks