Oh no....

[TriciaHowe]

Night cameras are well worth it. We have one and here is a couple of pictures from it. These were before we got outside dogs......
A fox (far right side of the picture)

And a raccoon.

ETA: I never got a picture of the fox any closer to my coop than that. I think he wacked his nose on the hot wire that runs along the perimeter of the coop a couple of times....

 

[horsejody]

It could have been raccoons. They make lots of scarey noises, especially at each other.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
well he said that it was more like a loud growl...not like a raccoon I don't think.


Now what I'm thinking is that there's a cougar or something bigger such as a bear...!

But we've never had problems with bears and raccoons and cougars; bobcats are the ones were have been here before.

 

[77horses]

I'm telling you, if something is out there and attempts to harm our chickens, I'm bringing them all inside the house! (until we build a cement coop, with a hundred cameras around it and double electric fencing, of course!)

And if any bobcat harms any of them, I'll make sure he/she never does it again.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Quote:
Well, I guess that might depend on how hungry they are. Are you in an area with a lot of development, and little prey population, or are you in a rural area where they can easily find food in the wild? I wouldn't be too quick to shoot it either - I don't know what the laws are on that, so you might want to look into it (wrong person finds out what happened, you could be in trouble). I would do what ever I could to figure out what it actually is, and then find the best solution. Electric fence will definitely help, a good zap'll scare 'em

Plus, I you make it too much work for the predator to get to your chickies, they might decide to simply move on to an easier meal. It's definitely scary not knowing exactly what is out there - be safe & good luck!!

 

[77horses]

We are in a pretty rural area with woods and lots of turkeys and birds, which I think they prey on and that's why the last small pack of them moved on instead of hanging around our place. I think they come every once and a while, just stalking through the woods and hunting, and then they move on. But I'm worried because a bobcat could easily rip through the wooden coop with its claws, and my little Cinnamon is in there.

And what's even scarier is that during the day, sometimes our garage is open and we have another coop in there. One of our broody hens is setting on eggs and they are planned to hatch in the next upcoming weeks, so I'm worried about the mother hen and chicks.

 

[NancyDz]

Yes bobcat are elusive and would be scared off by dogs unless they are under 12 lbs or so.
They are usually active a little before sunset to a few hours after, then again a little before sunrise and a couple hours after. I think they would be more likely to get free ranging birds before tearing into a coop. They are more stalkers, and lie in wait and then pounce when something walks by. They are really good climbers though.

You can kill them in New england but have to have a permit I believe.

Nancy

 

[CMV]

Are you sure you don't have fisher cats? They will growl and hiss and scream and make all sorts of alarming noises. I see you are from New England- me, too- and bobcats are not really seen that often. I'm not saying that they aren't here, but they are usually silent. Either way, get yourself some electric fencing (with solar chargers if not near power). Yeah, it will shock someone if they touch it, but I assure you it will only be touched once. It will not hurt a person, but it will definitely get someone's attention. My dogs won't within 100 feet of it, and my 4 y.o. daughter is sensible enough not to touch the fences.
Good luck.

 

[77horses]

where do we buy the fencing?

 

[77horses]

we did have a weasel nearby but havent seen him