Our first predator- UPDATE 3

[furbabymum]

So it's 10am and this owl is still active. It's roosting in our lean-to. Probably waiting so it can go in and collect the bodies of it's kills. We collected them already and threw them away. So now we can't leave our chickens out during the day either?????

Chased the owl off but it seems to have a breeding nest next door so.....

 

[ChicKat]

So sorry--

Yes owls, and I think all raptors, are protected.

 

[chickortreat]

Yes owls, and I think all raptors, are protected.

Perhaps so, but if one gets into your coop, what's to stop it getting closed up in there and not being able to find its way out? Wouldn't that put it in a federal predicament? Unless Uncle Sammy is gonna pay for damages/losses caused by raptors, he has no business telling folks not to touch them. I'm just glad I live in the country and the raptors have all the rats, etc they need to thrive without bothering my chickens.

 

[furbabymum]

Perhaps so, but if one gets into your coop, what's to stop it getting closed up in there and not being able to find its way out? Wouldn't that put it in a federal predicament? Unless Uncle Sammy is gonna pay for damages/losses caused by raptors, he has no business telling folks not to touch them. I'm just glad I live in the country and the raptors have all the rats, etc they need to thrive without bothering my chickens.

I live in the country as well. Don't get too confident! lol We have more rabbits than we know what to do with but the owls are going for the easy and stupid prey.

Uncle Sam says protect your livestock. So, we are going to be putting a door on our barn. I was joking about taking it out and not telling anyone but who knows if it has a tracking device or whatever. Just not worth the consequences of killing it. Best to protect against it.

 

[atmaclean]

I'm sorry but if a wild animal of any kind is killing my livestock on my property, I will not hesitate to shoot it. We live out in the country as well and its called "shoot - shovel - and shut up".

I had one of my super sweet, darling, lemon cuckoo orphington pullets killed today by some predator - highly suspicious of an opossum. I've had them since they were just eggs and hatched them out this Summer. We've got the Ft. Knox of chicken coup/pens that my husband made, but we let the hens and guineas free range during the day under the watch of our Maremma guardian dog. We have not lost a chicken since he came this past Summer (5 months ago). Our yard is totally fenced with field fence but our driveway gate is usually open.

This predator struck during a time when I was not home and my husband was unloading hay and weed-eating fence line over by our barn. There was about a 3 hour window when this could have happened. The pullet was cold and stiff when my husband found her this evening. The Maremma and our Aussie were over there at the barn with him this afternoon and this predator apparently was wiley enough to know that the dogs and humans were away! My husband did not notice any unusual behavior in our horses during this time but he did hear the guineas sound-off (which is not that unusual) once a day. Even more reason to suspect a smaller sized predator.

I am so sickened and upset at the loss of this sweet little girl (who I've had from an egg!). She was found tonight when we did our nightly "head count" when everyone was put in the coup for the night and we were one short. My husband and son went looking and found her right along the side of our house between the house and the pasture fence in an area about 30' wide by 75' long along that side of the house. There are some pretty decent sized pine trees along that side of the house. I seriously doubt it was a hawk and pretty sure it was not a dog - our dogs would have definitely noticed a strange dog even from over at the barn. We just DO NOT have stray dogs out here - we are on a dead end road just over a mile off the closest road (which is rather quiet). The pullet still had the head attached (damaged) but her abdomen was torn open and partially eaten. There were some feathers around her body and her head was damaged as well.

Does anyone have any other ideas? From what I've been reading and searching this evening, it really sounds like an opossum. We have not seen any around here in the past year or so but we have killed a few skunks and hawks and have shot at a few coyote. My husband did not smell any skunk when he came home this afternoon to unload hay. Coyote couldn't get into the yard except through the main gate down the driveway and our Maremma is ferocious toward coyote. That's why I'm thinking it was something smaller like an opossum that could get through the fence undetected.....?

I'd appreciate any ideas on what it might have been. We have set a trap and I will buy a couple more tomorrow to set as well. Our chickens are like our pets and we care for them as if they were our prized possessions (because they are).

Thanks so much for any suggestions/ideas!

Angela
mom to.....
cream legbar pair (Desi & Lucy)
3 pure Auracana hens and one roo
3 Lavender Orphington hens and roos
3 Lemon Cuckoo roos and now only 2 hens
4 Swedish Flower hens and one roo
One blue wheaten marans hen
one brabanter hen
one spangled Sussex hen
and 2 Americana hens (Barak & Michelle) yes, Barak is a hen (ooops)!

 

[furbabymum]

I'm sorry but if a wild animal of any kind is killing my livestock on my property, I will not hesitate to shoot it. We live out in the country as well and its called "shoot - shovel - and shut up".

I had one of my super sweet, darling, lemon cuckoo orphington pullets killed today by some predator - highly suspicious of an opossum. I've had them since they were just eggs and hatched them out this Summer. We've got the Ft. Knox of chicken coup/pens that my husband made, but we let the hens and guineas free range during the day under the watch of our Maremma guardian dog. We have not lost a chicken since he came this past Summer (5 months ago). Our yard is totally fenced with field fence but our driveway gate is usually open.

This predator struck during a time when I was not home and my husband was unloading hay and weed-eating fence line over by our barn. There was about a 3 hour window when this could have happened. The pullet was cold and stiff when my husband found her this evening. The Maremma and our Aussie were over there at the barn with him this afternoon and this predator apparently was wiley enough to know that the dogs and humans were away! My husband did not notice any unusual behavior in our horses during this time but he did hear the guineas sound-off (which is not that unusual) once a day. Even more reason to suspect a smaller sized predator.

I am so sickened and upset at the loss of this sweet little girl (who I've had from an egg!). She was found tonight when we did our nightly "head count" when everyone was put in the coup for the night and we were one short. My husband and son went looking and found her right along the side of our house between the house and the pasture fence in an area about 30' wide by 75' long along that side of the house. There are some pretty decent sized pine trees along that side of the house. I seriously doubt it was a hawk and pretty sure it was not a dog - our dogs would have definitely noticed a strange dog even from over at the barn. We just DO NOT have stray dogs out here - we are on a dead end road just over a mile off the closest road (which is rather quiet). The pullet still had the head attached (damaged) but her abdomen was torn open and partially eaten. There were some feathers around her body and her head was damaged as well.

Does anyone have any other ideas? From what I've been reading and searching this evening, it really sounds like an opossum. We have not seen any around here in the past year or so but we have killed a few skunks and hawks and have shot at a few coyote. My husband did not smell any skunk when he came home this afternoon to unload hay. Coyote couldn't get into the yard except through the main gate down the driveway and our Maremma is ferocious toward coyote. That's why I'm thinking it was something smaller like an opossum that could get through the fence undetected.....?

I'd appreciate any ideas on what it might have been. We have set a trap and I will buy a couple more tomorrow to set as well. Our chickens are like our pets and we care for them as if they were our prized possessions (because they are).

Thanks so much for any suggestions/ideas!

Angela
mom to.....
cream legbar pair (Desi & Lucy)
3 pure Auracana hens and one roo
3 Lavender Orphington hens and roos
3 Lemon Cuckoo roos and now only 2 hens
4 Swedish Flower hens and one roo
One blue wheaten marans hen
one brabanter hen
one spangled Sussex hen
and 2 Americana hens (Barak & Michelle) yes, Barak is a hen (ooops)!

 

[chickenpredatorkiller]

I know almost 100 % that it is a raccoon. That is EXACTLY how i found 2 or 3 of mine that had fallen prey to a very cruel raccoon. That is almost for sure a raccoon so if you don't deal with him... he will be back. After I lost 2 pullets to an (at that time) unknown predator I locked up the remaining 4 pullets at night and the only openings to the coop were two triangular ventilation holes at the top and they had light plastic mesh covering them up. The raccoon GOT THROUGH the hole (which he had to crawl up plywood that is horizontal and flat) and grabbed a pullet, and escaped the same way it came. The only way this seems possible to me is it was a raccoon on steroids that could fly... Anyway to put it nicely, that raccoon ate lead. Long story short, you've got a raccoon on your hands.

 

[ChicKat]

Angela,

so sorry to hear about your pullet. It's sad how many predators can get chickens. I agree that the predators are very canny too. I can just picture chickenpredatorkiller's flying raccoon on steroids.

If you are getting new traps - my advice is AVOID the 'catch and release' traps sold by tractor supply - because they are IMO junk. They cost $ 64.00 each and are good for a one-time use. They are truly flimsy -- Last raccoon I caught in one was 22-pounds and it just about wiped out the trap. I guess a word to the wise...look for something Made in the USA.

It could be any of those varmints--skunk, opossum or raccoon but they are usually nocturnal aren't they? Good luck with it. My chickens are quite mad at me becuase I am keeping them penned up now...but I keep seeing a hawk and don't want to risk them being out with me not there...and I don't have time to watch them.

 

[atmaclean]

Thanks for the info on those traps! I didn't realize they were that flimsy. I will definitely look them over closely before I buy. I have used similar type traps for trapping feral cats at another property and they worked well - but none of them were near 22 lbs! I also had a coon behead and kill 8 of my hens at that property. I came home from work and found the bodies all over the place and saw the coon walking away and then up a tree. He also had a lead sandwich! I was so mad. I no longer have that farm.

And I thought our main predation was going to come from all the coyote out here! I guess our Maremma has kept them at bay as we have not seen any since he arrived. Unfortunately, he and our aussie were over at the barn with my husband during the window of time that this happened. Hubby was weed-eating fence line so I guess the noise prevented them from hearing a disturbance over here at the house - probably 100 yards from the barn. It just amazes me that a stupid possum or skunk or racoon could catch a chicken as fast as a chicken can run....?

We have our eyes peeled today - we only let the roosters and guineas out this morning. Hens are still up in their pen and are NOT happy about it.....but at least I know they are safe in there.

Thanks again for all this info - I'm so glad to have this forum.....
Angela