pleaseHelp!! half my flock killed!! bobcat??

[blucoondawg]

Yes a bobcat will easily go through a chicken wire fence, chicken wire is not strong at all, it is made to keep chickens in not keep out animals trying to eat them.

 

[bretsk2500]

I will admit I am new to having chickens... but I think my prior anti-predation methods may be helping me out. the first line of defense on my property are my dogs. I have 3, all are large, and their run is quite large and runs along the back of the barn (my coop is in the front corner of the barn). the oldest is a hound/lab mix, an avid hunter, and the only one of the 3 that is completely voice controlled (but awful on a leash), she is also *my* dog, and spends much of her time with me on and around our property. our male... is a Great Dane/lab mix... is great on a leash, but if you unhook him... he's gone for at least an hour. he also has wiped out the finch population... he finds them "crunchy"... the youngest dog is a female shelter pup... and generally useless. the second axis would be a shallow bucket accidentally left with some antifreeze on the main barn floor, which has seemed to have taken care of the mice.

in my area, the only predators I need worry about are coons and fishers, and I have not seen any sign of either in quite a long time. I hope it stays that way.

 

[DepotMudilk]

Thanks for all the help. Ive considered getting a flock friendly dog. Ill have to look into it. The 2 chickens who were attacked still are not eating. Ive been syringing them water & sugar water. 1 picked a little at a pepper & bean but that's it. I dont want to lose my survivors. Howdo I encourage eating? A trap has been set but no crcritter yet. Going to try again tonight. Im pretty sure its a bobcat I could smell where it came back & marked the pen. Also there was fur on the hole it cut into the coop. Black & white. All white. And maybe a little orange tinge to some.

 

[blucoondawg]

Just a thought on the eating, have you tried giving them something squirmy like a worm? Chickens love stuff that moves. The dog can be helpful but there is no such thing as a flock friendly dog, that is achieved by many hours and days and months of training and some dogs will never be completely trustworthy.

 

[bretsk2500]

Oh I never said my dogs were flock friendly... My hound, if given the opportunity, would most certainly have chicken for dinner. I keep them separated by an "airlock" of sorts... the coop is in 2 bays of my cow tie-up... that has a door to the egg doors/ grain storage... and a separate door to the coop floor.... the tie-up also has it's own door from the main floor of the barn. and then there's the door from the shed to the barn....

My whole point about my dogs is that their scent (and noise) is all over the property... coons and such notice that. fishers are more determined... and usually have to end up being made dead.

wiping out the mice population will also greatly reduce the incentive for a lesser cat to hunt your property.

 

[babsbag]

Just a thought on the eating, have you tried giving them something squirmy like a worm? Chickens love stuff that moves. The dog can be helpful but there is no such thing as a flock friendly dog, that is achieved by many hours and days and months of training and some dogs will never be completely trustworthy.

I agree that it can take hours, or months, but there are flock friendly dogs, many times they are a livestock guardian breed. Go over to BackYardHerds to the LGD section and ask people with LGDs and chickens. You will find many of them, I am one of them. My 3 year old female is flock friendly, and my 1 year old Pyr will be as soon as he grows up a little more.

But seriously, there are many many people with dogs that guard their birds. I think it would be a very viable option. My dogs guard my goats, and my chickens live with me goats so they get guarded too, works very well.

 

[blucoondawg]

When I say there is no such thing as a flock friendly dog I mean no such thing as an inherently flock friendly breed of dog. You go get yourself pyr pup and turn it loose with the birds and you will have a bunch of injured and dead birds in no time even if they don't attack the will be rough with them and hurt them. It takes time to achieve the result.

 

[REDNECK TRAPPER]

Sounds like a coon. I would set a foot hold trap and bait it with some cat food and marshmallows.

 

[blucoondawg]

Coon don't generally make cat tracks in sand, they make coon tracks which these are not.

 

[REDNECK TRAPPER]

Burn the burrow with some gasoline and if it comes out then shoot it