Predator identification help please! *seek and destroy*

[roosterhavoc]

I'm sorry about your birds, it is strange how they target the good ones, like our favorites taste better to them somehow :/
My camera caught nothing last night but the live trap in the barn was triggered yet empty. I think the roosterhavoc person is right, I'm going to have to get snares or legtraps. I hate those things, but I dont think I have much choice at this point. Besides letting whatever it is keep eating my birds.

They’re footholds and when set and sized properly for the animal you’re trying to catch they are perfectly humane. They are the same kinds of traps that have been used to reintroduce endangered species and help populations all over the world. Please don’t believe the myths you hear. Any redneck can set an inappropriate trap for an animal and cause damage. That’s the persons fault not the trap. Use your head and learn how to use them properly and you’ll be fine. If you don’t think the time is worth investing in learning how please don’t use them.
With all that being said a size 1.5 foothold with rubber jaws will not cause lasting injury to a free roaming cat. Still do everything in your power to keep them away. Same goes for snares.

 

[Elsveta641]

They’re footholds and when set and sized properly for the animal you’re trying to catch they are perfectly humane. They are the same kinds of traps that have been used to reintroduce endangered species and help populations all over the world. Please don’t believe the myths you hear. Any redneck can set an inappropriate trap for an animal and cause damage. That’s the persons fault not the trap. Use your head and learn how to use them properly and you’ll be fine. If you don’t think the time is worth investing in learning how please don’t use them.
With all that being said a size 1.5 foothold with rubber jaws will not cause lasting injury to a free roaming cat. Still do everything in your power to keep them away. Same goes for snares.

We decided to burn the barn down and build a new, purpose built chicken biilding so nothing can get in. (This is a 100yr old hog building they've been living in.) That will happen this weekend. Starting now the chickens and cats will all be caged during its construction and so I will use that time to try to trap the predators. The old farmer guy across the street said he will help as long as the cats, chickens and kids are kept inside during our "hunt". Apparently whatever it is has caused leg damage on some of his baby cows in the fields.
The 20 surviving adult chickens will stay in a temporary welded wire enclosure in the large barn. The young ones will be relocated to the basement and sub basement, not looking forward to caring for them down there. The cats will stay in the pens we had for goats topped with plywood sheeting and cinderblocks so they cant get out. Each is 6x5x8 and will house 2 cats each. The kittens are coming inside, all 5 of them. Whatever this predator is, it's totally screwing everything up here, bigtime.

 

[cmom]

I'm sorry about your birds, it is strange how they target the good ones, like our favorites taste better to them somehow :/
My camera caught nothing last night but the live trap in the barn was triggered yet empty. I think the roosterhavoc person is right, I'm going to have to get snares or legtraps. I hate those things, but I dont think I have much choice at this point. Besides letting whatever it is keep eating my birds.

I have found some of my traps set off too for no apparent reason. The only thing I saw on my cameras were fox or coyotes around the traps. I started baiting the traps with canned dog food meat chunks and some old chicken we had left in the bottom of our freezer. I checked the bait every day and it would disappear. I then set the traps and caught a fox. A coyote checking out one of the traps.

 

[cmom]

We decided to burn the barn down and build a new, purpose built chicken biilding so nothing can get in. (This is a 100yr old hog building they've been living in.) That will happen this weekend. Starting now the chickens and cats will all be caged during its construction and so I will use that time to try to trap the predators. The old farmer guy across the street said he will help as long as the cats, chickens and kids are kept inside during our "hunt". Apparently whatever it is has caused leg damage on some of his baby cows in the fields.
The 20 surviving adult chickens will stay in a temporary welded wire enclosure in the large barn. The young ones will be relocated to the basement and sub basement, not looking forward to caring for them down there. The cats will stay in the pens we had for goats topped with plywood sheeting and cinderblocks so they cant get out. Each is 6x5x8 and will house 2 cats each. The kittens are coming inside, all 5 of them. Whatever this predator is, it's totally screwing everything up here, bigtime.

I think probably coyotes after the calf's. We have a problem with them here too. One neighbor has cattle and goats. Whenever the goats would have their kids the coyotes would get them. Now he doesn't have a billy any more so no more goat kids.

 

[Elsveta641]

I think probably coyotes after the calf's. We have a problem with them here too. One neighbor has cattle and goats. Whenever the goats would have their kids the coyotes would get them. Now he doesn't have a billy any more so no more goat kids.

I was surprised our goats haven't been bothered, especially since theyre fainters.
What do coyotes sound like, like wolves? I need to check YouTube about that and foxes. We heard some "yip yip ooooo" sounds one night just south of my house out in the corn. Lots of yipping, like several animals. Didn't exactly sound like a dog, sounded kind of like children imitating dogs. But this was like 9pm in the middle of nowhere so I doubt it was kids. I didn't think we had coyotes around here, but maybe we do!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

A chorus of yips sounds like coyotes. Wolves have a long, gradually dropping howl, like -ow-OOOO-ooo-ooo.

 

[cmom]

Coyotes are everywhere. They try to avoid humans. Here they come out mostly at night.
Last nights visitor, a coyote. Most nights I see a coyote behind some of the coops. The lights in the background are more cameras. They actually don't light up but the inferred makes it look like they do.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I really have to agree that it is likely coyotes.

A rancher friend had a couple calves killed, a few injured and lost a full coop of chickens in one night.
It was coyotes.
Hunting was the next several nights.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Coyotes are pestilence. I like most animals but cannot find anything redeeming about them. My feelings are somewhat skewed due to losing a sweet dog to them a few years ago. A very large male coyote came into my garage and got him.

 

[SarahGfa]

Predator is something that would have been frightened of a 14 pound, 32 inch high rooster but not a regular sized rooster, loud music or cats

You mentioned that you had a 14 pound rooster and a 18 pound rooster. Sorry to be off topic, what breed of chicken gets that big??