Scat Near Chicken Coop

[Zookeeper9000]

If that is any size I would say bear. And not all bears are afraid or avoid people. Be aware when you are out and about. They will travel all day long and all night long. If a female with cub or cubs, very dangerous. If it is small I would say coon. But coon would of left more than 1 foot from 6 chickens even small ones. I would really say bear. My 7 brothers hunt bear and every where I move they seem to follow me. I have had them walk right up to me when weeding. Not fun to know you have a bear in the area. I have a sow now that comes within 50 feet of the house and feeds her young in the back yard. I also have a huge male that comes thur every 3 or 4 days depending on the weather and the feed. Don't see that sow when that male is coming thru. Be aware and don't take chances. Here we only have black bears not sure what kind you have there.

 

[tnkinhunting]

I would check with my local game warden and see what it is and if you can protect your property as in - shoot it. We now have bear's here - we had a goat killed and eaten in one nite - she probably weighed about 50-60 pounds - all that was left was her head and legs - below the hock. The scat was similiar but had lot's of hair in it - black - the goat was black. That was 4 years ago, two months ago my husband almost stepped on one under his deer stand - it raised up on it's hind legs and sniffed (he stood still) and dropped down and walked off down the hill and sat down - my DH "ran" up his stand and called me to come out and get him with a proper caliber gun. When my son & I got there the bear heard us and left. Point, they are dangerous animals and IMHO should be only in National Parks and game reserves.

 

[Poison Ivy]

Here is a website that shows raccoon scat and it has the berries in it. Plus is show other animals scat too. Might help you find out what it could have been.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/mammals.html

 

[IloveMyReds]

Gosh all of you are WONDERFUL!!! I really appreciate all of the feedback.

I think it is either coon or black bear too. We have black bears here. They are not roaming around here as they do in Alaska and it is rare to see them every day but, they have been spotted at my house as recent as July of 2005 (before we moved in). The black bear crossed the road from my place and went right up to my in-law's front door and peeked in!

I will take a bit of EVERYONE'S advice on this topic. We will call the game warden for sure and we will also do everything we can to ensure this never happens again!

Thanks again everyone for all of your kind words and very helpful advice!

 

[ravenfeathers]

black bear poop is really big. if the shadow of the person taking the photo is anything to go by, i'd be more apt to say that it's from a racoon, especially with that seed load. coyote and fox doings are generally more compact and containing more of a variety of foodstuffs. when our local roving bear leaves us a little present in the pasture, it's generally seven to eight inches long and two to three inches in diameter and that's after it's baked and dehydrated a bit.

wow, i feel like i'm violating the bear's privacy here!

 

[Double-T-Family-Farm]

i think its way to small to be bear.. i would most lickley have to say raccoon.

 

[crtrlovr]

have coons here; they raid my bird feeders as well as scarf up any garbage I've thrown way back in the field. That scat looks definitely like raccoon to me.

 

[panner123]

A bear would not have dug a hole, he would have torn the fence down. Not saying there are no bear around, just that what got your chickens wasn't a bear. Was your chickens ain a locked coop, a bear would have torn the door off. Keep your eye out for a bear but look for a coon or fox for the guilty party this time.

 

[IloveMyReds]

After looking at raccoon scat I would say it had to be a raccoon that got into the run. My husband said that the earth was dug up around the bottom of the chicken wire and raccoons have the "hands" to do that. We have fox around here too. My husband will be putting up one of those cameras (hopefully tonight). I can't wait to see what photos are taken. I will post on this thread if we see anything. Thanks again for all of the wonderful and helpful responses!

 

[Cetawin]

That looks like coon scat. That is not a bear....it is not big enough and there would have been either large prints around the coop (because they tend to pace looking at their options of getting to food) or if the ground was too hard around the coop to show prints, you would have seen clear damage to the coop....scrapes and such. Bears are notoriously lazy and tend to be like a bull in a china shop when they find food so they make a mess usually or leave some markings.

Not a fox either...fox scat looks more like a small dog's feces.

I would set out a live trap for that thing...be prepared to trap more than 1.

I have heard that camphor repels coons and skunks...moth balls have strong camphor in them and it is supposed to bother them....maybe toss some of those on the perimeter of the area but where your chickens cannot get to them or be bothered by them?