Sitting with a cup of coffee. (coffee lovers)

[chickisoup]

Morning everyone!

 

[duluthralphie]

Morning Rahphie!
Nice morning here too! Supposed to be wet the rest of the week so I have to get busy and get some beans and taters into the ground today. We haven't seen a Badger in our field in years and I don't miss it! Don't think it was a lynx. We don't have generally have those on this side of the big water and not all as far south as chickendreams is. Could have been a bobcat but sounds like chickendreams is describing something that might be a bit smaller. Sounds like they might need to set up a gamecame because now that it's had "dinner" it will definitely be back.

Yep. I agree with that. I am not sure how far south she is. But a lone young male can roam a long ways. I did not know you did not have Lynx over there. They have them in the U.P don't they?

I guess I made my "guess" and it was a guess, based on the animal carrying the rooster of that size so far, and the green eyes.

Unless it was a fisher I doubt a weasel like creature could carry it that far and fast. I doubt she has fisher where she is. It is always hard to figure out what you have.


I had a predator in my yard again yesterday. A "neighbor" let his dog run again, a boxer/pit bull type. with a bright red collar. I am guessing he did not believe me when I said "keep your dog home, I have chickens, turkeys and Guineas, and will not allow your dog to kill any"....


Next time the dog may not return home..I know cruel, but the way it is.

 

[sourland]

Fact, Ralphie. A pet out of place is simply a predator.

 

[chickisoup]

Fact, Ralphie. A pet out of place is simply a predator.

Yep. Agree. It doesn't happen very often here, if it does, it's normally somebody's hunting dog they've lost track of. We've not had to shoot anyone's pet so far but a couple have took a ride to the county animal shelter. After they pay all the fines and "involuntary" shots etc. they generally don't let them run again or they just don't get claimed and they go on to better homes. If one actually got thru my bear fence and threatened my flock? We do keep several weapons near the back door.

There are Lynx in the U.P. for sure but not believed to be many and they are rarely spotted south of the border. That's not to say they aren't around tho

. Our DNR swore for years we didn't have cougar either but someone forgot to tell the cougar seen trotting around our "neighborhood" every winter for many years. Once they started showing up on gamecams it was "oops". I think they just didn't want people to know they had returned. We are also starting to have more actual sightings of moose. Folks get pics of them every spring now swimming in a nearby lake and we even saw a young bull a couple years ago just standing along side the road munching and watching traffic a little over a mile from the house.

 

[sourland]

My last 'dog incident' was over 20 years ago. A really nice black lab who loved chickens arrived and decimated my flock while I was away. The person caring for my animals caught him and called animal control. The animal control man actually filed charges against the owner as it was a second occurrence for this dog. Basically good dog with an indifferent owner. For me any 'good' dog deserves a second chance - good pens make for good neighbors, but any dog that challenges me is on a quick warning list. Neighbor across the road got a shar pei/Chesapeake retriever cross that came into my yard and threatened me while the owner was present. I told him that the next time it happened the dog would die. He installed invisible fence the next day - good neighbors here in the NJ countryside.

 

[chickisoup]

My last 'dog incident' was over 20 years ago. A really nice black lab who loved chickens arrived and decimated my flock while I was away. The person caring for my animals caught him and called animal control. The animal control man actually filed charges against the owner as it was a second occurrence for this dog. Basically good dog with an indifferent owner. For me any 'good' dog deserves a second chance - good pens make for good neighbors, but any dog that challenges me is on a quick warning list. Neighbor across the road got a shar pei/Chesapeake retriever cross that came into my yard and threatened me while the owner was present. I told him that the next time it happened the dog would die. He installed invisible fence the next day - good neighbors here in the NJ countryside.

 

[duluthralphie]

My last 'dog incident' was over 20 years ago. A really nice black lab who loved chickens arrived and decimated my flock while I was away. The person caring for my animals caught him and called animal control. The animal control man actually filed charges against the owner as it was a second occurrence for this dog. Basically good dog with an indifferent owner. For me any 'good' dog deserves a second chance - good pens make for good neighbors, but any dog that challenges me is on a quick warning list. Neighbor across the road got a shar pei/Chesapeake retriever cross that came into my yard and threatened me while the owner was present. I told him that the next time it happened the dog would die. He installed invisible fence the next day - good neighbors here in the NJ countryside.

I agree, it is a shame a dog must die because an owner is a lazy person with no manners or respect for others.

 

[perchie.girl]

We have bobcat.... one took thirty chickens in thirty days. At first I didnt notice because at the time I was overrun and didnt coop them up at night. That was back when I was stupid.

Even got the guineas because bobcat will go straight up a tree for take out. They leave no evidence except a few feathers. Tall fences dont stop em either.... my chicken yard is surrounded by six foot dog kennel panels.

So far I have never had a digging predator. But I have had Mountain lion, Bobcat, Coyote, Raccoon, and feral dog predation. By far the worst are the dogs, but they are the easiest to keep out.

Dogs get their joy out of the chase. so putting up a sight barrier was my solution. someone mentioned either here or on Dixichicks about using old swimming pool walls for fencing. I have about three and put one up between the chainlink and the field fence. My chainlink dog kennel panels are just outside the field fence by about six inches. Goat containment. and that stretch of fence was where the dogs were trying to run my goats.

deb

 

[3goodeggs]

If you go to a nursery supply site, you can order ground cloth. We have it around the paddock that our run is in.
It isn't so pretty, but it holds up well and is easily attached to the wire with hog nose rings.

 

[chickendreams24]

Tonight was a bad night. We lost our flock master and only large fowl rooster, Twitch, to a predator tonight around 10 pm. We live in South central WI and if anyone has any suggestions as to what it sounds like I would greatly appreciate it.

What I know. Our flock was out late tonight BC DH2B was in the fields and didn't get home until 9:30 we were out for about a half hour but didn't bring them in BC DH2B was starving, so we were going to eat and then bring them in. Our flock is fooled by our yard light and frequently have to be brought in when the weather is nice BC they think it's still day time. We have never lost an animal to a predator although we've had a couple close calls with hawks. Our roosters do a great job protecting the ladies.

So firstly, we were outside and came inside just long enough for me to pee so less than 5 minutes, when we heard a huge ruckous. I flushed and ran outside thinking DH2B would also run and investigate, he didn't, but he's been in the fields all day so I kind of understand. Okay so I get outside and I see one of the broody's chicks a 4-5 week SLW standing in the middle of the yard cheeping, said broody is laying on her side under a tree. I thought she'd been attacked. She got up when I approached and seemed fine. I looked around and realized I only saw hens and our two bantam roosters. I walked towards the slw chick and found some feathers. Flight feathers, hackle and saddle feathers. Not a lot but enough that I was worried because I didn't see Twitch.

I ran in and grabbed DH2B and flashlights. And we searched and searched and searched. At first we assumed it must have been an owl. But then found a trail of sparse feathers(several of our flock are molting so feathers are in abundance around here but we were sure these were his) leading across the yard to our barn yard where the trail dead ended. We then started to wonder what could have done this and continued our search on foot. Before driving up and down the road to see if we could see anything. (I believe this is when the predator left the barn hard and headed into the field.) We ended up driving the truck out into the field behind out house on a whim. We saw eye shine and followed it. But the field was too rough and we were worried the old truck would get stuck(they redid the irrigator this year so there's some two foot deep ruts from trucks)

We got out and followed the eye shin on foot. Twitch was nearly 12-15 lbs and towards the bigger end of the scale. He was a massive bird and strong as an ox. Great with his ladies but aggressive to my mother and I. He was also quite good at fighting and dodging attacks. I know this from seeing him with our other roosters and from having to kick him when he came at me. His aggression had earned him a spot on a list of birds to cull. That being said I respected him he was a great flock master never started a fight with another roo and even though he would assert dominance and put them in their places he was kind and gentle to the other birds especially the hens.

Okay the point is although we never got a good look at the animal BC it kept it's distance it's eyes were very very close together and it was small very close to the ground. I know some animals can help be distinguished by the color their eyes shine, this animal's were green in the light. The ground is too dry for tracks but it left no blood and no drag marks. It was carrying the huge bird in its mouth. I believe it too small to have been a coyote. It didn't seem to act like a coon.

We followed it into the field and found a place where it was plucking Twitch still no blood or any tracks. It eyes never seemed to change height. It was fast and it went over a half mile carrying the carcass. We followed it to some train tracks near our house before we lost it following it down the tracks.
I'm not 100% sure what all we have around here but I know I have seen skunks, heard coyotes, DH2B saw a fox but it was about a mile in the other direction, racoons, and some people say badgers are around here too. I've no clue what could have taken such a massive bird without leaving more then a couple handfuls of feathers and no blood. We have been seeing a pair of osprey or eagles around but it was clearly on the ground and never took flight. I may have missed some possibilities.
What are the most likely options that it could have been? Should we assume it will try to come back? Hell this is all new and I'm very frustrated and upset. I so wanted answers but the animal was always just out of our lights so all we could see was eye shine and the approximate height.

Over the last month or two there have been several nights where our great dane was frightened to go outside we assumed she was smelling something but had no idea what. Now I wonder if the two things are connected. I have seen her chase racoons and she's been outside when we could hear coyotes without acting scared.

We have also had something trying to dig under our stairs. A pretty sizeable hole too. We have had to fill it in several times but not for about a week, maybe two. We would fill it in and the next morning it would be larger and deeper even after we started putting large rocks and a couple pieces of concrete in it.

I'm leaning towards badger BC they are so low to the ground but are still very large and strong but I've really no clue.

Hope you can help.

I saw a badger in my field the other day. I did not get a shot at it. I am thinking the dogs keep it out of the yard.  I am scared to death of what it could do to my flock.

To me is sounds like you have a cat, either Bobcat or Lynx. They are fast and could drag the rooster without a problem.

My chickens were out late last night too. It must be the weather. They sat on the deck steps and did not go into the coop until the last second. Of course, we were on the deck eating and visiting with my mother for Mother's day. I think they just wanted to be part of it.





And..

Morning all!   Great coffee day here.

Wow, chick, sounds like you lost your guy protecting your girls.  So sorry.   Let us know now that the sun's up if you have anymore losses.  I hope someone more knowledgeable than I can help with identification.  By what description you were able to get, it could have been anything in the larger weasels (mink, pine martin, etc.) they are all night hunters.  Could be a Badger but I've never known them to run from humans, usually they'll wheel and fight if being pursued.  Unfortunately, we just have too many night hunting critters here in Wisconsin and you probably actually have more than I do since you are more down in the large farm country.

Morning Rahphie!
Nice morning here too!  Supposed to be wet the rest of the week so I have  to get busy and get some beans and taters into the ground today.  We haven't seen a Badger in our field in years and I don't miss it!  Don't think it was a lynx.  We don't have generally have those on this side of the big water and not all as far south as chickendreams is.  Could have been a bobcat but sounds like chickendreams is describing something that might be a bit smaller.  Sounds like they might need to set up a gamecame because now that it's had "dinner" it will definitely be back.

Thank you all for the help and support! Please keep it coming. Any ideas I can get about the animal would be much appreciated anyone think the dnr could help me with identifying the predator? Please keep it coming guys.