Stumped by a predator. Help!

[kmh502]

We just expanded our a chicken run for our 4 back yard city chickens. We had never had a single problem with predators before. We live in Louisville, KY in the middle of the city. I grew up on a farm and raised tons and tons of free range chickens and like to think I know how to keep them safe. We lost the first one mid day. She was ripped up and it looked very much like a hawk or something similar got her. That same night we lost 2 more girls. One was in the coop, head eaten totally off, and the other got out and was just cornered in the run and shredded like the chicken earlier that day. Yesterday we did some extra heavy duty predator proofing and even put a new and sturdier top covering over the run. We locked her in her coop to roost overnight and breathed a sigh of relief finally thinking she'd finally be safe and we could bring home a few friends for her this weekend. Wrong! There's no sign of where the animal broke the fencing or the covering on top but it somehow something got in. It then dug underneath the coop and shredded her inside the coop again.

We're setting a trap tonight to see if we can catch whatever's been doing this. But does anyone have any ideas of what we could be facing here? It's happened day time and night time. One with a head totally off, the rest all opened up with the innards eaten. (Sorry to be graphic but I feel like it's relevant.)

 

[MarkLeavenworth]

I don't know if this applies to your area, but we had a similar predator. Months after it got much of our flock, I found a Bobcat skull and bones on the property next to a watering hole. It may have eaten poisoned rats.

I was stumped and Bobcats were never considered a possibility because we are not that rural and we are supposed to be out of Bobcat territory. I guess somebody forgot to tell that to the Bobcats. Anyway, that might be one possibility.

 

[kmh502]

I don't know if this applies to your area, but we had a similar predator. Months after it got much of our flock, I found a Bobcat skull and bones on the property next to a watering hole. It may have eaten poisoned rats.

I was stumped and Bobcats were never considered a possibility because we are not that rural and we are supposed to be out of Bobcat territory. I guess somebody forgot to tell that to the Bobcats. Anyway, that might be one possibility.

We do have bobcats in KY for sure. I've never seen any signs of them in town, but that means nothing. I see new animals all the time that I'm shocked to see in the middle of a city. Coyotes, turkeys, deer, etc. The burrowing under the coop is too small I think to be that. Thank you so much for replying and giving me some food for thought!

 

[coach723]

Traps can take a while and some predators are leery of them and hard to trap.
If you can borrow or get a game camera and set it up, it may help to at least identify what you are dealing with. And if you have digging predators then burying hardware cloth around the perimeter to about 12" down will deter them getting in that way. Best of luck. Predator proofing can be lots of work, but worth it in the long run.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

burying hardware cloth around the perimeter to about 12" down will deter them getting in that way.

Burying rocks will have the same effect and maybe cheaper.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Hunt cameras are pretty inexpensive right now. They are motion activated and can be set for photo snaps and or video. Some have night vision.
I used one to find our security breach that coons were taking advantage of.
If you find out what kind of predator it is, it may be easier to rid of it/them.
https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=huntimg camera

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Burying rocks will have the same effect and maybe cheaper.

I haven't buried my rocks yet. I just arrange them close together on the ground up to 2 feet out from the coop. This may have the same effect. I've noticed others doing this with cheap pavers (12"x12") that you can get at Lowes/Home Depot for about $1.35 apiece.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I don't know if this applies to your area, but we had a similar predator. Months after it got much of our flock, I found a Bobcat skull and bones on the property next to a watering hole. It may have eaten poisoned rats.

I was stumped and Bobcats were never considered a possibility because we are not that rural and we are supposed to be out of Bobcat territory. I guess somebody forgot to tell that to the Bobcats. Anyway, that might be one possibility.

Human population has unexploded. More people = more development which = less and less space for wildlife to flourish. Less areas to flourish = desperate predators having less and less areas to hunt and feed. We now share our habitats with them.
Here Florida, black bears, deer, alligators, snakes etc are desperate to survive naturally in results of millions of new residents are developing up our State.
We had some people down the road, by some acreage totally covered with trees. They ripped up and leveled it completely down to nothing but sand and dirt. Built a house and barn and seeded the the desert they created. All they have is 1 horse.
Where did all the natural habitat inhabitants go?
Someone's else's property in search of food and shelter.

 

[kmh502]

Human population has unexploded. More people = more development which = less and less space for wildlife to flourish. Less areas to flourish = desperate predators having less and less areas to hunt and feed. We now share our habitats with them.
Here Florida, black bears, deer, alligators, snakes etc are desperate to survive naturally in results of millions of new residents are developing up our State.
We had some people down the road, by some acreage totally covered with trees. They ripped up and leveled it completely down to nothing but sand and dirt. Built a house and barn and seeded the the desert they created. All they have is 1 horse.
Where did all the natural habitat inhabitants go?
Someone's else's property in search of food and shelter.

I've seen this happen far too often where I'm from originally in very rural Ohio. Walmart and other superstore especially love to pop up and level out fields, wooded areas, etc that normally support wildlife. Then before you know it you're reading in the paper about a deer slamming though a plate glass window or a coyote wandering into a store. It is terrble. These predators are just trying to survive and eat as they're getting pushed out of their habitats. I just wish it wasn't my sweet, defenseless girls they were enjoying for dinner:'-(

 

[Leighe]

So when you say it shredded her inside a coop...do you mean it was actually locked up inside of a coop? If so, it was probably a raccoon. If you said coop, but meant run or just a bin then it could be lots of things. Raccoons can climb and come in from the top, dig and come in from the bottom or (as was my case)...pull the dog kennel chain link apart with it's hands and walk in and kill. Raccoons use their hands to open anything. I was finally able to stop the raccoon by putting hardware cloth on the outside of the dog kennel chain link (and btw, it was my rabbits it killed....so far they have never gotten into my chicken pen). I'm a big believer in game cameras. You can see whats roaming your property at night and it can help in your predator proofing.....however, it's the predators that teach me that I haven't outwitted them yet.