Takin' Care of the "Threats": If You Could, Would You?

[AppleMomma65]

I have seen a red fox on our property (30 acres) several times now. Chicks will be out in their coop in 4 weeks - coop and run is close to house; has hardware cloth on bottom and the cloth extends 2' around all sides with dirt on top. I've edged the entire coop and run with large rocks that are up against the structure so feel 'mostly' confident about when they are inside. I want to free range during day so wondering: if you saw a predator - fox or raccoon, or ??? would you dispatch it to help control any threats? Realizing that we can't shoot hawks or eagles or owls that may swoop down ...

 

[CindyinSD]

The arguments against destroying predators make some sense and maybe they're even right to a degree. Foxes eat rodents, so there's that. I think they're kind of decorative, but then we take out any coyotes that we catch nearby and it's basically the same situation. I would get a varmit license first. You can get them online here. Bet the process is similar in MN.

BTW, you might enjoy the MN thread "Surviving Minnesota". I hang out there since there aren't many folks from SD on here. Very nice people.

 

[AppleMomma65]

The arguments against destroying predators make some sense and maybe they're even right to a degree. Foxes eat rodents, so there's that. I think they're kind of decorative, but then we take out any coyotes that we catch nearby and it's basically the same situation. I would get a varmit license first. You can get them online here. Bet the process is similar in MN.

BTW, you might enjoy the MN thread "Surviving Minnesota". I hang out there since there aren't many folks from SD on here. Very nice people.

DH shot at the fox last night but missed. I feel bad but at the same point I feel like if the "hunted" (chickens in this case) doesn't stand a chance because they are trapped, it might be the thing to do. I did ask him to not tell me if he does take it. We also have wild pheasant, grouse and ducks so there is a lot of opportunity here for it. Thanks for the recomm on the thread!

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Without a doubt I would, and do, often. I trap year round on my farm to keep the predator numbers in check. I also neutralize any threat I see within proximity to my coops. It's business, not personal!
When we first moved to the farm, I was trapping 20-30 predators (yotes, fox, coons, possums, skunks, mink, etc) a week. I wasn't evening trying hard to do so. Granted, I have some experience as a trapper that far exceeds the run of the mill "Hav-a-hart" trap. Predators mean business, so I play fur keeps.
To further answer your question, absolutely! Removing predators now will make a difference, no doubt! Checks and balances. This is not just my personal opinion, I have 2 degrees and published documents in a peer reviewed scientific journals over such a topics. Along with 25 yrs experience as a fur trapper and wildlife manager.

 

[Kgbao]

Fully agree with @pintail_drake2004, odds are you see one predator there are plenty more. We have a huge issue with yotes here. Bad enough they have big enough pacts to try and take down cows at night. So seeing one preditor, is a sign you have more. You let the first one have a free pass, the rest will follow.

It is a cool thing at night sitting on the porch, listening to the different pacts howl and bark at each other, but get in my area, I’ll have to remove you..

 

[21hens-incharge]

Maybe I have a different viewpoint maybe not.

I do live in town. That does not mean I do not have predators around.

We have fox, coons, hawks, owls and more.

My birds stay penned up unless I can be out there with them 100% of the time they are out. It does not guarantee that a hawk won't swoop in and kill one.

If I had a larger property....I would use large tractor runs for them.

No it is not free range but it is safer.

 

[Folly's place]

I grew up 'summering' on a lake not so far from you, long ago, and love the area!
You will never eliminate every predator out there, and it's best to spend most of your efforts and $$$ making a predator proof coop and run. Where you live, that includes electric fencing for those black bears!
With perimeter fencing, livestock guardian type dogs can be a big help, but they take time (years!) to raise and train, and are the very most expensive option of all.
Here we don't have bears or cougars (yet) but we do have every other predator that you have, and also free range our flock whenever possible.
Raptors will visit, and then the flock needs to be in their safe coop and run for two weeks at least, until that bird moves on elsewhere.
Our worst one day predator attacks: One day, a mangy fox killed ten nice hens, seen by a visitor next door, and no help there! Then, last spring, our fencing failed, and one of our own dogs killed two dozen! That was awful, and due to a fencing failure with a dog we know isn't safe with birds.
Having a safe coop and run prevent many disasters, and sometimes that might include eliminating a persistent raccoon, fox, or opossum, but since having no food outside of their safe zone, and locking them in at night, most issues can be managed.
Some folks have more problems than others, some birds are easier targets, like bantams, youngsters, and Silkies, and some people don't free range at all because of losses in the past.
I'm rambling on too much!
Shooting every fox or coyote you see at a distance won't help, short answer.
Mary

 

[AppleMomma65]

I grew up 'summering' on a lake not so far from you, long ago, and love the area!
You will never eliminate every predator out there, and it's best to spend most of your efforts and $$$ making a predator proof coop and run. Where you live, that includes electric fencing for those black bears!
With perimeter fencing, livestock guardian type dogs can be a big help, but they take time (years!) to raise and train, and are the very most expensive option of all.
Here we don't have bears or cougars (yet) but we do have every other predator that you have, and also free range our flock whenever possible.
Raptors will visit, and then the flock needs to be in their safe coop and run for two weeks at least, until that bird moves on elsewhere.
Our worst one day predator attacks: One day, a mangy fox killed ten nice hens, seen by a visitor next door, and no help there! The, last spring, our fencing failed, and one of our own dogs killed two dozen! That was awful, and due to a fencing failure with a dog we know isn't safe with birds.
Having a safe coop and run prevent many disasters, and sometimes that might include eliminating a persistent raccoon, fox, or opossum, but since having no food outside of their safe zone, and locking them in at night, most issues can be managed.
Some folks have more problems than others, some birds are easier targets, like bantams, youngsters, and Silkies, and some people don't free range at all because of losses in the past.
I'm rambling on too much!
Shooting every fox or coyote you see at a distance won't help, short answer.
Mary

Thank you - we live on a triangle of land inbetween Middle and Big McKenzie lakes. Aside from it being a zone 3 here vesus zone 4 at our place in Prior Lake, MN - it's so beautiful here. Will discuss idea of electric fence for bears. We have them for our bees so would be easy to integrate.

 

[Howard E]

To answer the question.......I can.......yet I don't. And have never lost a bird to a predator in 5 years. Some have suggested that is because I don't have any. I beg to differ.

These photos recently taken over a bait station setup about 80 yards from the chicken house.......(yotes were 300 yards away)...



It would be easy enough to trap any and all of these predators......yet I don't, because I don't have to. At night.....when all these photos were taken and birds are at their most vulnerable......birds are safely locked away in a Woods house that nothing and nobody can get in to do them harm. By day, they are yarded (modified version of free ranging) in an area enclosed and protected by super hot electric fence. Birds stay in....varmints stay out. Concept seems simple enough.......and is effective......so is what I practice and recommend.

BTW, I have no quarrel with or concern about anyone wanting to trap these furry animals....either for fun or profit. It is just in my experience, if you do your part, you don't have to.

 

[Howard E]

Another observation.......for those who have been suckered into buying one of those glowing eyes predator scare devices.....said to mimic the glowing eyes of predators. Notice all these predators have glowing eyes......so those thing-a-ring-a-dingy devices must work.....right?

Wrong. Despite what you see in these photos, predators eyes don't glow. All these predators.......plus many other animals, like your dog......deer, etc. all have good night vision....due to special low light sensor cells they have in their eyes. What you are seeing is a reflection of the flash of the trail camera off the back of their eyeballs. LIke you looking in a mirror.