What are we up against- BURIED chicken?

[LynneP]

Fox.
They bury along their hunting trail to season the meat and to guarantee ongoing meals in hard times.
Any carcass you have to bury will draw them, they will even take a dead barn cat or a rat out of a shallow grave...

 

[moenmitz]

I have never seen a stray dog around here- our neighbors are few and far between, and I dont think any of them even have dogs-have never seen any anyway. These dont look like "sport killings" like a dog would do, and they were too clean as well- dogs tend to rip stuff up. The one BO was eaten a short ways away from the barn- the Wyandottes I think were being saved for later. The one was "buried" in the goat pasture, whihc is not really part of the yard and rather isolated- also home to lots of trees, a few of which are dead and hollow and NOW marked to be cut down asap! I suspect we came home and interupted his stashing as the one had not been moved yet and was still warm and only just starting to stiffen. Plus, most dogs (not all of course) would have had difficulty with the fence, and there was no sign of digging. No tracks either- it has been too dry here. 3 weeks ago we lost 4 adult turkeys that went for a "walk" and had only found the fetahers from one of them. DH just came into the house to tell me he found more turkey feathers down along the ravine that adjoins our pasture. We suspect the turkeys were the first the "fox" knew of our birds, and having had that easy meal, he decided to come closer to see what else we had. For the 5 months we have had birds, we had not one bit of predator evidence...now it is like they are having secret meetings in the woods to plan their next attack! We spotted a coon out in the trees last night and are hoping to catch him before he joins in the fun. In less than a month we lost the 4 adult turkeys (fox or coyote-middle of the afternoon) 5 adult ducks (pre-dawn, we suspect opossum or mink) 1 adult goose (great horned owl- middle of the night, right next to the fence post, and we heard HIM at least-just didnt know they could take a grown goose!) and now the 4 chickens (just after dusk, fox, possibly coon?) Last night we locked the dog in with the geese, the 6 cats were locked in the barn with the chickens and turkey poults. The two remaining Pekins have been bunking with the roosters in a small, but very safe, cage next to the house- it is temporary, the roosters are being dispatched in a week or two. It doesn't SEEM like anything could get at anybody now, but I am really getting paranoid! Obviously, all of these predators are much more formidable than I had imagined!

 

[mamato3]

i found this great site and from what it says about eatting the insides is a skunk maybe a opossom maybe a fox for the second attack
here is the link
http://www.freewebs.com/professorchickenspredators/

 

[moenmitz]

That is the site I was looking at too- very informative! We DID catch a opossum last night-FINALLY. Probably not even THE opossum, but he was skulking around my chicken pens, so that was his bad choice. I felt kind of bad for him though...

Pretty sure fox is the culprit in the chicken attack though. DH set some snares along the fenceline last night- hopefully he will come back the same route as before and we might catch him. Or them- fixes hunt in pairs I read.

 

[simba49450]

sorry to hear about your birds. you are looking at these culprits. raccoon, oppossum, coyote, fox, skunk, bobcat, stray dog and a owl. all of these fit the situation. fox will bury and so will coyote to stash for later since winter is comming. owls you wont find a whole lot of feathers or evidence laying around. and the others you will find the bodies etc. i would suggest you keep them penned for awhile. all the animals listed above would have no prob of making a meal on anything easy to get. again im sorry to hear about your babies i hope you find out the culprit.