What got into my run? ***PICS INCLUDED***

[MrFluffyandGirls]

In the fourth picture I think I see a raccoon track. Your chickens were lucky they stayed safe with a intruder.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Hmm...this is rather odd. I don’t know what animals you have in your area, but it sounds like you have foxes...so that’s a possible suspect. Dogs would be another guess. It could be a coyote, but that hole looks too small for a coyote to fit. Regardless, I’m glad your chickens are safe!

Thanks for the reply @Starburst! Sorry if I confused you, but no animal got under the gate using that hole. It was trying to get in under the gate, but it couldn't.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Hmm, so I was right?

 

[nao57]

It may help if you use a ruler shown next to the track within the pic.

It is possible for it to be a dog also.

In economic down turns people do let their dogs loose (permanently) because of job losses etc. I expect that this is happening to a lot of people with dogs becoming scavengers.

I am not a raccoon expert either. So I can't confirm which it would be.

But raccoons supposedly need to grow up somewhere with water nearby within traveling distance for them to be in a habitat. (Do you have streams or creeks nearby? Or river bottoms? This may help in identifying if its dog or coon.)

And can you recall if your neighbors have ever had coon trouble recently? If not then its likely a dog. (And the soil that we were looking at looks VERY dry. But its possible you could be experiencing some drought also, so I won't jump the gun on this.)

Areas with coons also often have their garbage raided. (Can you recall if this has happened recently on your street? But given that its garbage people might not notice this.)

A coon would be more likely to drop in from a tree than use a lot of energy digging in. A dog would definitely dig in. (But I'm not saying a coon wouldn't dig either, just that they'd go in through the least effort.)

 

[Nigel27]

Could it have been a deer? With no injuries it’s probably not a predator

 

[nao57]

You might be able to illuminate the tracks better with a mist sprayer (but you'd have to be very gentle about it to not disturb the track). Different angles of sunlight and brightness also can help you look at the tracks better. (People do this idea of more light or different angles of sun and light when looking at indian rock art to see it better also.)

 

[nao57]

Could it have been a deer? With no injuries it’s probably not a predator

That's an interesting point.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

It may help if you use a ruler shown next to the track within the pic.

It is possible for it to be a dog also.

In economic down turns people do let their dogs loose (permanently) because of job losses etc. I expect that this is happening to a lot of people with dogs becoming scavengers.

I am not a raccoon expert either. So I can't confirm which it would be.

But raccoons supposedly need to grow up somewhere with water nearby within traveling distance for them to be in a habitat. (Do you have streams or creeks nearby? Or river bottoms? This may help in identifying if its dog or coon.)

And can you recall if your neighbors have ever had coon trouble recently? If not then its likely a dog. (And the soil that we were looking at looks VERY dry. But its possible you could be experiencing some drought also, so I won't jump the gun on this.)

Areas with coons also often have their garbage raided. (Can you recall if this has happened recently on your street? But given that its garbage people might not notice this.)

A coon would be more likely to drop in from a tree than use a lot of energy digging in. A dog would definitely dig in. (But I'm not saying a coon wouldn't dig either, just that they'd go in through the least effort.)

Yes, there are water sources near me and I've seen raccoons on my porch and in my yard last summer...

About the dirt in the run: yes, it is very dry right now. We haven't had rain for a while.

Yes, about 2 months ago a raccoon got into my neighbors garbage. And they put out a trap and caught the coon! Sadly, before I could explain anything to them, they opened the trap and let the raccoon right back out into the yard!

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Could it have been a deer? With no injuries it’s probably not a predator

I have a very interesting lock, and I think the raccoon was happy with left over chicken food and poop after it figured out it couldn't get into the coop.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

(And besides I haven't seen a deer around my place for over 3 months...)