What is it with this year??

[chickened]

A particular coyote that I finally shot would wait in the back pasture after sunrise until the chickens would wander over the barnyard fence and he would then sneak on them and grab one. He stood on a stump and watched until one would go over the fence and then he nabbed it... well not the day I figured him out.

 

[mommissan]

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Nice shot!

 

[chicknmania]

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That's a really good average IMO and that's what our average normally is. That's why this is so weird.

 

[chicknmania]

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Nice shot!

Yeah but you know.....it's not a question of waging a war. I know this will sound weird to some people...but I feel sorry for the predators. It is not their fault that they see food and want to eat it.
That is why I always say we try to discourage them first. Not that we haven't killed any. But we have only killed four coons in all the time we've had chickens and that's it. And we still have had very low losses as a general rule. It's been our experience that MOST predators...if you try hard enough and study the problem in order to successfully discourage them...will go away. It can be a lot of work to do that though and I am fortunate enough to have an office out of the house and a husband who is retired and can help... so it is easier for me than it would be for some people. This is getting ridiculous though as I am becoming afraid to go anywhere for fear of what might happen while I'm gone...

And it does make me mad when foxes or coyotes or wild dogs or whatever they were came in and slaughtered five members of our flock....and then only took two. Never even came back for the one I originally missed when I was disposing of their carcasses and who laid out there all night untouched.
That's when we get the shotgun out. But since they didn't come back....

 

[calicokat]

OP - I don't think you are imagining it, we've had a higher number of losses too. Seems like our first year was a honeymoon stage, everything easy, no pests or diseases, no predator losses. Mind you, chicken math hadn't struck yet, so the numbers were smaller.

But this year we've lost 9 or 10 just in the last few months. Three that we know of went to a hawk (two babies and one beautiful WC Blue pullet we bought at Crossroads - ARRG!

) One or two others were freaky things - one got airborne chasing another, then "ran out of gas" -- over the pool, and drowned; another just showed up dead in the run -- the only thing we can figure is she was flying up, but miscalculated and took off from underneath the rabbit hutch, flying straight into it and either breaking her neck or something. She was new also, only her first day out in the run *sigh*.

I did catch a raccoon in the coop in the afternoon one day, and dispatched it. We also had a skunk that had found a way to dig under the coop and it came in and killed one. DH dispatched him. Not sure if either of those varmits are responsible for any of our other losses.

Just wonder if critters are getting hungrier, and more desperate, that's why some of us are seeing more losses than usual?

 

[chickened]

Before the anti fur campaigns were around and wearing fur was not PC trappers kept the predators in check. Now we battle the excess predators that lose the battles for prime habitat to thier peers and come to our farms for a meal. I do not fault them but I also know I am not depleating the resource either by disposing of them.

 

[chicknmania]

Coyotes and coons probably not. But not necessarily the case for some others.
There are way too many coons I know that.

Regardless we will still attempt to get them to go away first.

 

[chicknmania]

Calicokat that is too bad; sorry for your losses also. You had some weird things happen too.

 

[RHRanch]

Actually, it is that the predators see your yard as a free and easy buffet. I'm not saying this to insult you, just try to look at it from the predators perspective. See, if you are a predator and the hunting in one area is good, you will keep coming back to that spot until you have hunted the prey out of the area. (People do the same thing, returning to good hunting grounds) So, if the hawk comes once and eats your chicken, then comes back a week later, and sees the chickens and is able to get another on, he will continue until there is nothing left. So, what happened is that for 7 yrs, no predators had discovered how great of a "hunting" ground your yard is. Once they discovered it, they continued to hunt there. As long as the food source is there and easy to exploit, it is natural that they would continue to kill your birds from that point on. What you need to do is to create the impression that the area is "hunted out". This will take time and vigilance. Keep your birds penned up. Do this until the raptors move on and come by less and less. It will work for the most part, although the predators will probably always remember that they had a lot of success in your yard, and will check back periodically. That's where your vigilance has to set in, when you do start back to free ranging, you will always have to be on guard, and shut up your birds when u can't be focused on their safety.

 

[Imp]

There was a similar thread about a month ago. I agree there seems to be something going on.
I have peacefully coexisted with a raccoon family, in my neighborhood, for years. They preyed on leftover cat food, plants etc; left the chickens alone. This year they added chicken to their diet.
I think it may be because we've had 2 years in a row of cold summers, so plants are not growing well. Also have had 1 very large new raccoon showing up at night, and a new skinny one running around in the day. Territory pressure may be making them seek new foods.

Imp