What is killing our chickens??

[Tricorn]

What the heck can take a 13 lb rooster in the middle of the day, not leave a trace, and not make a sound??? I'm flummoxed! And peeved, as he was our best. We found two of his tail feathers about 7 feet away from the fence, nothing else. Nothing in the woods, nothing in the field, nothing. This guy was huge, and mean as a snake.

This mystery predator has taken 6 hens so far, and now our roo. All have disappeared during the day. Our 'missing' turkey hen we found torn apart on her nest with the eggs mostly eaten too. We've been suspecting a fox, and have had traps set up for a while now with no luck. I'm wondering if we aren't dealing with something bigger. The fences are all intact and we never find any feathers at all.

Any guesses or suggestions on how to proceed? We're in middle GA, if that helps.

 

[chicks@feathers]

You eather have a Fox or worst a Bobcat both leave no sings and they can take a full grow turkey and flip it on thier back and go with it. One thing I would do expect a Bobcat and go to any thickets and look a Bobcat will take them to cover and will eat them thier another thing bobcats do it go back to the same place the next time so you would find a pillow thier. on you trap hang a feather about a foot above it so that they will see the feather and atrack them to you bait. its not a rocoon for they eat on the the spot most of the time. (Fox or Bobcat is the killer )

 

[cafarmgirl]

A coyote also will slip in during the day to grab chickens or anything else it can catch and leave no more sign then what you've described. Whatever you have coming, it's going to keep coming until the food source is no longer available.

 

[Tricorn]

Thanks guys. I guess we'll persevere in our trapping efforts. The hens are in lockup right now, but we want to get them out again ASAP or well have to stop selling eggs.

So what are the best baits to use for foxes and coyotes? (I don't think a bobcat will fit, will have to get another trap) We have tuna out right now, someone said it worked best because of the smell. The only thing we've caught though is one of the barn cats. The tuna is always there in the morning too.

Are there more effective traps then the live-catch ones? I'll use pretty much anything at this point.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I've never trapped a coyote or fox, so can't help you there. In the past when we'd start having problems with them coming in to close we'd shoot at them and they'd stay away for a long time, especially if we got one. I have dogs that let me know when something is around and for the last four or five years we've depended on the neighbor's Catahoula dog who is particularly skilled in keeping the area free of coyote and fox.