What is the track in this pic?

[Tulip009]

My husband woke up to our 3 chickens laying on the bank of the creek dead. No sign of mauling/missing parts, just feathers everywhere. The bottom of the nesting box was ripped out, bite/claw marks on the wood parts, and the fence was pushed in on different parts as well as signs of digging. The pushed in places on the fence were low to mid height (6in to 30inches in levels), We think dogs since they've been spotted digging in the neighborhood trash. Would a racoon be able to push in against the fence that high? There was nothing for leverage, so it used its shoulder to push on the high places. Thanks for the help!

 

[roosterhavoc]

It's definitely canine. Without a reference to size can't tell which one. It would help if you placed something like a quarter next to the track.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Depending on how soft the ground is a dog will almost always leave all of its nail marks in the track because of its weight. Red fox will usually leave the two toe nail marks in the middle. A grey fox track is much smaller and resembles a cat. Coyote tracks look like dogs but are usually bigger but that depends on the size of the dog.

 

[6of6chicks]

Looks like dog to me. Maybe this will be helpful (?) - a shot of my dog's footprint. She was an 85 lb. purebred lab.



It ripped out the nesting boxes?? Just curious, but what were they made out of? After your description I'm worried mine aren't sturdy enough!

 

[Tulip009]

Thanks everybody for your input! The track was a dog, but it was a raccoon that killed our chickens. . I saw it getting into the coop a couple days later and my husband shot it. It was a female with milk sacks, so there are babies to continue on! *sigh*. We have a live trap out tonight and will be putting carpet nail tack strips around the coop tomorrow. The nesting box was made of 2x3's. It ripped the bottom out which was screwed in with 2" screws. For those who say mint keeps coons away, not so! I cleaned the coop the evening before and sprayed mint essential oil spray around as I always did and it did nothing to deter the coons. We're getting two more hens tomorrow and pray they last a lot longer than our others!

 

[RonP]

So sorry for your loss.