What kind of predator?

[chickengeorgeto]

FYI, bear prints have 5 toes and 5 claws on each foot.
I am not going to tell you what to do with your friend Yogi, but when you go, go prepared.

This Century there has been 25 fetal black bear attacks. 14 were on females aged from 6 months to 93 years. It will usually prove fruitless to play dead when confronted by a black bear because 'dead' is how they like their vittles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America

 

[bluecoop]

If I may hop onto your thread, I am in a similar dilemma.
I forgot to close my coop door last night and now feel horrible as I lost one of my favourite gals. This isn't my first loss to a predator, had skunks and dogs both kill my birds however whatever got into the coop last night had to get into a very narrow slot took the one bird, took it away and I found the remains this morning. I was very shocked at what was left, the critter had eaten head, intestines and all flesh clear to the bone. The only things left were the wings, feet and skeleton, I just don't see a skunk or raccoon doing so much damage. Ideas? badger maybe?

 

[Fishkeeper]

A human did not rip the door off a coop in order to scatter food around and pull feathers off a chicken. Raccoon sounds more likely than crazy human. And there's nothing to say that any bear that did that would be a huge maneater, a half-grown cub could pull the door off a coop and muss things around. It's hard to be certain without trail cam images, but, again, electric fencing will keep everything out. Big raccoon is a likely culprit.

Board traps aren't a good idea. They're potentially illegal and are dangerous to everything that comes near them. Plus, do you really want to maim and potentially slowly kill an animal for it doing nothing more than looking for food? I'm up for humanely trapping and killing pests, but not that.

An animal that gets through a narrow gap to eat the innards sounds like a mustelid of some sort to me. Do you have mink or weasels in the area? Badger is also possible, did you see any digging? Badgers are strong as heck and will enlarge holes to get in.

 

[Scooby308]

Just a caution on the hotwire for bears... There are videos on the internet that show problem bears that learn to dig under the wire. One shows a bear pushing down a tree onto the fence to cross over. These were several years ago and the bears were raiding bee hive lots. As an aside, one guy posted a video of a coyote jumping nearly straight up onto a 5 foot fence post and into the pen...put a hotwire on top of the fence. Oh, and grey foxes can climb like a cat. So don't ever think electric fencingwill do it all.

Trip wire attached to blank firing devices have worked here for 4 and 2 legged predators alike. Probably not an option in the burbs.

ETA: I have 2 Dobermanns and this is their farm. I recently got chickens and have had a few possums and coons snooping around. The Dobies smell them in their sleep and alert. I open the door and pests disappear. They are excellent protectors. Thor even snatched a turkey vulture out of the air that didn't get off the ground quick enough, plucked him about 5 feet off the ground. A well trained dog is a tremendous force multiplier for you, your livestock, and farm.

 

[microchick]

If I may hop onto your thread, I am in a similar dilemma.
I forgot to close my coop door last night and now feel horrible as I lost one of my favourite gals. This isn't my first loss to a predator, had skunks and dogs both kill my birds however whatever got into the coop last night had to get into a very narrow slot took the one bird, took it away and I found the remains this morning. I was very shocked at what was left, the critter had eaten head, intestines and all flesh clear to the bone. The only things left were the wings, feet and skeleton, I just don't see a skunk or raccoon doing so much damage. Ideas? badger maybe?

Almost sounds like a fox to me. We had a fox decimate local flocks last year feeding her kits the poultry around us. We found feathers around our farm from white hens and guineas...we have neither and the neighbor who's cabin the fox was denned under said that there were piles of picked clean bones under the building.

I was lucky. Found plenty of prints around my coop and run but not a bird lost due to the fact that I have Fort Knoxed my coop which is metal clad on a concrete slab with chain link fencing, secured sliding pop doors and best of all a hot wire system rated to handle a bull if necessary.

 

[bluecoop]

Almost sounds like a fox to me. We had a fox decimate local flocks last year feeding her kits the poultry around us. We found feathers around our farm from white hens and guineas...we have neither and the neighbor who's cabin the fox was denned under said that there were piles of picked clean bones under the building.

I was lucky. Found plenty of prints around my coop and run but not a bird lost due to the fact that I have Fort Knoxed my coop which is metal clad on a concrete slab with chain link fencing, secured sliding pop doors and best of all a hot wire system rated to handle a bull if necessary.

thanks microchick, not many foxes around here, East Idaho. could have been

 

[123RedBeard]

A bear small enough to fit through a pop door is not likely strong enough to pull it off ...

A bear small enough to fit through a pop door is not likely to be much of a man eater

-------------------------

OP, what have you found out?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Predators with fangs and teeth rip, and chew up their victims eating the marrow rich bones in the process. Birds of prey "delicately" pull long strips of flesh off of the bones leaving a naked skeleton and the parts with little meat. Like the feet and wings, especially the wing tips.

 

[llombardo]

Just a caution on the hotwire for bears... There are videos on the internet that show problem bears that learn to dig under the wire. One shows a bear pushing down a tree onto the fence to cross over. These were several years ago and the bears were raiding bee hive lots. As an aside, one guy posted a video of a coyote jumping nearly straight up onto a 5 foot fence post and into the pen...put a hotwire on top of the fence. Oh, and grey foxes can climb like a cat. So don't ever think electric fencingwill do it all.

Trip wire attached to blank firing devices have worked here for 4 and 2 legged predators alike. Probably not an option in the burbs.

ETA: I have 2 Dobermanns and this is their farm. I recently got chickens and have had a few possums and coons snooping around. The Dobies smell them in their sleep and alert. I open the door and pests disappear. They are excellent protectors. Thor even snatched a turkey vulture out of the air that didn't get off the ground quick enough, plucked him about 5 feet off the ground. A well trained dog is a tremendous force multiplier for you, your livestock, and farm.

Isn't it amazing how well they can smell? My german shepherds are the same exact way, especially my older male. Two nights ago, pitch black outside he sprints about 100 ft into the blackness and alerts me to a toad? You friggin kidding me? I have no clue how he was so spot on.

 

[Fishkeeper]

It was a rare Assassin Toad and he was trying to warn you.