What predator is this? Footprints

[jajeanpierre]

It seems I have a nighttime visitor or two or three.

My dog has been regularly yelling at the bottom of trees near my Ameraucana coop. Two nights ago he killed a baby skunk in my back yard.

In September, I lost a Silkie hen to what I believe was a fox. There was a poof of feathers near the hutch about twenty/thirty feet from my back porch. I don't know what time of day she was taken as I had just had surgery. I found a trail of feathers through the fence and into the woods behind my back yard. Never found the den or anything else.

A week or two later (September), I was out of town and my son was taking care of the chickens. I lost two very large LF Ameraucana cockerels. My son isn't as diligent as I am about getting birds counted and safely locked up at night. He told me that one night a group of them roosted about twenty feet up in the Live Oak trees. They might have been taken that night--I really don't know. I found poofs of feathers on the other side of the fence. No body parts, no blood. The poofs of feathers from both birds were very close together, over a twenty by thirty foot area.

Within twenty feet of this kill area, I found a lot of scat that was filled with seeds. I've never seen a raccoon latrine, but there was piles of scat every four feet or closer over an area about 400 square feet. A raccoon has been seen crossing the road near my property. I've also regularly seen Grey Fox crossing the road near my house.

My bantam Cochin cock bird is kept in a small pen and modified dog house right at the base of my steps to my back porch. I had a piece of plywood blocking the bottom part of the screened door to keep the north wind from blowing in and I found it moved the other night. Last night I found muddy prints on the plywood.

For the past two nights I have found muddy prints on the roof of the egg boxes for the bantams in my back yard. Pictures attached. The egg boxes are only about two feet off the ground and the roof is sloped. It has been rainy and cold so I have been able to see the tracks on the roof. It might be that this animal has been trying to get into my hutch for months but I've only noticed now that the ground is mucky.




I think this is a fox print, above. What I find unusual is the dewclaw (thumb) pad print that you can see at the bottom of the first picture (penciled arrow). Could it be a coyote? I haven't heard any in the area. The prints are about 2 inches wide by 2,25 long.



This print is actually mostly just water. It is very humid out, so I hope the print wasn't made during daylight.



Again, you can see a print from the dewclaw (thumb) on the bottom (right side) of the print.



This picture is from two nights ago. The tape is in centimeters. Five centimeters is two inches, so this print is about 2.25 inches long by about 2 inches wide.

I would appreciate any help identifying my predator(s). The animal is coming back every night trying (so far unsuccessfully) to get into my pens/coops. I tend to be a live and let live kind of person, but having a predator trying to get into a coop is worrying.

Thanks.

 

[islandgirl82]

It does sound like you're dealing with a fox based on habits and scat

http://www.raising-chickens.org/chicken-predators.html
http://www.summitpost.org/scat-identification/276861

I'm thinking the "dewclaw" may be just an overlap from the hind foot.

Fox are opportunistic hunters and will wait for just the right time to strike; they don't hunt based on time of day. They will stake out an area and look for weak spots with persistence so look for areas around your coops/runs where they might be able to gain access and reinforce them accordingly.

 

[jajeanpierre]

It does sound like you're dealing with a fox based on habits and scat

http://www.raising-chickens.org/chicken-predators.html
http://www.summitpost.org/scat-identification/276861

I'm thinking the "dewclaw" may be just an overlap from the hind foot.

Fox are opportunistic hunters and will wait for just the right time to strike; they don't hunt based on time of day. They will stake out an area and look for weak spots with persistence so look for areas around your coops/runs where they might be able to gain access and reinforce them accordingly.

Thanks. I think I'll run a bit of wire to keep the little bantam flock in the area closest to the house where it is more open.

When are fox most likely to hunt? I have four dogs that spend most of their time indoors but are out at random times of the day. I had hoped my dogs' presence would keep my chickens safe.

Should I just make sure my coop is secure? I'm not big into killing wildlife; I would rather make it nearly impossible for the animal to take my chickens. My large fowl Ameraucanas free range in the front on two acres. The little bantams are in my back yard.

 

[islandgirl82]

Fox don't have a set time of day to hunt. They'll watch from a safe distance and strike when the coast is clear. I lost my entire bevy of ducks and all but one hen in the middle of a blizzard a few years ago when a window blew out in my barn. The fox took the opportunity to get in through the window and wiped them out.

I am very much a live and let live person as well and thought just the sheer presence of my 180lb Newfoundland would be enough to keep predators away. Boy was I wrong! I had lost several ducks and chickens prior to that storm and it was at random times throughout the days. The final straw for me was when it came within 50 ft of my two year old son who was playing outside. Twice. Within just a few days.

After that, I dusted off my grandfather's old .22 and staked out in my yard. That fox would wait until I had closed the door to refresh my tea, then he would strike again. He almost made off with yet another duck when I finally got him. It took two weeks and yes, I was upset over taking it's life but that thing had absolutely NO fear and I was worried that my son would start looking tasty to him.

I believe if you look back in this thread there are some examples of wire "skirts" that go around the base of the coop/run to help deter predators that will dig their way in and if you have chicken wire, replace it with hardware cloth. Chicken wire is a joke and can easily be torn by fox, coons and any number of animals. It also rusts quickly and needs replacing often. It's really only effective to keep chickens in...not predators out.

 

[iwiw60]

Yep, you're dealing with a fox alright. Foxes almost always will drag their prey away from "the scene of the crime" off to their den, usually for their own kits to consume.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I think I identified the predator that is climbing all over my nest boxes. I thought fox, but there was a print for a dewclaw (thumb). Plus the fingers were often spread fairly wide. Two nights ago, I got a really good clear print on the roof (I've been wetting the ground around the nest boxes at night to get a print on the roof.)

I think it is raccoon, and a big one at that.

The diagrams I had seen for a raccoon had long thin fingers, but my tracks didn't show thin fingers.

Here's the site: http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html

The picture below is exactly like my prints and was taken from the above web site.

Do I need to trap this raccoon who comes every night trying to get into my coops/pens or do I just make sure my pens are secure?

 

[islandgirl82]

I stand corrected! It was hard to tell in your first series of photos; the last one looks more like fox but with the other three...it could have been smudgy due to moisture or because the smudges are in fact part of the print.

In my opinion, you need to do both. Where there's one coon lurking, you can count on there being a lot more that you're just not seeing and as soon as you get rid of the first, others will take it's place. Clearly, they're persistent and it'll just be a matter of time before one of them figures out how to get in.

 

[iwiw60]

I think I identified the predator that is climbing all over my nest boxes. I thought fox, but there was a print for a dewclaw (thumb). Plus the fingers were often spread fairly wide. Two nights ago, I got a really good clear print on the roof (I've been wetting the ground around the nest boxes at night to get a print on the roof.)

I think it is raccoon, and a big one at that.

The diagrams I had seen for a raccoon had long thin fingers, but my tracks didn't show thin fingers.

Here's the site: http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html

The picture below is exactly like my prints and was taken from the above web site.

Do I need to trap this raccoon who comes every night trying to get into my coops/pens or do I just make sure my pens are secure?

Why trap? You'll just drop him off so he can attack another coop. My motto is and always has been...

S - S - S

SHOOT .... SHOVEL .... SHUT UP

 

[jajeanpierre]

Why trap? You'll just drop him off so he can attack another coop. My motto is and always has been...

S - S - S

SHOOT .... SHOVEL .... SHUT UP

I'm wondering if I should just leave the raccoon alone and just make sure my coops are safe. If I get rid of one raccoon, another will just move in.

What time of day do raccoons hunt?

 

[aart]

Quote: If you trap you should dispatch, not relocate for several reasons.
Relocation is often illegal, but dispatching is usually not illegal, check your local laws.

Dispatching one may well just be filled with another, there are usually multiples around if there's one, so most folks continue to trap until the population is significantly decreased.

Up to you whether to take the chance, raccoons can and will hunt any time of day or night that they are hungry enough to do so.