- Apr 19, 2013
- 1,955
- 257
- 231
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.
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.