What predators do you have

[theoldchick]

cats, dogs, coyotes, foxes, hawks, crows, blue jays, mocking birds, wandering children.

 

[philbfarm]

Hi...I live in Eastern Long Island, New York. We have dogs, cats, raccoons, possums, etc. But my two biggest problems are foxes and hawks. I let my girls free range when I am home. Last week, as I was cleaning the run and coop, one nearly got one of them. I am watching the chickens "like a hawk" now!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

SE British Columbia Canada, right in the Rockies. We have Cougars(only seen on the property, never made a move on our animals yet), Bobcat, Lynx(birds just vanish, no feathers etc., was a tough one to figure out), Skunks(only egg fatalities so far there), Weasel, Marten, Badgers(never bothered the birds and is very entertaining to watch hunt the ground squirrels that turn the ground to death traps for the horses), Wolves(mainly winter problem for the horses/cows), Coyotes, Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Ravens and in some areas Foxes(they are rather uncommon here tho, the coyotes keep them out).



The bears luckily generally keep to the woods(with 1 exception a few years back) and avoid dwellings and people, same goes for the cougars and wolves. The wolves are neat creatures to have around tho, I love getting them to howl back and forth with me.




The coyotes are kept at bay by the LGD. The hawks and eagles are kept away by the Ravens(clearly the lesser of the flying evils so they get away with some egg thievery, and chicks of eating size are locked away safely until big enough).



Luckily we are too high in elevation for possums and racoons. The Mink too is more common to the west of the province.


Predator losses here are very few and far between since the coyotes use to be the biggest problem but since we got the LGD that went to zero, only losses now are a weasel every few years and the ravens stealing eggs.

Stray Cats and Dogs are eliminated by the coyotes(except for 2 that someone set loose on our horses 8 yrs ago, bullets solved that problem real quick). Never seen a stray around here, but once a year we seem to get a dog that jumped out of someones truck or exhausted cougar hound that got lost and they are generally so happy to see people they ignore any animals. The owners never seem to take more then a few hours to find our door and their dogs.

 

[FairwindsFarm]

We have racoons and day time foxes!! We also have hawks. We started with 27 chicks and let them free range during the day. We now only have 9 of the original flock. Very sad.

 

[jak2002003]

I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the predators so far include:

Burmese Python......ate most of my adult ducks - we caught it and had a BBQ - delicious.
Street dogs..............some like to kill chickens, but someone usually poisons the rogue killer dog
A feral cat................killed and carried off several bantam hens.
Mongoose................Bothered the hens and steals the eggs.......but I like him as he is cute!
Scorpion............. A hen got stung on the thigh by one of these while free ranging...she is recovered

That is all so far! This have been over a 5 year period. Usually we have no problems. We also don't ever get any birds of prey as the framers shot them all (which I don't agree with).

 

[Livi]

We live in northern Norway and we have hawk, eagle, fox, cats and dogs. Probably weasel too but I havent seen any and there are lynx in our woods but I doubt they would ever dare to venture near our houses. No snakes at all, thankfully!

 

[countrybuffs]

Our main one is coyotes, who have taken cats from us and our neighbors as well as chickens, also have lost hens to a racoon. We live right next to a forest and we do have a cougar or two but so far no problem from it. Also hawks, owls and skunks, but no losses from them. Recently we have had a family of ground squirrels move in and they are eating a lot of chicken feed and I am suspicious that they have taken eggs!

 

[ShakeragSusan]

I hadn't thought to include snakes in my predator list, as I have had no problems with them. According to enature, we have 39 species of snakes in my zip code. I don't see them often, although we usually see a few copperheads per year.

And Livi, what is that beautiful wrap in you avatar? Beautiful picture.

 

[jphendrix]

The only predators I have to worry about are my dogs. We have our coop and run built inside a chain link fence. My dog would go after them if you gave her a chance. She will watch them like she wants to pounce on them. She is a black lab! I can't let my chickens free roam because of her. She is a inside/outside dog, and I would be so scared that she would get them. I don't have to worry about anything from the skies because we have chicken wire over the top of our run.

 

[DaphneNL]

We live in the Netherlands, in the province of Drenthe, and the predators we spotted here are Stone/Breech Martens, European Red Foxes, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and good old Rats.

I had a Sparrowhawk in my run once. My rooster Dirk kicked his feathered behind and I really had to save the Sparrowhawk from being killed.