Who is the culprit?!

[ChristopherMic]

Here's a Larger trap:

https://jet.com/product/detail/3594...JOeCKTf5b1tbfOchONW-CxoCQnnw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[alang]

Just thought I'd update that everyone's suggestions have kept the culprit away- no more injuries or losses and the girls have been free ranging early evenings again (with the German Shepherd). Thank you to everyone for the great ideas!

 

[alang]

My husband spotted a weasel running behind coop yesterday afternoon. Five fingers, small punctures on surviving victim and tiny size of hole in fence make me think this is the culprit. I'm surprised it could carry off chicken but maybe that's why we have survivors with only bites- because it had a hard time holding on to them and scaling a fence. We leave for vacation again tomorrow. Any other weasel proof devices we should put on coop and run?

 

[Millworker26]

Relocating a raccoon, etc.,...

The captured animal gets dropped off at a foreign (to it) location. It knows nothing about forage areas nor watering areas...it is a grown animal and will require substantial nourishment. There may very well be a population of the same creature in that location. Think about how throwing a grown hen into a run of a dozen hens that don't know it...most likely it won't go well for the new hen...same thing goes with other territorial creatures. So the "relocated" animal is scrambling trying to find sustenance while always looking over his shoulder for attacks from others like himself...also, possibly having to deal with wounds from previous encounters with the same animals. Most likely a miserable subsistence.

My short time on this forum and I have seen variations of this argument numerous times. Which goes: these highly intelligent raccoons that can get past complex barriers and latches to eat our chickens would somehow become incompetent and unable to survive if relocated to a new area. Well that is wrong according to this study, where survival rates of radiocollared relocated raccoons was IDENTICAL to a control group of raccoons not relocated. Survival rates for both groups was high, 80%, following months of tracking. So there you have it.

And to be clear I don't relocate the coons I trap. Nor do I dispute the concerns over spread of disease, releasing a now trap shy animal in someone else's backyard, or disrupting a habitat. All good reasons not to relocate a raccoon. I just couldn't believe a resourceful coon would roll over and die if moved to a new environment. The raccoons I've encountered were too smart for that to be true.

http://totalwildlifecontrol.com//re...vements/relocated-chicago-raccoons-study.html

 

[Intheswamp]

My short time on this forum and I have seen variations of this argument numerous times. Which goes: these highly intelligent raccoons that can get past complex barriers and latches to eat our chickens would somehow become incompetent and unable to survive if relocated to a new area. Well that is wrong according to this study, where survival rates of radiocollared relocated raccoons was IDENTICAL to a control group of raccoons not relocated. Survival rates for both groups was high, 80%, following months of tracking. So there you have it.

And to be clear I don't relocate the coons I trap. Nor do I dispute the concerns over spread of disease, releasing a now trap shy animal in someone else's backyard, or disrupting a habitat. All good reasons not to relocate a raccoon. I just couldn't believe a resourceful coon would roll over and die if moved to a new environment. The raccoons I've encountered were too smart for that to be true.

http://totalwildlifecontrol.com//re...vements/relocated-chicago-raccoons-study.html

You failed to quote the paragraph immediately below the one that you did quote...

"On the other hand, there may be no adversaries waiting on the coon, etc.,. He may be let out into a raccoon paradise...plenty of forage and water. That means that there hasn't been any predatory pressure of his kind on the local wildlife and the wildlife has flourished. Suddenly, the quail nests and sparrow nests get raided, the rabbit kits in their nests are slaughtered, all kinds of other small creatures suddenly have a vicious monster in their midst. The rich wildlife population slowly dwindles. Nobody lives close by, no chickens come up missing, nobody notices...does it matter?"

Also, the article that you linked to supports the idea of *not* relocating raccoons. Did you read the entire article?

I don't mean to come off as somewhat terse, but a major gripe of mine is the media taking sound bites and video snippets and not reporting the whole story, but rather the angle of it that they want to convey. This kind of reminded me of that....no hard feelings.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Millworker26]

Hi Ed. Sorry my post wasn't directed toward you, yours was just the most recent along this theme that I have read suggesting raccoons won't survive if relocated. That was the point, and the ONLY point, I was finding difficult to believe and wanted to see if there were any controlled studies that provided real data. All other reasons for not relocating raccoon are valid, which I made clear in my post.

 

[Intheswamp]

Eh, don't worry about it. All's good.

Ed

 

[toomuch]

Today 31 of my 40 chickens died

and I don't have a clue whose the culprit. I need help. I live in the suburbs of the inland empire so most likey its a small animal. They all had bite marks but some were open

 

[AllynTal]

Today 31 of my 40 chickens died

and I don't have a clue whose the culprit. I need help. I live in the suburbs of the inland empire so most likey its a small animal. They all had bite marks but some were open

At this point, it doesn't matter exactly what it was. You can figure that out later. For now, what can you do to tighten up security so it doesn't happen again? Were they killed in the coop? Tighten that sucker up so it can't get in again. Were they in the run? Again, tighten that sucker up so they can't get in again. Beef up security because whatever it was, it knows where the buffet is and it'll be back. Get a live-trap to catch it. Then you'll know what it was that got your chickens.

 

[bantamrooster]

Today 31 of my 40 chickens died

and I don't have a clue whose the culprit. I need help. I live in the suburbs of the inland empire so most likey its a small animal. They all had bite marks but some were open

Probably need to give a lot more details to get this narrowed down.
Day or night, in coop or free range, known predators in area, securities that were breached, etc, etc.
Only time ive ever had several birds killed at once anything like that was from a dog.
But again not enough details.