Yet another bobcat attack (Caution: GRAPHIC PICS

[lacyloo]

omg to trap them get a live animal trap at a hardware store or barrow one and put a dead chicken in it. thats what i used for my kitty. make sure you tie the chickens foot in the cage, to the top of the cage , because bobcats are sly and they will creep in the cage, and get the chickens without setting off the trap,,, ok heres the plan,

1. get a trap
2. take a dead chicken and bait the trap, you can freeze a whole dead chicken if needed time to buy trap.

3. secure bird to cage over night near your other chicken pens to make it look not so suspious.

4. keep baiting the trap, if you dont catch the bobcat the first time, take the dead chicken and freeze it for the night, becasue you dont want rotten chicken stinking up your trap...

5. happy trapping, but dispose of animal after capture.

 

[Itsme]

Your pictures are showing up huge for me, I can't see what you are talking about as far as a paw print goes.

Your pens do not look predator proof in my opinion. They will keep the chickens in for sure but won't keep the boogie man out.

I sure am sorry for your loss, I would focus more on providing a safe enviroment for your investment then killing the bobcat..........another will be there soon enough. NOt meant to sound harsh, just tryin to be helpful.

 

[Heidi]

I'm so sorry for you lost. Your coop looked like it was reinforced really well - better then mine even. So sorry!

 

[Motel Chix]

Sorry about your loss
We don't have bobcats here but have alot of mean ratcoons, fox's, dogs, and large Coyotes. I have never lost any using a small electric fence around the outside of the pen. I set it about 6-8 inches from the ground and use 6" long plastic insulators.
It works great, any animals, dogs, cats, ratcoons, coyotes, and I am sure Bobcats, will get a harmless shock. If you use a small cheep model not the large ones for cattle it should not harm any pets. Once shocked they will remember it for a long time and not return. I have mine hooked to a light switch and just shut it off when I let the chickens out in the pasture. I have forgot and left it on all day with the chickens out and saw one get shocked, it just let out a little chirp and ran away from the fence. I think they are very safe and will keep all Predators away.
I hope you get the Bobcat but having birds you will just attract more predators in the future.
Good luck

 

[Buster]

It makes my blood boil when predators kill my investments or my pets. "Chicken wire" doesn't work the greatest for predators. I would recommend something heavier to keep the bad guys out. I hope this doesn't happen to you again. Happy Hunting

 

[fallenweeble]

OMG!
i got to see those birds in person when i went to SnMs place to pick up some silkies. they were truely beautiful birds - i am so sorry!
i agree that the chickenwire isn't going to keep the predators out.
invest in some stronger hardwire cloth for sure!
again, i'm so sorry, those were amazingly beautiful birds.
hang in there.
f. weeble
(also hon, be careful about posting info about that first cat online - you probably don't want fish and game to read that!)

 

[jab91864]

It may be legal in your area to kill animals that attack your stock. Otherwise I would work under the shoot, shovel and shutup theory.

I'm sure you could probably find someone who is a licensed trapper to come out and set a trap or two , a lot of times they do it just so they can have the hide.

I hope you are able to get rid of your problem. Good luck on that and re-building your flock !!!

Julie

 

[johnnyjack]

this is sad but it happens. i have had this happen 2 times in the past but it was a dog that killed mine. i had to go with the chainlink fence and cover the top with dog wire the 2 x4 kind. then i cemented the edges of the fence to the ground. havent had any problems sence. alot of people use the regular chicken wire but i dont trust it anymore after all iv went through. anyway dont give up... johnny

 

[seagullplayer]

First kill the cat, use a heavy game load or double Ot.

You may end up using a live chicken in a cage in the middle of the run for bait, if you want to shoot it.

If you want to try and stay with the chicken wire, I would add the electric wire outside like mentioned above, I would run two strans myself, one very low 2"-3" and one about 8".
It would be a lot cheaper than chain link.

I find one stran of barb wire right at the ground keeps digging dogs at bay. It's easy to find the offending dog that way to, just look for bloody paws.

You might want to look for a pet dog that will bark when something like this is going on.

Sorry for your loss. At last count we have lost well over 100 birds in the six years we had chickens, 40 in one hit. Everything loves to eat chickens.

 

[S n M Poultry]

Thanks everyone for the support. We shot the bobcat with a hallow point round and again we found blood,hair,and tracks but no body. Were do you get an electric fence? Thanks again.