poultry predators

dottile46
dottile46 Posts: 437 ✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in Predators & Loss

I thought I would cry this morning when hubby came in from letting our poultry out. He had been greeted with the partial eaten remains of one turkey and eight chickens. They were all between 2 and 3 months old. No idea who the perp was.

The previous owners built what we use as a poultry house. One window is actually a horizontal slider out of a camper. Hubby had left it open about 2 inches to get some cross ventilation as it has been hot and humid here for about two weeks.

I'm still sad, that was our last turkey and the little chickens were so petite. But I'm mad too. We've not experienced such a bad year for poultry. One more chicken dies and we are down half of our new chickens this year. 😡

Comments

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    Oh no, @dottile46! I just hate that for you -- there is almost nothing more frustating or disheartening. I'm so sorry!!!

    We had a raccoon (I believe due to the nature of the carnage) get six of our pre-layers last year, and honestly the thing that made me the most angry was the fact that it didn't even bother to eat them for the most part. I get that predators need to eat, but there was obviously an element of sport and unnecessary waste mixed in that really irked me.

    Anyway, hang in there -- and big hugs!

  • solarnoon.aspen
    solarnoon.aspen Posts: 219 ✭✭✭

    dottile46

    Sorry this happened to your flock. It seems senseless when they are not really hungry and just kill.

    I witnessed coyotes taking young wild turkeys in our back field one day, and I know it must have been they who took one of our layers. At least they are eating them. We also have bears trying to invade the coop.

    I hope that is the end of your bad luck this year.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    We have had foxes, skunks, rats & mink as our main predators. We have had weasel, but they didn't kill anything, thankfully!

    The foxes took 5 15 lb muscovy ducks midday, with everyone outside & the way dog running around. She left no trace. I had those ducks sold at $30 each to deliver the next day. I was angry.

    We lost well over $600 worth of birds to a mink one year. It was well over 1/2 my flock. It took out all of our guinea, most of our ducks (all of our muscovy), & most of my heritage chickens. I had the flocks at just the place I wanted them, moving forward. The mink left most of the bodies, as they like to suck the blood. My young runners were still squished up in the corner. You could tell what were their terrified last moments. I almost quit having birds right there. I was devastated. Fortunately, a friend helped me get back on my feet.

    @dottile46 Could you put welded hardware cloth over the opening to secure it? This way, the air flows, yet there will be protection.

    Did your predator leave any other signs? Smell, tracks, etc.? These were partially eaten...the head, neck...what part? Maybe we can help you figure out what it was.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I just heard from a friend who has lost 17 hens over a period of a few nights. They couldn't figure out what it was but were outside one day and saw a lynx as he was jumping out of the pen with a chicken in his mouth in broad daylight. They have several dogs on the property so this is a really brazen lynx. They aren't letting the hens outside of the building now until they get their chicken tractor completed. They are also going to electrify the chicken tractor and the fence around the coop.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    The predators take more risks when they have little ones.

    Hopefully the electricity is enough. I am not a familiar with lynx as there are few here. Would they dig? If so, electricity won't be enough. They will need wire skirts built around both coop & tractor.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    They think this is a male. They tracked him and found several stashes around the edge of the lake where he had been taking the chickens and burying them. So not feeding babes. Not sure if lynx will dig under a fence or not. He leapt over a 6 foot fence from a standstill quite easily. We have one here right close to home that has been spotted on 3 separate occasions. Haven't heard of any losses in our immediate area. But everyone is on high alert. We had a predatory hunter with cougar hounds that was called in a couple of months ago to deal with an old cougar that had become a problem. Got him on the hillside right behind our place.

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    Oh, @dottile46, that is so sad! We've lost birds too, chicks, chickens, and ducks. Once 24 chicks disappeared without a trace--we suspect rats. When we used hardware cloth on the entire coop for night times that helped. What helped even more was fencing in our entire 'yard' (very expensive) which seems to be enough to help our dogs keep the coons and foxes out. At one point we had something scratching on the outside of the chicken run (a skunk?), but we had been told to fold that fencing outward under the soil and that helped because the digger kept on bumping into fence.

    Hang in there, and be tough with the predators.

  • marcy_northlightsfarm
    marcy_northlightsfarm Posts: 103 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    I have had very few predators over the years because we have a Collie that is loose all the time. He is very territorial and will attack wild animals if necessary. I never close my coop at night, and the chickens live entirely on pastured grass and bugs, ignoring the food set out. We used to have two dogs and this past Spring my German Shepherd got loose and killed 12 chickens. Then a few weeks later he killed another. I was so angry! Later he busted his chain because he got so excited when my daughters sheep had just slipped out the gate (and the chain had gotten weak). Luckily she was there to intervene. Needless to say we don't have that dog anymore, we re-homed him. I really do miss having a watch dog though. The Collie will never bark when someone comes. (I will add that the coop is not near any woods, just our farm fields. A dog protector might not work elsewhere)

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @Annie Kate That is the "skirt" that I am talking about. It doesn't have to be under the soil. It can be laid right on top. A predator goes to a wall & digs down. If it is 2' out, which is usually a recommended width, that is enough to fool all of the digging predators. We put bricks & rocks on that until things grow through it to secure it to the ground more permanently. If you wish to plant mint around the perimeter (it is good for insect pests) that does double duty.

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning Cool, I never knew it had a name. Thanks! And I love the idea of planting mint there. Or lemon balm might work, too.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Here is a pretty good article about the possible predators. The weasel tracks are not terribly accurate. Mustalids, the family that includes weasels, mink, otter, fishers, and wolverines have 5 toes on each foot.



  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @marcy_northlightsfarm We had little issues when we had our first pb Norwegian Elkhound. She was fantastic. She cornered raccoons & kept them in trees until we could shoot them. She even killed a mink with not a scratch on her. Coyotes didn't stand much chance either. We had a NY city breeder of Elkhounds claim that we should always have her inside & that coyotes would rip her to shreds 😳😳😳 ...she certainly did not know the breed at all. 🤦‍♀️

    She would protect whatever we had (and the neighbors cattle herd) and brought back, on her own, any livestock that got out. She never harmed a chicken. She might have snacked on a few tiny ducklings here and there though. We could never prove it.

    As she got older, she got slower as all dogs do. Yhis is when we started having fox issues. We had some other dogs between, but rehoming was essential as they started acting aggressively toward the birds.

    We now have another Elkhound, but he was spoiled some before we got him (he was in the house mainly & they treated him inappropriately). We think there is a bit of collie in him too. But, as much as he is a good dog and has got more in touch with his natural Elkhound side since he got here...and is happier, he doesn't match the other dog in skill.

    A good dog is worth a lot!

  • dottile46
    dottile46 Posts: 437 ✭✭✭

    Hubby did put hardware cloth over the entire window. That let's him open it wider as well. Thought all was well and then yesterday morning 2 more dead chickens. This time he found coon tracks where they had dug under the back of the poultry house. He dug out all along the edge and poured a concrete barrier 2 feet deep. No dead poultry this morning. He did trap 3 young coons, one trap was sprung, and another trap gone all together. The wire holding it to the drag had broken.

    I'd love to have a livestock guard dog. We do have two small dogs but cannot leave them out as they think they are giants. Things roam the woods around here that would eat them for a snack.

    @LaurieLovesLearning I've no idea what the scene looked like the first morning. Hubby found it and cleaned it up. I didn't find out until afternoon as he told our daughter and thought I heard as well. Yesterday morning the two dead ones were torn up real bad and only a few bites were eaten. Our two old layers won't even go in at night now.

    Question for later - We have 2 gilts we plan to breed when they are old enough. Will coons kill baby pigs too? Maybe @judsoncarroll4 ?

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I am so sad for you. I am glad that you caught the perpetrators and now have things more secure.

  • mcarryon
    mcarryon Posts: 32 ✭✭✭

    I was having a problem with possums until I started feeding them. I have two that come every night. I feed them scraps and fill in with cheap cat food. When I turn the back porch light on, they come. No dead chickens in months.