Losing Hens to Predators

[JD Guy]

DW has recently lost several laying hens and we thought we had figured out it was to hawks. Now, after seeing a very large coyote in the back yard (I think it must be a female) during the middle of the afternoon I'm rethinking the hawk premise. Ran for the shotgun and got one shot off but unsure if it's hit, those things can move when they see you! She really likes her chickens and now it's going to be all out war on this critter  

[thecfarm]

Good luck!!
You have to get rid of the problem.

[Southside]

Most forget to follow through and only lead when wing shooting, as a result they end up with a shot pattern behind the clay. 

[sawguy21]

A local lady, apparently new to farming, posted on fb looking for someone to come out and shoot all the coyotes as they were decimating her chickens. I thought good luck with that, it would be like declaring war on skeeters. :D

[barbender]

I was battling a fox the last two summers. It was exploiting a major vulnerability of mine- it would come at daybreak and grab a chicken breakfast. Well I'm not really an early morning riser🤦😁 Finally my wife saw it one morning while she was getting ready for work. She woke me up, got me propped up and put a rifle in my hands and that was the end of Mr. Fox😁 

PS -I've gone soft as I've gotten older, I tried to live trap the booger but he wasn't having any of it. So it had to be the .223🤷

[Ianab]

A bit like here in NZ, As the local ground birds have no natural predators. 

On the other hand, any introduced predator (stoat / ferret etc) is public enemy #1, and is open season to trap / poison / shoot as needed. Same in the Islands, there are chickens just wandering wild.

There is a dedicated effort to wipe out those predators, because they are introduced and invasive. Don't know if we will get back to Kiwi and Weka in out back yards, but it's a thing in bush areas with good pest control. People are finding kiwi birds on their decks or even coning inside. 

[GAB]

I was battling a fox the last two summers. It was exploiting a major vulnerability of mine- it would come at daybreak and grab a chicken breakfast. Well I'm not really an early morning riser🤦😁 Finally my wife saw it one morning while she was getting ready for work. She woke me up, got me propped up and put a rifle in my hands and that was the end of Mr. Fox😁

I'm surprised you did not wake up to the sound of her pulling the trigger and then telling you now that you are up go and take care of that rascal.
I hope your dogs are not gun shy!
GAB

[JD Guy]

Most forget to follow through and only lead when wing shooting, as a result they end up with a shot pattern behind the clay.

You are exactly right! I only had a snap "shot" as the bugger was running full tilt towards/behind the corner of our barn. Looked as if I may have hit it towards the center/rear as there was a flinch in its giddy up. Only had a 1-1/4 ounce load of 6's in my gun at the time. Now loaded with 00 buck if I get another opportunity  ???

[JD Guy]

We haven't had a coyote problem for quite a number of years and figured they might have moved on, but more development is moving towards our end of the county and I believe that is a contributing factor to the increase in both coyotes and deer populations here. Trapping may be used as an option also, but I am concerned about some of our neighbors dog's getting caught unintentionally. We have 80 acres of mostly wooded area with some fields and a pond. The only redeeming quality I've ever found with coyotes is that they will kill and eat skunks  8)

[WV Sawmiller]

JD,

   I would feel comfortable with myself if I advised my neighbors I had a predator problem and asked them to be extra careful to keep their cats and dogs fenced in so they did not get hurt. I'd feel bad if their animal got hurt but not as bad as if I had not warned them. Besides, the neighbors may be able to help by trapping on the surrounding areas. 

[Peter Drouin]

I always have fun trying to outsmart them so they can't eat my stuff.
Bears are the best fun, the others are easy.
Bears want my bee honey  :D :D
I fix that.


Had them on top go around it trying to get in.  :D :D


 

 

 

 

 

 

I went out and gave him hell at the top of my voice


 :D :D

[Don P]

Whoop, Peter was writing at the same time.

I've heard to target the alpha pair and I've also heard that if you get her all the other girls go into heat. Sorry to be of such help. We had a bounty here for one administration, it did not work and did not go over well. We seem to get them alternating with bears, if we have one we don't have the other. But, after having chickens for long enough, we realized everybody likes chicken. Once they figure out there is a restaurant in the neighborhood, they'll be coming for take out.

[JD Guy]

"Everything likes chicken" That's the truth! We've lost chickens to skunks, possom, raccoons and coyotes. Lost eggs to black snakes.

The hens have been unceremoniously locked up in their hen house for last couple days and no sign of the coyote, but unless it was hit harder than I imagined it's still around
:(

[WhitePineJunky]

Weasels like chickens too but seem to only be able to take a full grown bird at dark when they're defenceless. I had a weasel that couldn't get in my chicken barn at night, but after I opened the doors daytime and chickens go free range, the little thief would sneak into the barn and push eggs out the door off the ramp and once they cracked open, would suck the yolk or take half the egg and take off. 

[Peter Drouin]

I gave up on eggs, I have customers give them to me when they buy lumber. Have a bunch. ;D

But when I had them, fenced in with a wire roof too. No flying in to get them.


 

 

 :D ;)

[barbender]

Weasels are the worst. I had one take out about 25 hens one night!

[Don P]

Same here, we rounded up the survivors, gave em away and gave up for awhile. I could not beat that varmint.

[KEC]

The hawk is an adult Coopers' Hawk. When I was a kid I kept some chickens and pigeons. A raccoon got in one night and killed a whole bunch of them.

[Gary Davis]

I have an electric fence to keep a bear out 

[Southside]

Coopers taste a lot like Sharp Shinned Hawks  ;D

[K-Guy]

Southside
Have you taken to stealing other members chickens for your sacrifices??!  :D  smiley_jester

[WV Sawmiller]

   Professional chicken thieves ease into the chickenyard at night with a long slender pole and a gunny sack. They ease the pole up along the limbs or roosts until they bump the chicken's feet and the sleeping chicken raises his foot and places it back on the pole and our local chicken thief eases the pole with the sleeping chicken down and quietly stuffs the still sleeping chicken into the gunny sack then repeats with the next fowl. Properly done the chickens never wake up or raise an alarm.

Of course I cannot personally verify this technique works but I have it on pretty reliable authority that is the process to use. :

[JD Guy]

Coopers taste a lot like Sharp Shinned Hawks  ;D

And Spotted Owl  8)

[azmtnman]

I have a badger that wiped us out twice! We like to keep 4 dozen. We've had problems with owls, but their easy to get rid of (a plastic owl on the coop roof.) The badgers, however, can destroy anything to get in at night. A few nights ago, he got in before I got home after dark and tore up a #9 welded-wire fence inside the coop that was fence stapled to 2x6's!!! He got 3 of our last 6. They're impossible to trap. I had one set off a #110 Conibear and 3 foothold traps and got out of all of them in one night! We have plenty of coyotes but have never had them get in.
  I gave the last 3 to some friends while I build the Fort Knox of chicken coops. I'm going to bury a 3 or 4' wide swath of old chainlink fence and tie it to the 6' fence that's above ground. I'm going to cover the run with chicken wire to keep birds of prey out. 

[Southside]

If you can find his den gas him.  I have seen them dig a hole in the middle of a hard packed gravel road without a care in the world. 

[barbender]

 Badgers are something else, I'm glad I never had to deal with one. 

 Part of our family lore goes, one time my Grandmother caught a badger in her henhouse (her chickens were her world) well that was a bad move because that badger got taken out- with a broom! Do not mess with Esther's laying hens!😂

[Southside]

Someone dumped a Caracal here years back.  It messed with the hens when my wife was home alone, it chose poorly.  Had to look it up to see what the heck it was.  Yea, don't get between a woman and her hens.  

[Don P]

The rooster tried, that didn't go too well either  :D

I imagine deep fried caracal tastes a lot like deep fried bobcat.

[beenthere]

Have no hens, but apparently have a badger around (which is rare in the Badger state). 

This trail cam video caught one passing by the camera recently. DNR confirmed it was a badger. 

screen shot:


 

video
Badger on trail cam

[newoodguy78]

My girlfriend has about a thousand chickens and has been battling the predators big time this year. Started with a bobcat late winter deleted him from the equation. Went onto raccoons in the spring, got rid of a few but couldn't get them all. Then coyotes started in. 
She ended up getting a Maremma livestock guard dog trained to poultry. That cured the predator issue or so we thought. Apparently she's only trained to predators inside their fence. 
Yesterday she had a couple get out. She was going up to bring them water and caught two coyotes having their way with the strays. Brazen little suckers, right in broad daylight. I'm here today on the watch ready to go into sniper mode. 

[Southside]

With extreme prejudice 

[YellowHammer]

I used to have a bunch, but everything likes chicken wings.  I had an electric fence, even trained my dogs to allow them to live in the backyard (that took some serious training) and then the hawks would get them.

I just eventually ran of of birds....

[barbender]

It's pretty tough to beat all of the predators, it's really luck of the draw sometimes.

[KEC]

I remember reading somewhere of someone who had chickens and their dogs "never bothered the chickens". They'd go somewhere and when they came home there were dead chickens. Long story short, the dogs didn't know that they were supposed to leave the chickens alone even when the owners were away. I've heard others tell similar stories.

[JD Guy]

Update: Well, no more coyote sightings thankfully. DW has been keeping her hens in the hen house during the day and letting them out for only a while later in the afternoon. Egg production is way down though. One son does have a remote predator call and we will use this when and if we get a few cooler days. I just can't see sitting in a blind with temperatures in the 90's and high humidity. Seems like a fools errand :D

[Southside]

Heat stress is taking it's toll on egg production, molt only makes it worse. Mine are just starting to pick back up and not a moment too soon.

[SwampDonkey]

Up here it's skunk and fox and we have all kinds of either. No one bothers with chickens now except one guy with a fully enclose chicken barn. Been a year since I heard a free range chicken or rooster around.

[Tom K]

One son does have a remote predator call and we will use this when and if we get a few cooler days. I just can't see sitting in a blind with temperatures in the 90's and high humidity. Seems like a fools errand :D

If it's a pop up blind set it up now so they get used to seeing it. I've had the best luck within an hour of dawn & dusk. No need to wait for cooler weather, unless the cover is too thick to see through. If that's the case I would pack a 12ga with buck shot & a rifle.

[KEC]

I would suggest #4 buckshot. A 12ga. 2 3/4" shell has 27 pellets, any one of which will do the job as opposed to 9 pellets  of OO buck.

[firefighter ontheside]

We've been seeing a bunch of foxes, so I've started trapping them and relocating.  I caught this little guy with some peanut butter in the trap.  We don't let our chickens out anymore, but my little 10 lb dog might look appetizing to a full grown fox.


 

[beenthere]

Are you thinking they will stay at where you relocate them?

[SwampDonkey]

Just a little trivia, a red fox can go in a hole with a diameter of just under 4 inches. :D

[beenthere]

Just a little trivia, a red fox can go in a hole with a diameter of just under 4 inches. :D

Not surprising.

[Magicman]

Tie a rope to the trap handle and take it fishing.  It works for armadillos, coons, foxes, possums, and skunks.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Or take it on a long trip across a river or two and release it. Its only doing what foxes do and nothing personal.

[firefighter ontheside]

I took it about 15 miles away.  I'm hoping it won't come all the way back here.

[YellowHammer]

Foxes like chicken too.  

When I was going through my version of chicken massacre where everything was eating my chickens, I saw a momma fox and a couple little bitty kits playing not more than 30 yards from our barn.  She had built a nest in our stack of hay bales, and to be honest, I enjoyed watching her playing with and raising her kids for a couple weeks more than I minded her occasionally snacking on chicken fingers.

[WV Sawmiller]

    You're a good man Charlie Brown! smiley_clapping

     At some point Mr. Fox may have to be destroyed but it should never be a casual choice.

[Tom K]

so I've started trapping them and relocating.

This is not meant just for Firefighter, more a general comment.

Make sure you check your state laws before doing this. It is illegal in Ohio to catch and relocate any wild animal. If any nuisance animal is caught it must be euthanized.

Personally, I also don't think it's very neighborly to dump your problems on somebody else. I've had city folks pull into one of our field drives and release coons & groundhogs, then I've then had to deal with them.

[YellowHammer]

Many years ago, I was standing in the logyard with customer in broad daylight, and a panicked chicken comes running by, dodging and weaving as only a scared chicken can do.  Hot on its heels is a coyote with the ferocity of the Jersey Devil that totally ignores us and proceeds to catch the chicken and explode it in a burst of feathers.  It reminded me of a heat seeking missile strike.  BOOM!  Right in front of us.  Complete Discovery Channel "Shark Week" against hapless seal massacre.  The coyote trots back into the woods with the chicken in its mouth, looking at us, smiling the whole way.  It took all of 3 seconds, or so it seemed.  Wow.

The customer is kind of quiet, then looks at me and asks "So....you have free range chickens?" and I say "Nope, not anymore, she was the last one."

And thus ended our chicken saga.

[thecfarm]

Ayup.
I had a fox do that once. Wife was talking to someone in the driveway. Fox came right out of the woods and grabbed the chicken about 10 feet from where my wife was talking!!! She had a water can in her hand, threw that at the fox and chicken. Fox dropped the chicken but damaged the chicken's leg and wing. I had to kill the chicken. But at least the fox did not eat it.  ;)
Now its war against the wood chunks. I have killed 3-4 this year. I need to kill another one.
You leave me alone and I will leave you alone.
I have no problem killing things that bother me.

[WhitePineJunky]

Ayup.
I had a fox do that once. Wife was talking to someone in the driveway. Fox came right out of the woods and grabbed the chicken about 10 feet from where my wife was talking!!! She had a water can in her hand, threw that at the fox and chicken. Fox dropped the chicken but damaged the chicken's leg and wing. I had to kill the chicken. But at least the fox did not eat it.  ;)
Now its war against the wood chunks. I have killed 3-4 this year. I need to another one.
You leave me alone and I will leave you alone.
I have no problem killing things that bother me.

No porkies to take care of lately ? Lol 

[thecfarm]

Nope, only one so far this year. 
Them things can do some damage to a fruit or oak tree.  :(
Never see them things chewing on an alder bush. 

[Mooseherder]

Our neighbor lost 2 chickens to a Skunk this week and got it on camera.   There's a dead one by the road so we're hoping it's the same one.  They had lost chickens to a Lyxn a couple of years ago.

[SwampDonkey]

Yup a couple years ago a skunk was bothering neighbors' chickens. He live trapped it and drown it in the creek. No gun to shoot the thing. A fox moved in here this summer and cleaned up the groundhogs, never saw a hog all summer. Often there were 4 spring hog kits around the wood pile before the fox moved in. :D Always a skunk around here, the fox will back off of him. Since the fox came around the barn cats stay home at the neighbors', a fox will take one of them to. ;D

[WhitePineJunky]

Nope, only one so far this year.
Them things can do some damage to a fruit or oak tree.  :(
Never see them things chewing on an alder bush.

Too bad they don't like balsam as much as oak trees !

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen them strip fir trees limbs and all, same for cedar. :D We were thinning on the back of an abandoned field. A rock pile back there on the fence. Small thicket of fir beside the rocks. They lived in the rock pile. Did nothing but chew fir and poo outside their entrance. One guy got pretty personal with one, thinning the fir clump, face level with a porky. I about died laughing. :D

[Mooseherder]

I imagine there's a lot more people raising Chickens today verses 10 years ago.  The wildlife is going to get some of them. 

[Peter Drouin]

Tie a rope to the trap handle and take it fishing.  It works for armadillos, coons, foxes, possums, and skunks.

If I have to I will use a 22 to put the thing down. One shot, fast. I don't think I could watch an animal fight and drown by my hand. :

[Magicman]

I would not want to have to wash blood out of my trap plus there would be the possibility of hitting a cage wire.  Who can see what is happening 5' below the surface anyway.  

I have not seen where any other member have been questioned regarding their method of disposing of predators.  Whatever you do it will still be "by your hand".

[firefighter ontheside]

I checked Missouri regulation.  They recommend humanely killing nuisance animals that have been trapped, but it is not a requirement.  Unless it becomes a big problem of catching so many foxes, I will relocate these few.  I took it to a very wild area where there are no residences for miles.  I will not use a trap that harms animals, because I am just as likely to catch raccoons, skunks, bobcats, you name it.  As Lynn mentioned, its hard to humanely kill something you have caught in a hav-a-hart trap.  I will not shoot thru the trap.

[JD Guy]

A number of years ago I dispatched 7 skunks. The mama had taken up residence under a wooden floor in our small barn that has the chicken coop attached to the side of it. I shot the mama before I knew there were little ones and she ended up under that floor before she expired. That was a very smelly retrieval :'(. The others were trapped and shot in the cage over the next few days. One of the shots went through the cage and ricocheted off of a piece of hard SYP on the barn and about 20 feet away DW rooster fell over dead! I was not real popular for several weeks :D. To this day I can barely stand driving down the road and getting that "dead skunk" smell in the truck!

[beenthere]

Animals, like humans, don't "fight" when they drown. They gasp for air for a split second then go limp.  No blood is what I prefer too.

[barbender]

I didn't realize you had drowned any humans, BT?😁

[beenthere]

 :D :D :D

There are plenty of resources that talk about recognizing when a person is indeed drowning. Unlike the comic strips that show someone yelling for help and waving their arms. If drowning, no movement from what I read. Have passed out already and are lifeless. Critters I drown are like that. 

[Peter Drouin]

A small hole at the top of the trap where the 22 barrel fits into. One shot no damage to the trap, Easy.
I guess I'm a softy I put stuff down with one shot. Even beef and pork, One shot, and all 4 feet fold up and drop like a rock. Even deer, Maybe one jump and down. I've seen guys chase deer for miles. :
Drowning to me is a slow death.
I mean no disrespect to anyone, I just have this love and respect for all of God's animals
More fun to outsmart them, Killing is the easy way.