Mystery predator

Boondox · Jul 24, 2002

Probably a fox, but it looks like we lost 10-14 of our young buff Orpington chickens today. The wife noticed a pile of feathers in the field, and as I was making my rounds I found several more. Mostly breast feathers, and no sign of the birds. My impression is that something chased them down and killed them where the feathers fell, then carried them away to eat or stash. Too grassy for any tracks. Interestingly, my best scent dog picked up nothing but the bloody feathers. Too many birds lost for it to be a raptor. Fox maybe? We lost the entire flock last year to a red fox that was subsequently nuked by my .35.

I really want to confine the birds, but the wife likes them free ranging. Price you gotta pay, I suppose.

Pete

DaveNH · Jul 24, 2002

What's the coyote situation up there this year?
Remember a few years back, Vermont was the place to go to get them!

Will_C · Jul 24, 2002

Could be a coyote, or a fisher. I shot my first coyote about 8 years ago up near East Wallingford, 10 miles or so from Rutland.

Boondox · Jul 24, 2002

Haven't seen nor heard many this year. A couple of years ago an entire flock of a couple dozen sheep were killed by 'em. A witness said it looked like the adults were teaching the youngsters how to kill. At any rate, there was a large harvest that year. I've only seen one since, and very little sign of them.

Pete

Egon · Jul 24, 2002

Pete:
Back in Alberta there were several times that we found a "puff" of robin breast feathers out on the open lawn. I allways assumed it was a Marsh Hawk as there was a nest not to far away and every so often one would go cruising over the yard. I observed the same type of robins feathers here out in the middle of our field.
Free range chickens are worth a little work and loss of some hurts.
Egon

Argee · Jul 25, 2002

Have you considered a Chicken Tractor?

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/pastpoul/images/movebig.gif>Chicken Tractor</A>

[Fixed URL - Harv]

dourobob · Jul 25, 2002

Hi Argee
I couldn't get your link to work but is this the kind of thing you were referring too <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/pastpoul/resource.htm>http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/pastpoul/resource.htm</A>? there is a picture at the bottom of that page

I've read some of Joel Salatin's stuff on free range and in particular his "Salad Bar Beef" book - excellent!!

Bob

Boondox · Jul 25, 2002

Have you considered a Chicken Tractor?


We have two of them, but the wife prefers them running loose. I think, while she's gone this Saturday, I'll spend some time with the backhoe, lumber and chicken wire building a large enclosed space off the coop for them.

Pete

Argee · Jul 25, 2002

Yep! That's the same pic I posted. I copied the address and then pasted it, but things just didn't turn out as planned. Go figure. Sometimes these hi-tech machines suffer from lo-tech glitches. I have a few of Salatin's books also. Pretty good stuff. Andy Lee also has a good one on chicken tractors.

RichZ · Jul 25, 2002

Pete, I've had the same situation several times over the past year. I had assumed it was a fox or coyote, until I caught a neighbor's dog killing one of our chickens, and then I caught the dog again. Could the mystery predator be a dog?

skent · Jul 25, 2002

I've lost 4 hens and a laying turkey to the neighbors dog. Saw her taking the third hen off in her mouth. Couldn't get the .222 out of the safe fast enough. She got away. Spoke to the neighbor (who finally offered to pay) and dog still got one more later on.

beenthere · Jul 25, 2002

Wouldn't surprise me that the sheep were killed by a pack of dogs. When I was younger (50's) we had city dogs that would form a pack and go on a killing spree. They would kill or mame and just leave the animals lay. If we could shoot just one of the pack of dogs, that would break up the pack at least for awhile. Sometimes sheep, sometimes pigs in a pen, and sometimes chickens were their target. Often worried that a child or children would be their victims. One neighboring farmer loaded two truckloads of injured sheep for the packing plant and two rendering truckloads of dead ones after one night of dog attacks.

Sounds like the chickens were eaten, so expect the coyote or fox.

Boondox · Jul 25, 2002

We thought of that, but in our experience dogs usually maul the chickens and leave bloody bodies behind. Another thing that puzzles us is our dogs -- two of which are scent dogs -- sniff the feathers then lose interest. In the past when they came across the scent of an intruder they tended to follow it to the edge of the forest. This time, nothing.

Pete

RichZ · Jul 26, 2002

Pete, in my case, the dog ate some of the chicken and carried off the rest, and left only feathers.

It's odd that your dog looses interest in the scent, so I'm gonna suggest something, and don't get mad at this suggestion. Could one (or several) of your own dogs have killed and eaten the chicken? That would account for your scent dog losing interest in the scent. I only thought of this because it happened to me once. I have a chain link pen about 20 feet by 20 feet that is my dogs play area. I only leave them in it when my wife and I are nearby, and never when no one is home. A while ago, one of my chickens flew into the pen, and to our surprise and horror, my extremely gentle St. Bernard pounced on the chicken and killed her immediately. We ran in to try to save the chicken, and it was too late. I think Patti (the St. Bernard) thought she was playing, and didn't realize what would happen. But if we didn't remove the chicken, I wonder if the dogs might not have eaten her. Could something like this have happened at your place? I'm not suggesting that your dogs are chicken killers, but Goldens are so playful, could it have been an accident, and then they ate the carcass?

Boondox · Jul 26, 2002

We have a lot of pressure from tourists this time of year, so the dogs are never allowed outside without my wife or myself going with them. The image of that obese British woman a couple of years ago stuck up a tree with my dogs wagging beneath her still gives me litigation nightmares! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Pete

RichZ · Jul 26, 2002

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

But, I'll bet it was pretty funny!!!!

Kodiak · Jul 27, 2002

****BREAKING NEWS / DATELINE VERMONT / DOG MAULING****

Approximitely one hour a rather large British women was knocked down and trampled by an unruly mob, at the home of Peter Burke. The mob consisting of a pack of Golden Retreivers, proceeded to hold the women down for approximitely five minutes, While applying numerous facial and arm hickies. After being rescued the women was promptly rushed off for high tea and Big Macs. And is now refusing comment. When interviewed Mr. Burke replied, it was the durndest sight you ever saw. Just two feet protruding from a pile of golden fur topped by numerous wagging tails.

If only this was the type of breaking news that we would encounter every day.