Uh-oh, mystery predator

Little Quacker in OR · #21 05/04/05, 11:23 AM

:haha:" And thanks for the input LQ. I predicted almost word for word your response. "LOL"
Thanks all.

ROTFLMAO!!!! Mr. Dot, you are too much! LOL And the rest of you are wasting your breath. Mr Dot is not interested in protecting the birds..he knows how to do that.

Lonely maybe? LOL

Hope all is OK there now.

LQ

Mr. Dot · #22 05/04/05, 07:05 PM

Back to the subject at hand...

Another kill, number 2, just discovered - this had to have happened within the last couple of hours. That makes it a daylight kill leaving a similar carcass as before. Unfortunately, I reckon that means a hawk or an eagle has discovered my little corner of the world. Durn.

JoyKelley · #23 05/04/05, 07:18 PM

Don't count on it being birds , I watched a Bobcat stroll our field looking for tidbits once at 10 AM and once about 6 Pm , both broad daylight

longshadowfarms · #24 05/04/05, 07:37 PM

Sorry, but I'm with LQ on this. What difference does it make who is doing the killing? The question of "who done it" always amazes me. To me it makes no difference. It means that I need to do a better job of securing my birds. Figure out the weak link in my setup and fix it.

Mr. Dot · #25 05/04/05, 11:58 PM

Well pardners and pardnerettes, the subject of this thread is "Mystery Predator - what's getting after my critters?" To those who have offered helpful information to that end - thanx. The purpose of that question was to try and narrow down what sort of foe I am facing so as to apply what time and funds I have at my disposal to best shore up my defenses.
5 years with no predator loss in my locale is a result of a fair amount of time, effort and expense to protect my birds. It's quite important to me what is doing the killing. Spending my time trying to defeat a raccoon when my problem might actually be an owl is a waste of time and resource. Don't have unlimited supplies of either.
Have a nice day.
- out

Tango · #26 05/05/05, 07:28 AM

I find the question of "what?" to be a natural response and very helpful in protecting my livestock in the future. I lost a sow last year to a mystery. The 8 ft. tube steel gate was bent outward to the tune of 10 inches. The sow's head was pulled through the tubes. Never found out what that was but most of the time I have found out what predator has attacked. I've stopped losses from oppossums, skunks, feral cats, dogs, a fox, and snakes and still managed to keep a free range flock of guineas, turkeys, chickens, and ducks. All losses can't be stopped. It is part of the natural cycle to lose some when one is living the kind of life some of us live. Not everyone wants to cage up their animals all day and night regardless of the caging method. To know what predators are in one's area and which ones are currently attacking is the first defense. Some predators just keep coming back until they clean up house. Some will take one or two and move on. To not ask what it was, and what one can do, is strange to me.

longshadowfarms · #27 05/05/05, 10:15 AM

The reason I responded that way is that this could be a whole host of things with that kind of fencing. A coyote, dog or most cats could easily jump that fence. There is no protection at all from anything that flies. If you've got trees overhanging the fence ANYTHING that climbs could be going in that way. 2' poultry netting is not much protection at all, even with the hot wires. Unless I'm misunderstanding your setup, there are so many weak links that the only thing the fence is really doing is keeping birds in. I'm truly amazed that you've never lost anything before. Eating the breast out is very typical of a hawk or owl but could also be other critters.

bgak47 · #28 05/05/05, 10:30 AM

Put your birds in a covered pen at night!

raymilosh · #29 05/06/05, 09:51 AM

Mr. Dot,
You wrote" The chickens get shut in nightly - the geese and ducks won't have any of that."
I was in the same situation until recently. I was not able to get the ducks to sleep inside the chicken house and they all wound up dead. The chickens were fine.
I got 6 ducklings. When they were old enough, i penned them up next to the chicken house for a week or so and basically corralled/ forced them inside the chicken house every night and shut the door. I also put their food inside the chicken house so they would need to go in there voluntarily a few times a day to eat. After a few days, they began going inside at dusk, all by themselves. Now I have only one door to close to protect all the birds. Hopefully the ducks will lay their eggs in there when they're old enough, so i can get all the eggs in one trip, too.
ray

Mr. Dot · #30 05/08/05, 08:18 AM

I think we see eye-to-eye on the caging matter Tango.

Thanks for helpful tips ray. I was gathering material for a nighttime covered corral of some sort for the waterfowl when the daylight kill occurred. That has vastly complicated my options. I think my perimeter fencing is doing the job and keeping four-footed bad guys out. My corral would have stopped the owl but if I've got a hawk (or an insomniac owl) I have trouble. Still mulling my plan.
The neighbors free range and report no loses so far.

pcwerk · #31 05/08/05, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Dot

Howdy
Lost my first critter to a predator last night or early this morning. One of my ducks had her entire body cavity consumed down to the backbone. From her neck to where her legs start was laid open and bare with feathers scattered in a 4' radius. My poultry yard is fenced in field fence that has 2' poutry wire at the base, a hotwire running at 6" from the ground and a hotwire running along the top. I checked and I'm good and hot all around. No sign of digging under and no tracks that I could find (ground is dry and frozen). There is a fox in the neighborhood but I haven't seen him on my place lately. It occurs to me this might have been a predatory bird but I haven't seen any owls or hawks around. We do have ravens that raid the duck eggs if they find them before I do. Any ideas as to what might be after my birds? Does the carcass condition bring something to mind?
Thanx.

Mr. Dot,
Maybe you could have a wolverine in your neighborhood? I have recently
spotted one in our place in Minnesota, and am very impressed with these
animals. They are tough as nails, can scale fences like nobodys business,
and usually evicerate their prey. They are also active day and night. The
one I saw was about 40 lbs, and about the size of a small lab with all the fur.
I looked on a distribution map, and they are supposed to be all over Montana.
I'd enclose the top of your pen pronto, regardless of what kind of critter it is.
Good luck!
james