Mystery predator

[Boondox]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

<font color=blue>Have you considered a Chicken Tractor?
</font color=blue>

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]

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]

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?