Something's eating my birds

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I live on a handfull of acres in a somewhat rural area. I've got several chickens, ducks, and turkeys. I'm having a problem, within the last 2 weeks I've lost 2 little bantams, a giant orpington, and a turkey. All gone with no evidence left behind. I'm really upset about the orpington and the turkey, they were sweet birds that would always come up for treats and affection. I am almost sure it's coyotes getting them since there are no feathers or carcasses. Are there any easy solutions out there? Coyotes are too smart for me to just accidentally see them and un-alive them in the act.


She only got to come inside the one time.

 

[bigtiller]

Build a chicken tractor. There are lots of build-plans out there.

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[ericm979]

We have coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and hawks. All will eat chickens. The wild turkeys here seem to survive ok once they're adults but domestic turkeys don't have the survival skills that the wild ones learn.

The only solution we found is fencing. Maybe if you had one coyote and a lot of time to hunt you could shoot it. But usually if there's one predator there's more. Or more will show up when you remove this one from its territory.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve heard donkeys are good at keeping them away but then you have another pet. I think you can get a nuisance permit to trap them. Unless you are good coyote hunter they are tough to get. Them presenting themselves as targets of opportunity seems to be rare for me.

 

[5030]

Shoot them like I do.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I live on a handfull of acres in a somewhat rural area. I've got several chickens, ducks, and turkeys. I'm having a problem, within the last 2 weeks I've lost 2 little bantams, a giant orpington, and a turkey. All gone with no evidence left behind. I'm really upset about the orpington and the turkey, they were sweet birds that would always come up for treats and affection. I am almost sure it's coyotes getting them since there are no feathers or carcasses. Are there any easy solutions out there? Coyotes are too smart for me to just accidentally see them and un-alive them in the act.


She only got to come inside the one time.
View attachment 837975

I've lost more chickens to feral cats than any other predator. I've also lost them to coons and even an owl one night, but feral cats were the worst. We have bobcats in the area now, that's new thing around here.

Our chickens, we only have 8 now, are in an enclosed A frame cage now and we haven't lost any to predators for years.

 

[MossRoad]

Get a game camera and stake out a chicken in a small cage overnight. See what shows up.

 

[Eagle1]

For us it possom season right now, and yes they can and do kill/eat chickens. Caught 5 this week. Summer it's raccoons mostly.
With no signs of destruction it would guess coyote, fox, bobcat or a really big coon. We have lots of farm cats and they are on the predator menu as well.
Never had a semi-feral cat go after chickens or ducks, we have had various big birds of prey go after them but that is daylight

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Get a game camera and stake out a chicken in a small cage overnight. See what shows up.

This is not a bad thought. I'm not prepared for that yet, It will take me a few days to get everything set up to make that happen. I am going to set up a cage trap baited with tuna tonight though. If I can find my game cam I'll set it up around the pin also.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

For us it possom season right now, and yes they can and do kill/eat chickens. Caught 5 this week. Summer it's raccoons mostly.
With no signs of destruction it would guess coyote, fox, bobcat or a really big coon. We have lots of farm cats and they are on the predator menu as well.
Never had a semi-feral cat go after chickens or ducks, we have had various big birds of prey go after them but that is daylight

The turkey really has me scratching my head. It's a big bird, and for it to be completely gone with no feathers around is really odd. I have seen all manor of predator except for bobcats and foxes. There is a hawk that I've seen very regularly for the 2.5 or so years I've been here. It's a smaller one and I really think if it was the hawk it wouldn't have started taking them all at once, and I'm sure it couldn't carry off the 2 big birds.