We had a snow yeaterday and something came into the yard and killed two of my hens. There are three sets of tracks and I am trying to decide what I am dealing with. Any ideas??
These are two sets of the tracks, I couldn't tell which killed the chickens but both went to the site, the one on the left looks like something is dragging in the snow. I am thinking opossum???
This is a better picture of the little dragging line.
The other one had a longer stride and larger footprint. I am thinking Fox??
This picture shows the walking stride a little better, over 12"
This message was edited Jan 21, 2011 10:58 AM
This is the third set of tracks small and close together. Weasel or Mink??? They circled the pen several times during the night. They were fresher, well after the snow stopped.
This is the scariest one of all.....Never mind that was me.
I have set two traps and hope they will come back soon.
How sad! I agree that one set of tracks look like a fox, but the others...? I hope you trap whatever it is.
did you find the remains? as if you found the remains of the chickens and the only part eaten was the head then it was a weasel
D
Everything was gone on one. Just a few feathers. It either ate all of it or took it with him. There was part of the other one DH disposed of it and said ther wasn't much left. Poor girls!
I so sorry to hear that! I hope you're able to trap that thing and dispatch it.
The tracks on the right in the first pic could be a possum. I say that because that looks like a drag mark from it's tail.
I agree the second prints look like a fox.
The third ones don't look familiar. Hope you catch the culprits. Sorry for your loss.
I did catch a possum last night. I knew it was living under the greenhouse and eating eggs when it could find the door open.
We followed the big tracks and they go to an area with LOTS of tracks where we saw Foxes last year. Don't guess there is much we can do about them. Build a larger pen and just keep the girls up.
Still don't know what the little tracks are, but more this morning.
Foxes hunt mostly dawn and dusk, perhaps the chickens could go out in the middle of the day at least.
Could the little tracks be rats?
Now that you mention it, the small ones could be rats. That could be a tail drag mark.
the small tracks are rodent, -- the larger tracks, -- are , Dog, Fox , or coyote, -- [if it was a dog, the tracks will not be straight, but will wonder back and forth, and the foot steps will be off-set,
Oh Picabo I feel so bad for you! I am having a fight at my house too. I baited my new traps last night but caught nothing ....yet! Wishing you luck on getting those nasty critters!
Thank you, tomorrow I am going to bait one of the traps with corn. I guess it's time for a BIG dog in the yard.
Someone said BIG DOG;
Awww KenBoy I wish you lived closer! I have been looking for a wonderful Pyranese , but havent been able to find one reasonably priced here! Well I mean priced where I can afford one anyway! I went to the pound and they have nothing!
Anyone have any suggestions on another breed of dog that can be raised with chickens to guard and not hurt them?
An electric fence worked for me when I had chickens in the 1980s. I ran a cedar 2X4 along the fence at ground level and an electric wire about 2 inches above the 2X4. There was also an electric wire running along the top of the fence. We have foxes, coyotes, ring- tailed cats, coons, opossums, skunks, snakes, field rats and stray dogs and never had any break-ins into the chicken pen.
I am currently in the process of building a new chicken house and pen. It to will be electrified the same as before.
The pound called!!! They have a Litter of mixed Lab and Weirmaraner (sp) and something else!! I thought about it and decided to go and look at them!
Shouldnt have!! Now I am in love with the most beautiful Chocolate colored little girl ever! She has 3 dark Chocolate like herself , 3 lighter brown, and 2 blacks, a a couple more I cant remember! they look to be about 6 to 8 weeks old! I think if I put her in the barn with the Chicks shell do just fine.... what do you think?
Remember that labs and weimers are both bird dogs. Not a good mix with chickens.
The pound called!!! They have a Litter of mixed Lab and Weirmaraner (sp) and something else!! I thought about it and decided to go and look at them!
Shouldnt have!! Now I am in love with the most beautiful Chocolate colored little girl ever! She has 3 dark Chocolate like herself , 3 lighter brown, and 2 blacks, a a couple more I cant remember! they look to be about 6 to 8 weeks old! I think if I put her in the barn with the Chicks shell do just fine.... what do you think?
You are right gallesfarm. But I have had other Labs and an Irish setter that were raised around chickens and they were wonderful guardians. The Setter would actually pick up stray chicks ( quaill included) into her mouth and bring them to me to put back into their pen.
Since finding a cattle dog, Sheltie or other guardian type , especially a pup, in my area is almost impossible or way out of my range price wise I had to go with what I know! I think I can train this little guy and I have the time to do it! If I see any thing that isnt going well I can always take him back befor we get too connected! Sp far though hes doing great!
You will love my neighbors story.
He is in his mid 70s and has about a hundred head of cattle and about 20 Goats that he manages by himself. He went out one morning and there was a Pyrenees in the pasture with his cows. He walked out in the pasture and the dog got between him and the new calves. This went on for several days until one of the calves got caught in the fence, the neighbor carefully rescued the calf with the dog standing nearby watching. Now the dog allows the farmer to enter the pasture without being gaurded. LOL
No idea where the dog came from but several neighbors have offered to take him. NO WAY will he let the dog leave.
Awwwww! I really wanted a pyranese but the closest i came to one was $1200 ! Whew!
Besides, I think Georgia in the Summer would be miserable for one of those beautiful dogs.
I think that dog was a gift from Heaven.
You could try a rescue. Pyrs are great. I'd like to have an Anatolian. They are a bit more fierce and we have coyote and bear here abouts. My guard dog is a mix of Bull Mastiff, Boxer and German Shepherd. He is fierce but he will kill the chickens. He kinda plays with them till they quit moving. He is not a pup. Just likes to chase whatever moves.
Not to enable *G*
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/GA546.html
Depending on where you live in GA, you might also consider other states. I know that Pyrs are becoming somewhat common in SC, I've been offered puppies, but never got far enough (becuase of a pup found by the river) for firm pricing. The "grapevine" said $300....
Don't know what we will do about the neighbors dog this summer. He sleeps in the pasture with the cows even with all the rain and snow we have had and with two big barns near by. We was quite matted when he got here, this summer may be a problem for him. I have clippers but don't know if he would allow us to clip him.
Try breed rescues. I love the Belgian Tervurens they are all around farm dogs but care of the coat might be to much unless you like to use the under coat to make yarn with.
picabo, I do not think you will need to worry about his coat, they loose it when it starts getting hot. I do wonder what he is eating? As far as bird and cattle dogs, you are taking your chances. Dogs have been bread for thousands of years to help man in specific ways and when you use dogs bread for one thing and use them for something different, you are betting against the house. I have used labs for geese hunting and when they fetch a goose, if it is not dead, most of the time they will finish the job. This does not mean that you can not train a bird dog to watch over chickens but the odds are much better that you will get a better watch dog if you start out with a breed that was bread for it. They have found bones in the Pyrenees mountains that look much like the Great Pyrenees that date back 6,000 years. Pyrenees are much more nocturnal than most other dogs, that way they are on guard when most predators are likely to attack. Sleep all day and bark all night.
Coyotes are pack animals and will send in one to distract the dog and then come in from the back side. That is why it is best to have more that one dog. I watched as a neighbors Pitbull climbed in a pen with two Iris Setters and I just knew the Pitbull was going to kill the Setters. No, they worked as a team and tore the Pitbull to pieces. Coyotes do the same thing and will kill and eat a single dog when given the chance. My male is around 200 lb. and he has two young females backing him up. My oldest just had 2 pups ( don't know what happened, last time she had 15 ) and I sell them for $100. to $150. non registered working dogs.
All this talk about guard dogs, I just don't understand what the problem is. It's not that difficult to secure a good chicken coop and a decent run. We also have the same predators mentioned for the most part and most of my seramas free range along with the gamehens. I think I have lost two game hens and one Serama in the past year. Good lord buying a 200lb dog and then the food bill, Yikes!!! I don't think so. Maybe if your making a living off of the livestock OK, but for pets or eggs, thats a very expensive proposition. Where am I going wrong???Hay
I rather agree with Haystack. My chickens free range in a large pasture, and our property backs up to a river with wooded banks. Over the years I have lost three hens to a rabid (day-hunting) raccoon and a few to hawks or possibly owls. (I let the girls out before dawn most days.) During that time I have lost more pullets to my own dogs when the silly girls fly over the fence to the other half of the farm. The dogs do help keep coyotes off the farm in general, and they keep the deer from eating the vegetable garden - plus we never have to lock our doors, so they almost earn their keep.
That pitt bull must have been an inferior member of his breed. No pitt bull I have ever owned would have been killed by a couple of bird dogs.
I live in the sticks and the number one predator is dogs dropped off by city people. I guess I could build a place where stray dog could not get in but it would like a concentration camp. Feed bill for my four large dogs runs about $60. a month and what I make off one or two litters a year, more than covers that. If all I had were a few chickens, I would not need the dogs but they do second as pets. Maggi likes having them around when I am working out of town and at those times they seem to know she is uncomfortable and they stay close to the house. I came home once and found 12 dead peafowl, all killed by the most beautiful Malamute cross ( or something like it ) . Not all of my peafowl are high $ but I some that run $1,200 a pair. I figured I lost about $3,500 in one dog attack. The worse part is loosing some hybrids that I have worked on that bloodline for 12 years. Most people in the country have dogs. If you also have birds, might as well make that dog Great Pyrenees.
Java Green peacock Pavo muticus muticus;
Ken those sure are pretty birds. Who buys your pea fowl?
Here is a pic of peacock I got in an email. It is an albino. I think it is very pretty. How rare is an albino pea fowl?
The owner of that Pitbull worked the dog by chaining him to a 68 Buick Electra and had him pull it down the street. He was as muscled up as any Pitbull I have ever seen. But he was not as fast as those bird dogs. As he was going for one, the other ripped at his flanks and went on for a very long time. 2 against 1 is hard odds to overcome.
I sell some out of my web-site but mostly I trade back and forth with friends across the country. The bird in your picture is not albino, just White. Whites are quiet common and an adult runs about $100. I am working on Whites that are 31/32 Java and have the yellow patch on their cheek.
That is very interesting. I did not know white was an option. The email said it was an albino. How many colors are there of pea fowl.
My dogs would have killed one dog and then the other. They were all varmit dogs. Never people agressive but very capable of killing "prey" including hogs. A bird dog or two would have been a walk in the park. But my dogs were never "fighting" dogs and I didn't encourage it.
Check out these White peacocks fighting.
http://cubits.org/peafowlhaven/thread/view/46500/
