when anything that flies overhead comes near, the geese and the roosters go nuts. we were home and never heard any ruckus... [sp?]
another disappeared later. perhaps we have a bunch of young hungry snakes...?
Sad event
It would have to be several snakes--they really slow down once the eat! I'm thinking something else. Any rats?
i have five cats, five kittens, and a video of our buckeyes and leghorns chasing, catching, and eating mice!
i was thinking a nest of young snakes. but we looked everywhere! even considered the neighbors and the cats and the kittesn.
no traces of predators or killings or leftovers...
tf do you have a dog? Could they be guilty? No one would raise a fuss about their presence since they were use to them. Just guessing here.
MollyD
three puppies who think they are goats and live in the goat pen. they don't get out. and i did check the pen to make sure there wasn othing dead in there, because VanGoat is small enough he CAN get out anytime he wants, just doesn't. and the chickens would go nuts if a dog showed up they have caninePTSD...
good guess though...
Any neighbor dogs who could slip in quietly?
MollyD
nope. we have security cameras. whatever it is must be very small. found the thrid dead mouse. never seen mice that big before, but they are still smaller than the chicks. no losses today, except nearly for Esther Williams nearly drowning twice, she is in the house now, away from any duck ponds and puddles...
and all neighbors keep their dogs at home, becasue they KNOW we have cameras and guns, and we use them both!
the geese freak when ANYTHING crosses our property line... so they didn't see it either...
tf
Gila Monsters? They eat chicks and eggs--so do some other lizards.
mor eliekly anaconda, it would be camoflauged on the camera by the gravel road LOL
If you have anacondas its because you keep making puddles!
i made th moat around the coop to keep the predators OUT!
Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men......I still think it is rats. They swim and are smarter than dogs.
lareg mice actually. DH insists that you can tell the difference by the tail... hariy or not hairy,,,, true?
Well a rat's tail is generally hairless--but some mice (e.g. house mice) have very little hair on their tails--mice vs rat is not a scientific distiction--it is more a popular one. There is a big mouse called the "something something grasshopper mouse" that is suppose to be like a deer mouse on steroids--very aggressive and even eats small birds. It is found on the western prairies. I doubt that your Buckeyes could swallow a full grown rat.
I love both rats and mice--but generally rats are more likely to be the ones eating chickens. They can be extremely predatory. Mice are terrified of rats--cause the rats do kill and eat them. You can't even keep them in the same lab without the mice stressing out. I've spent too much time in the lab myself...stress, stress, stress:0)
OK, if i can i will get a pic of that nasty thing. everyone squaemsih beware! we are going to ID a dead rat/mouse!
From the Reader's Digest "North American Wildlife" book: Bushy tailed woodrat. This rat does have a bushy tail. It is a "pack rat" in that it steals shiny stuff and leaves other things in their place.
The Northern Grasshopper Mouse is noted in the book for eating bugs, scorpions, and also small mammals. It is about 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 inches long, which is about the size of what you are describing. The Southern version is slightly smaller, but still has the same habits. Only thing is that it is nocturnal.
I am thinking what you have is a rat!!
GG
BTW, this book is a very good reference book for id-ing all sorts of animals.
i wish i could send you a prize! how about an internet hug? [[[[[grany_goody]]]]]
i googled to see the pictures of thos etwo and they aren't it. my camera isn't uplaoding for some reason.
the ones we have the ears are very tiny and the tail thick na dlong, with small hairs near the base of it, which makes it look like a rat,. very short nose, which make sit look mousy. they are about seven inches long when dead, with a 5-7 inch tial. brown.
OK, peter gets to use the ocmputer now. i am going to buy donuts before they sell out...
tf
I'm so sorry for your loss tf! Do you have them inside or out? I don't know what could be getting at them, I'm learning too. I know sometimes it seems that now matter how hard we try to make sure every possible nook and cranny is covered to keep our babies safe, sometimes we learn the hard way that something can still get to them. Very sad and frustrating! I sure hope you can find out what is getting them soon........
one less duckling now. so it is not nocturnal. they get them in the middle of the day while out...
i have never had baby chicks out before. i hatched these myself and gave them to the broody hens, same with the ducks...
soemone goes out every hour to count heads. still hot today...
and the mouse ID is off.
Oh, TF. So sorry to hear another one is gone.
It almost sounds like something killing for sport--not that many small predators would need to eat so many animals in such a short time. Coyotes are diurnal naturally--they only go nocturnal when there is human encroachment. Whatever it is snatches and runs. It must either have a burrow near by or be fairly large. Or a raptor that just carries them off. Chupacabra?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
Something with a family to feed could use that much food. Any foxes tf?
MollyD
Tamara, google "hispid cotton rat" and see if that matches. Size is right, color is right, and is opportunistic for food.
GG
now cat, if it were that why do i still have three goats? LOL
Molly, i agree, seen a lot of little baby mice beging caught by the cats too. we found a bunch of nests today, no one in any till we got to the last one. had my gun on safety and missed the whole pack!
GG will do...
http://www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/171.htm
there it is! thank you Granny_Goody!
we get rid of all these piles of fencing the next two days, and then i'll just go out at dawn at dusk cocked and loaded...
tf
here is the worst of it!
Reproduction: The cotton rat can reproduce all year round. The female has 8-10 nipples. The gestation period lasts for four weeks, and each litter has 1 to 15 young. (In northern populations litters average about 7; in southern populations, 3 or 4.) Young grow rapidly and may be weaned 10 to 15 days after birth, so up to nine litters can be born in a single year. As a result, when weather conditions are good, there can be a huge increase in the rat population causing severe damage to sugarcane, corn, and other crops.
we need more cats!!!
i suppose it may not have been Brandywine who ate the strawberry popcorn seedlings.... though there WAS goat poo present, i didn't catch her eating them...
i have wire around my herb garden, think i'll tighten that up a bit too... DH and ui were thinking they moved over here when the neighbor cleared his land of mesquite for his cowas to graze...
tf
Hey tf--Don't expect too much from your cats--unless they are from good mousing lines and had a good mouser mamma to teach them. We had a plague of mice in our house a few years ago--I cornered one in the bathroom and as it richoched past me out the door it ran through the legs of four dogs and two cats who had come to watch. Not one made move toward it! We did finally get rid of the mice when the Norway rats moved in--those I finally had to poison.
the only rats we have seen are the ones they killed! they are barn cats & don't eat if they don'y hunt.... well they get a little dry food twice a day, & goats milk now & then...
i will stop feeding the cats at night. so glad they have been sleeping ariound my tomasto plants, or they would have been eaten! now to protect the raspberries & clematis!
tf
tf did you know that a well fed cat makes a far better hunter? They don't hunt because they're hungry. They hunt because instinct tells them so and if they aren't hungry they feel like it more often than otherwise. If you don't feed them they'll do a poorer job of hunting for you than if you do feed them. Many people assume the opposite.
MollyD
This message was edited Jun 6, 2008 7:07 PM
OK, guess that is why DH feeds them morning and night. their food certainly last longer than the puppies! they have to be fed before the chickens come out and after they go in. i don't want all that junk in my chickens, but they can't resisit cat food!
I always fed my cats Purina Cat Chow free choice. I had a 5 pound feeder and the cats helped themselves but I guess with the chickens having a yen for it you can't do that!
MollyD
no kidding! thery know when its feeding time!
LOL tell the cat to help himself to "chicken" for dinner!
MollyD
I think they have found that the most important factor in a cat being a good mouser is if its mother moused. They learn by watching--which is why sometimes you find cats stretching up to rattle doorhandles when they want out. If they never see their mother catch mice they are unlikely to do it effectively on their own. They may play with them a bit, but not really go in for the kill--also like Molly says they do better if they are well-fed. I have never had a really good mouser, but I did have a cat who ate so many baby sparrows that she developed a blockage. Feathers.
Catscan I use to run a cattery. For those of you who are shocked right now (LOL) a cattery is when you have a ton of cats usually pedigree ones. My 20 were Siamese cats. I've had bottle fed kittens do the handle thing. Even one who could open doors by using his nails on the little gap. If it wasn't secured out he went for a walk. Never could get him to close it behind himself!
MollyD
Hi Molly--that's funny. I had a cattery too in Victor--called "Backstreet Cattery" --- Balinese and Javanese. I love Siamese! I remember reading that the only thing better than a cat at opening cages in a lab is a monkey. Lab techs hate cats! One of my Siamese would actually grab the doorknob between her paws and swing her weight until the knob turned and opened. I am down to one cat now....but I have been feeling kitten pangs lately.
Hey Catscan who'd a thunk it! I always like the Balinese. I'm not familiar with Javanese. I was doing the cat thing way back in the early 1970's so I'm out of touch with all the breeds out there nowdays.
No cats here now cause our dogs kill cats :-( Maybe someday. Paul would like a barn cat. I would not mind one barn and one house cat.
MollyD
Hi Molly--Javanese are just tabby-pointed Balinese. My last one, Nick, died just last year--he was almost 16. I miss him so much. Right now I have a dilute calico and white (sort of peach and grey) longhair that came with the house. She is very sweet and bright--but I am just more drawn to Siamese types. Her name is Lucia and the chickens are terrorizing her--still she is tough, raised litters of kittens all by herself on the street as a semi-feral. I am the only human she has bonded with. I want a barn so I can have barn cats--and more chickens and goats and sheep and ducks and.....:0)
LOL and no free time!
MollyD