| Hi Karen,
I would guess maybe an opossum. Fisher are not small and yet I agree with Frank, they are aggressive. I would think Fishers might kill the whole bunch as they are known to do that. Sorry about the losses and especially the rooster, who was a beauty of a critter.
Someone at LLCT may know more about scat than I. Opossums definitely leave scat behind & are quiet.
Hope the additional safeguards help!
Kathleen
Karen, Two possibilities. My neighbors and I have definitely seen "fisher cats." These are wolverine family and can be aggressive. They would leave scat. These are most easily recognized by the way they run. These would require a tighter electric fence, maybe two wires separated by a foot that are 4" off the ground. That configuration finally kept the ground hog out of my garden. Another recommendation given how dry it has been, is to run a ground wire, either on the ground or buried half an inch, all the way around your fence to make sure you have a good circuit. The really dry weather we have had was making my multiple ground rods not so effective for the furry ground hog. The second possibility is red tailed hawks. A pair around our house would steal Codman Farm chickens and bring them here to eat, but from my observation, their scat is liquid. These would require sky cover. I suggest a motion activated"trail camera" to see exactly what the culprit is. Frank Seeking help at identifying what is eating my chickens. The chickens
are free-ranging tiny bantams. An adult rooster (less than a pound) was
eaten about 2 weeks ago, and a half-grown female chick (perhaps 4-6
ounces) disappeared the next week and an adult hen this past week. The
forage area is surrounded by electrified fencing that is generally
effective at deterring coyotes, foxes, dogs, raccoons and bears but
smaller predators could get through the openings or under the lowest
electrified strand, e.g., weasels, skunks, opossums, rats, squirrels.
While hawks have taken some chickens previously, the survivors are not
showing the scared behavior they've shown after previous hawk attacks.
The week+ gap between kills seemed odd -- I'd have expected the predator
to come back right away. Scat was found in a corner of the fenced area
-- I was unable to shrink the photos sufficiently for sending to
LincolnTalk. Please let me know if you'd like to see them or know of
someone to whom I could send them for identification. Any help would be
much appreciated. Note that cameras will be getting installed but are
not yet in place and electrified chicken fencing (smaller holes than
current fencing) may get set up too.)
Thank you,
Karen Seo
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