# How to eliminate a Bobcat eating my chickens?



## rkearly (Aug 14, 2016)

We have been losing at least one chicken or turkey poult per night, sometimes two at a time. The predator usually leaves behind feathers, the backbones or breastbones, large leg bones and feet and all of the bones are well scrubbed of any meat. There doesn't seem to be a specific pattern of where the remains are found as we free-range our poultry, nor is there a specific time of day or night when the damage is done.

If the bones and remains are left during the day, they are usually gone the next night but there's also a fresh kill at the same time. We are surrounded by woods and the predator leaves our geese, adult turkeys and ducks alone, all of which are much bigger than the turkey poults or chickens. The rabbits that remain outside in a colony have been left alone as well. We also have a lamb, cow, miniature horse and rabbits that are in a barn at night, although not in stalls, and the barn is kept lit at night.

We suspected a raccoon until now, but we've just learned a bobcat has been seen in our area, so now I'm wondering, especially since our neighbor came by for eggs and mentioned there were remains left at his place - on the next street over, which seems like a long way for a raccoon to carry what he described as a bird much larger than a chicken (likely our larger 6-month old poult which went missing yesterday).

Anyone have any suggestions?


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

They need to be penned at night. One Bobcat means more to come. You can't kill them all.


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## dademoss (May 2, 2015)

Lock em in a coop at night, or get used to the losses, there is never just "one"


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Seems to be a recurring theme, people have just one animal that is killing their chickens. This is not how it works. You might have a bobcat. You might also have some coyotes that know where your chickens are if they need to shop for poultry. Along with some fox, tons of *****, a tractor trailer load of possums, like number of skunks, a few weasels, some mink, and in most places a bear willing to tear everything open to get to some chicken feed, chickens, eggs, etc. A bear can most likely smell a bag of laying mash from a mile away. Most of these animals have similar capabilities. There is never just one animal you need to worry about. And if you catch him, the spot that he vacates will attract another.

Personally, I would gladly give up a few chickens for an easy to find bobcat so that my hounds could stretch their legs a little, filling the night air with sweet music. But nothing ever comes around here. Just a few possums, and a possum doesn't make a good sounding race, much too short.


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## rkearly (Aug 14, 2016)

Your points are duly received. Thank you and I'll do this immediately. Am I going to need to worry about my cow, sheep or horse as well, or are bobcats more likely to stick with the smaller animals/birds?


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

rkearly said:


> Your points are duly received. Thank you and I'll do this immediately. Am I going to need to worry about my cow, sheep or horse as well, or are bobcats more likely to stick with the smaller animals/birds?


No. They are too small. We see a lot of Bobcats here. Cougar is another story. We have had that problem.


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## Christopher McClung (May 1, 2017)

Ok so I free range poultry(hundreds). I was losing birds to winged and 4 legged predators at an astounding rate. I invested in electric net fencing first off. It doesn't always keep the birds in, but it does keep the 4 legged predators out. Second, we got 2 Great Pyrenees puppies 10 months ago. They were raised with the chickens, but stay outside the electric net fencing. They will not kill my birds, but they will play with a flighty chick. Since last September I have not lost 1 bird to a predator. My dogs have scared off great horned owls, eagles, hawks, coyotes, and foxes. Then this past May I heard the dogs going nuts underneath a stand of tall pines in the back of the pasture. I went running out, and laying on a limb about 20ft above the ground was a bobcat. I can't say enough about the job these dogs do. I sell pasture poultry to local restaurants and those 2 dogs keep me in business.
On our website we have a blog about the dogs as well as the fencing in our Amazon store.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

I live catch them----usually the next night after a attack----knock on wood has been a few years-----I have caught quiet a few in the years past. Last time it was 2----they killed several chickens one night----I put a dead chicken in the live catch trap and caught one right after dark the next night. Was glad I got him. The next morning I had had another attack---3 or 4 more dead chickens---I set the trap again that night and caught the second one, not had any problems in the last few years.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

I don't think I could keep chickens around here unless I had a couple roosters and dogs for during the day and locked them up at night. When I say night I mean before even a hint of dusk.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

I had a rooster taken yesterday about noon. I was allowing him to live outside the pen and chicken house because the other two roosters made his life awful. So he had a couple of good months being spoiled and free before getting got by what I think was a fox.

The electric around the coop went on last night and will stay that way until the fox understands that was his only free meal.


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Put up a trail cam to find out what the culprit is....I've lost many adult birds to bobcats here.....they always take their catch and leave with it, prolly to feed their young. Doesn't sound like a bobcat to me. They snatch and run, and then come back for more.

brownegg


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

brownegg said:


> Put up a trail cam to find out what the culprit is....I've lost many adult birds to bobcats here.....they always take their catch and leave with it, prolly to feed their young. Doesn't sound like a bobcat to me. They snatch and run, and then come back for more.
> 
> brownegg


I have had bobcats go into the coop and kill everything at once. Happened twice to me. Stayed to eat. Found them in the coop in the morning.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Putting up a trail cam might be fun, but it won't do anything to solve the problem.
Buy a large live trap and keep it set all the time if you want to keep predators under control.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

Right Biff. A live trap solves all. What are you smokin' these days?


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## Skamp (Apr 26, 2014)

Learn to track a tire track, then a knobby. 

Learn to track your own dog, then........


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

krackin said:


> Right Biff. A live trap solves all. What are you smokin' these days?


I'm not going to play your silly games.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

A trail cam will tell you what you are dealing with. Without knowing what you are dealing with, it is hard to pick the right cage trap for the job, if it is even a problem that a cage trap can solve. Bobcats, particularly big toms, don't like too tight of a space, especially height wise. A big tom can bend the door on the junky cages from the farm stores, too, and let himself out.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

brownegg said:


> Put up a trail cam to find out what the culprit is....I've lost many adult birds to bobcats here.....they always take their catch and leave with it, prolly to feed their young. Doesn't sound like a bobcat to me. They snatch and run, and then come back for more.
> 
> brownegg


They will grab a duck and go here because the other ducks hit the water but several times over the years if they get into the chicken yard---they will kill several and try to cover the dead bodies with leaves/dirt and take one and leave----but they Will be back the next night to retrieve the dead----that's how I catch them the next night is a dead one in the bait section of the big live catch trap. Twice I got hit right after dark, before I got to the run to close the door----they killed a few and had them almost buried in a section I had some loose dirt about 100ft away from the chicken run. I do have some trail camera pics on another computer I am not using----I need to retrieve and put on this newer one.


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## Ray (Dec 5, 2002)

rkearly said:


> We have been losing at least one chicken or turkey poult per night, sometimes two at a time. The predator usually leaves behind feathers, the backbones or breastbones, large leg bones and feet and all of the bones are well scrubbed of any meat. There doesn't seem to be a specific pattern of where the remains are found as we free-range our poultry, nor is there a specific time of day or night when the damage is done.
> 
> If the bones and remains are left during the day, they are usually gone the next night but there's also a fresh kill at the same time. We are surrounded by woods and the predator leaves our geese, adult turkeys and ducks alone, all of which are much bigger than the turkey poults or chickens. The rabbits that remain outside in a colony have been left alone as well. We also have a lamb, cow, miniature horse and rabbits that are in a barn at night, although not in stalls, and the barn is kept lit at night.
> 
> ...


I have trapped 30 Raccoon 7 Opossom in the last 28 days. All wanting to eat my poultry! and some were getting into my feed bins! Also! Most were intent on getting into my poultry house where they Roost in peace! hopefully! I have to have a pen that is completely enclosed! including the top! I have MANY Red tail Hawks! that love chicken! some great Horned Owls that can see better at 2 AM on a Moonless night than a Navey Seal Snipper with a starlight scope! and love to pick Guinea from the heart of a fully enclosed Red Cedar tree in pitch black! fly off to their nest where you can find the bones and feathers puked out under the tree a few days later! I have spent several thousand dollars on Guinea foul in the last 30 years because I dearly love having them around! 
However since fur prices have plummeted and no one wants to buy fur coats or fur anything anymore? Very few traps or hunt racoon, opossom, skunk. Fox, etc.but Bobcat, lynx, protected! now they have stocked Black bear a couple miles from my house! several times!! in the last ten years, so I expect they might be one a problem before long! see signs of them off and on! can't tie a dog outside! conservation warns they will kill your chained pets! 
I agree with others, if you want a free range bird. put them up every night under a latched door not easily acessable by animals. I let mine out every morning sometime before daylight? sometimes it might be 7am when I don't go out early? and always shut the doors and latch them after they are all in the Roost! 
Once trained they will automaticly return to their Roost and bed down by themselves every day! takes a lil training?? abut quite easy as it is a natural thing to get to bed early as a bird! heheheh! Some guinea may renig? and start sleeping out in th Cedars! abut not for long! because the Great horned Owls will dine on them enevitibly! sooner!!! or Later!! at least here! Best of luck! If you decide to stay free range at night? It will be a great and expensive adventure!! a learning experience that unless you have unlimited finances will become self prohibitive? I belive? I tried it for many years! had a lot of good years! BUT in the end, you either latch them at night or sacrifice them to the empty bellies of hungry predators that are just doing what anyone would do if hungery and came across a full and abundance of precious and Fat and tasty Fowl!! hehe!! you,d eat hearty!! till they are all gone!!! then look for another fine supply of fat fowl being fed just for you!! hehe best wishes, Ray!!


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

I'd think those roosting guineas would be a delight for fishers too.


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

The trail cam has nothing to do with fun. It's a tool to determine what will work best to eliminate the culprit. They are super easy to trap with a leg hold trap, that's why we have so many restrictions here on them.

be


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

$25 dollar bounty when I started trapping near 50 years ago. .50 on hedgehogs.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

brownegg said:


> It's a tool to determine what will work best to eliminate the culprit.


A trap will work best. No pictures are needed to know that.


brownegg said:


> They are super easy to trap with a leg hold trap


So are pets which is why I said use a large live trap.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Leghold traps are live traps. You can release pets from legholds just as the same as you can release them from cage traps. If you are inclined to let your pets roam loose to interfere with predator removal operations. Most dogs learn after a time or two.


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## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

Lock up your birds at night, and have a good fool-proof latch on the door. I've had bobcats open door latches and wipe out the whole flock in one night. Trap the cat and eliminate it if at all possible. By eliminate, I mean kill it. When they start to invade the barnyard, they are varmints. A permanent lesson is in order.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Bearfootfarm said:


> A trap will work best. No pictures are needed to know that.
> 
> So are pets which is why I said use a large live trap.


Would be nice if people were more cognizant about what else they can catch in their traps besides the I tended target. Out here the Dept of Agriculture is using cyanide traps for coyotes right near private homes. And cable wolf snares right off heavily used trails that strangle dogs to death quickly. Jerks.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...yanide-trap-that-hurt-idaho-boy-killed-dog-2/


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Snares that strangle dogs to death? I've snared a ton of coyotes. Several dogs along the way. Never had a single one that was not released unharmed. Some were reunited with long lost owners including a pomeranian that rode home inside my jacket, His little girl was very happy to see him, he had been gone for over a week, and was along way from home. Tools are only as good as the people using them, and when wildlife services are using them they are often bad tools. If a snare kills a dog, it's because someone intended for it to, or else they weren't checking it very often.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Snare aren't legal in all states.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> Snare aren't legal in all states.


Yes, the greatest and simplest coyote management tool ever, is not legal in some states because people believe animal rights propaganda over people that actually have a clue. As simple as they are, there is much room for regulation to address specific issues and concerns with snares. This is reflected in the number of different state laws, crafted by state trapper associations and legislators, to address local concerns. Breakaways set at certain poundages to release non target ungulates, hoof rollers can be mandated to decrease hoof catching abilities of the smaller ungulates, relaxing locks and stops can make snares completely non lethal for any animal caught. Trail setbacks, use restrictions on public lands, can further limit bad experiences. Some people decide to urge legislators to completely outlaw all trapping. Which means, government agencies will still be using the same methods, or more in the case of cyanide guns, to control wildlife. Often, the field operators are low paid and lack experience, so this actually can increase the danger to the public.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I said snares when I meant conibear traps. It's legal in Idaho to set them five feet from the center if a trail so even a dog on leash can be killed before the owner can release him. IF the owner can release him at all. 
Someone on HT lost a dog to one a couple of years back. Can't think of his name.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Yes, conibears are very bad for dogs. Unless placed in a dog proof cubby, or underwater, they should definitely be reserved for extremely remote locations. Excellent tool for problem beaver removal, and almost zero chance of catching a dog under such applications. Have heard of an instance where the USDA set one and forgot about it, for months, and the water level dropped and caught someone's dog in a fairly populated area. 

The problem with trapping, there are a lot of professional, semi-professional people out there doing fairly responsible work, but when the fur market ticks up a little, it brings all sorts out of the woodworks. Many states require some sort of education program before issuing a license, which is a good thing. If nothing else, people can learn about some of the new technology available that make things much more safe and humane. Sadly, a lot of people in it for quick beer money aren't going to invest in new equipment, they will use grandpa's stuff. When the fur market drops off, the beer money crowd exits, populations rise, and government agents are used, which brings it's own set of problems. 

For me, the more comfortable I can keep an animal, the more chance there is for him to still be waiting for me at daylight, so with leghold traps, using things like shock springs, center swivels, padded offset jaws, they can be about as humane as a cage trap.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

barnbilder said:


> Often, the field operators are low paid and *lack experience*, so this actually can increase the danger to the public.


Most people "lack experience" using and setting traps, which is why a simple appropriately sized live trap works so well for many different species.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

So what do you guys do with all your lived trapped problematic animals? I've seen a few types try to release them on my farm, a few more up the road near camps and on town forest. You all licensed to release destructive animals on the property of others? Just curious. It's against the law here.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

krackin said:


> So what do you guys do with all your lived trapped problematic animals?


Kill them, if they aren't someone's pet.


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Here in Wisconsin we use cable restraints and not snares. They don't kill, but restrain and have a break away for animals like deer....just sayin.

be


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

brownegg said:


> Here in Wisconsin we use cable restraints and *not snares*.


They are still considered "snares" for legal purposes.


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## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

krackin said:


> So what do you guys do with all your lived trapped problematic animals? I've seen a few types try to release them on my farm, a few more up the road near camps and on town forest. You all licensed to release destructive animals on the property of others? Just curious. It's against the law here.


.22


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

They are not considered snares.....a snare is not a restraint..... Restraints are a live restraining system.

be


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

I had a pro trapper who was licensed for wildlife control, and who had permission to hunt my land, live trap ***** one season in one area. He turned me onto **** cuffs. He got 14 or 16, years back, don't recall. All young. He had permission to turn them loose on a large tract of private land, then he went back in regular season and trapped them for hide. At that time there was a market in China. I have no idea how that worked. Sell to a buyer who shipped I'd guess. That market dried up. One can't charge for wildlife control here and that was how he met expenses.

I also supplied him with old sweet corn for beaver bait which tends to be problematic for roads especially, damming culverts mostly. He claimed that was never fail bait. After skinning the beaver and harvesting glands, the carcasses were used for bear bait which is supposedly the best.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

For legal purposes, cable restraints are considered cable restraints, and snares are considered snares. Some states allow cable restraints, but not snares.


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## Bungiex88 (Jan 2, 2016)

Kill the bobcats. Post online for people to come hunt or trap it. There fur can be valuable. Or get yourself a guardian dog


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## Jojo the chicken (Dec 28, 2020)

brownegg said:


> Put up a trail cam to find out what the culprit is....I've lost many adult birds to bobcats here.....they always take their catch and leave with it, prolly to feed their young. Doesn't sound like a bobcat to me. They snatch and run, and then come back for more.
> 
> brownegg


I thought so to until I found bobcat tracks all around my coop this morning with nothing but wings and a head.the cat definitely pulled the chicken thru the fence and eaten it on site.


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## Macrocarpus (Jan 30, 2018)

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!!!
i DID NOT KNOW THAT ANYONE EXPECTED TO KEEP BIRDS OF ANY KIND WITHOUT PUTTING THEM UP AT NIGHT TO KEEP THEM SAFE FROM PREDATORS.

ALL THE COMMON PREDATORS PLUS THE UNCOMMON ONES THE &%(1&& GREENHORNS INSIST ON TURNING LOOSE WILL EAT YOUR LIVESTOCK IF THEY ARE BIG ENOUGH TO KILL THEM. THAT MEANS MINK UP TO COYOTE WILL KILL YOUR POULTRY, BOBCAT AND UP WILL KILL LAMBS, KIDS AND CALVES AS WELL. WOLF AND BEAR--WILL EAT YOU IF GIVEN THE CHANCE.

THE BIG STOCK DOG WAS A GOOD SUGGESTION, BUT THE ONLY REAL WAY TO SAFEGUARD THEM AT NIGHT IS TO BRING THEM BACK INTO A SHELTER. THAT IS EASY WITH CHICKENS---THEY WILL NATURALLY SEEK A ROOST AT NIGHT AND CAN BE CLOSED UP. IF YOU SPEND ENOUGH YOU CAN BUY OR MAKE A TIMED DOOR TO OPEN AND CLOSE AT DAWN AND DUSK. 

I HAVE ALWAYS TRAPPED AND KILLED THE DAMNED THINGS---COYOTE, BOBCAT, FOX, A TON OF ***** AND POSSUM AND SKUNK. TO HELL WITH THE GREENIES WHO THINK I SHOULD FEED THEIR WILD PETS. IF THEY COME ON MY PROPERTY AND KILL MY LIVESTOCK THEY ARE FAIR GAME.

AN OLD INDIAN FRIEND ALWAYS GUT SHOT COYOTES---THEY DID NOT DIE CLOSE TO HIS HOUSE, BUT THEY DIED. SAME WITH STRAY DOGS KILLING POULTRY OR CALVES. STUPID CITY PEOPLE BUY A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY, THEN TURN THEIR BIG DOGS LOOSE TO ROAM OTHER PEOPLES PROPERTY. ONE OF THEM KILLED A GOOSE FOR ME A FEW WEEKS AGO. REPORTS OF OTHER PEOPLE BEING UNHAPPY WITH SAME DOG. HE IS GONE NOW I THINK.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

MACROCARPUS, FIX YOUR SHIFT LOCK.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

We have a bobcat that comes through, we see it every once and a while. So far it hasn't gotten a chicken, I hope it never becomes a problem.


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

Christopher McClung said:


> Ok so I free range poultry(hundreds). I was losing birds to winged and 4 legged predators at an astounding rate. I invested in electric net fencing first off. It doesn't always keep the birds in, but it does keep the 4 legged predators out. Second, we got 2 Great Pyrenees puppies 10 months ago. They were raised with the chickens, but stay outside the electric net fencing. They will not kill my birds, but they will play with a flighty chick. Since last September I have not lost 1 bird to a predator. My dogs have scared off great horned owls, eagles, hawks, coyotes, and foxes. Then this past May I heard the dogs going nuts underneath a stand of tall pines in the back of the pasture. I went running out, and laying on a limb about 20ft above the ground was a bobcat. I can't say enough about the job these dogs do. I sell pasture poultry to local restaurants and those 2 dogs keep me in business.
> On our website we have a blog about the dogs as well as the fencing in our Amazon store.


Dogs work fine. I have two that live with my animals in the fields. 2 that guard around my house. No more problem with predators. Man or Beast.


rkearly said:


> We have been losing at least one chicken or turkey poult per night, sometimes two at a time. The predator usually leaves behind feathers, the backbones or breastbones, large leg bones and feet and all of the bones are well scrubbed of any meat. There doesn't seem to be a specific pattern of where the remains are found as we free-range our poultry, nor is there a specific time of day or night when the damage is done.
> 
> If the bones and remains are left during the day, they are usually gone the next night but there's also a fresh kill at the same time. We are surrounded by woods and the predator leaves our geese, adult turkeys and ducks alone, all of which are much bigger than the turkey poults or chickens. The rabbits that remain outside in a colony have been left alone as well. We also have a lamb, cow, miniature horse and rabbits that are in a barn at night, although not in stalls, and the barn is kept lit at night.
> 
> ...


Guard Dogs works for me.


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## Macrocarpus (Jan 30, 2018)

Shifrt lock fixed, though I cannot see what I am writing without sticking my nose on the screeen.


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

Macrocarpus said:


> Shifrt lock fixed, though I cannot see what I am writing without sticking my nose on the screeen.


The printing on my computer is gray. Tried making the printing back without sucess.


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## Missouri girl (Mar 28, 2021)

Ray said:


> I have trapped 30 Raccoon 7 Opossom in the last 28 days. All wanting to eat my poultry! and some were getting into my feed bins! Also! Most were intent on getting into my poultry house where they Roost in peace! hopefully! I have to have a pen that is completely enclosed! including the top! I have MANY Red tail Hawks! that love chicken! some great Horned Owls that can see better at 2 AM on a Moonless night than a Navey Seal Snipper with a starlight scope! and love to pick Guinea from the heart of a fully enclosed Red Cedar tree in pitch black! fly off to their nest where you can find the bones and feathers puked out under the tree a few days later! I have spent several thousand dollars on Guinea foul in the last 30 years because I dearly love having them around!
> However since fur prices have plummeted and no one wants to buy fur coats or fur anything anymore? Very few traps or hunt racoon, opossom, skunk. Fox, etc.but Bobcat, lynx, protected! now they have stocked Black bear a couple miles from my house! several times!! in the last ten years, so I expect they might be one a problem before long! see signs of them off and on! can't tie a dog outside! conservation warns they will kill your chained pets!
> I agree with others, if you want a free range bird. put them up every night under a latched door not easily acessable by animals. I let mine out every morning sometime before daylight? sometimes it might be 7am when I don't go out early? and always shut the doors and latch them after they are all in the Roost!
> Once trained they will automaticly return to their Roost and bed down by themselves every day! takes a lil training?? abut quite easy as it is a natural thing to get to bed early as a bird! heheheh! Some guinea may renig? and start sleeping out in th Cedars! abut not for long! because the Great horned Owls will dine on them enevitibly! sooner!!! or Later!! at least here! Best of luck! If you decide to stay free range at night? It will be a great and expensive adventure!! a learning experience that unless you have unlimited finances will become self prohibitive? I belive? I tried it for many years! had a lot of good years! BUT in the end, you either latch them at night or sacrifice them to the empty bellies of hungry predators that are just doing what anyone would do if hungery and came across a full and abundance of precious and Fat and tasty Fowl!! hehe!! you,d eat hearty!! till they are all gone!!! then look for another fine supply of fat fowl being fed just for you!! hehe best wishes, Ray!!


 when we first started doing chickens we lost one, this was about 12 years ago. So we got some heavy fishing line and weaved it on top the area where we have our chickens. like a spiderweb. If a bird sees it and thinks it’s win span won’t allow it to fly out quickly it won’t go in that area. We have NEVER lost a chicken since. You can see it in this photo.


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

We free range the birds here...that's the way they are the happiest and the healthiest. Bobcats with young will come and snatch hens during the day because they become very brazen with hungry little ones....the only solution is to eliminate the Cat or it will be back. They have become quite numerous here. My neighbor had a tag and trapped one last fall and a mere week later I had one not 50 feet from the coop once again.....they are a real threat to chickens and always win with their stealth.....just sayin. The Cats have to go.....my hens are going to free range.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I would use a live trap, and bait it with a chicken. Call your local animal control office, they may have live traps. They may even set the trap for you. I used a live trap from animal control, and kept it set for over a week. Every morning for five days I would call animal control, and they would come pick up the dog, cat, or skunk.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Bobcats have nice fur, and not bad on the grill with the right spices.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Evons hubby said:


> Bobcats have nice fur, and not bad on the grill with the right spices.


I got three hundred for the last pelt I sold. I have skinned a few, but never ate one.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I've got a fox that is intent on taking my chickens the past few weeks. I can usually make quick work of them but this one is watching me and tracking my habits.
First he hit at dusk, so I sat out. Then he started coming in at dawn. I left for the post office this morning about 11 and when I got back I found a pile of feathers in the middle of my backyard. The live traps go out in the morning and the dogs will be outside the animal fencing. Free ranging has been canceled for all but essential personnel.


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## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

GTX63 said:


> I've got a fox that is intent on taking my chickens the past few weeks. I can usually make quick work of them but this one is watching me and tracking my habits.
> First he hit at dusk, so I sat out. Then he started coming in at dawn. I left for the post office this morning about 11 and when I got back I found a pile of feathers in the middle of my backyard. The live traps go out in the morning and the dogs will be outside the animal fencing. Free ranging has been canceled for all but essential personnel.


I had an avian chicken predator like that. Something was amiss with it that caused its behavior. It heard a vehicle fire up. It saw me walking. It spotted me under cover. It didn't know what to do with me sitting in a chair in the chicken house reading a book as it hopped in through the ramp.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

This time of the season I am too busy but many years ago there was a neighborhood Tom that would come by and pizz on my wife's porch swing cushions, beat up the dog, eat their food, etc. We suspected he had killed the neighbor's kittens.
We lived in a little shanty but by gawd it was our castle. One day my wife saw the cat on a table outside and right next to the kitchen window spraying thru the screen. That was it boy! 
For three nights I sat midway up a stepladder in the garage, with the doors open, food on the floor in the pitch dark. No itunes or ear buds back then. Just me in the black like Colonel Kurtz. My wife thought I was nuts, and I was probably showing the early signs of dementia then. Anyway, night three, about 11:45 I spot him in the driveway. It took him 20 minutes to go 20' before he stood in the doorway for about forever. Once he got to the food I had a 12' rod used for cleaning chimneys that I quietly and quickly used to reach out and slam the door shut.


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