On May 13 a mystery creature broke into Leslie Sprando’s duck
pen. The animal had
apparently climbed up the door and forced its way in where the
door was loose at the top.
The creature killed seven pet ducks and a goose. It ate a few
pounds of meat off the
goose. All the birds were killed by a bite to the throat.
Apparently the animal had tried
to take one of the ducks with it but had left its prey stuck in
the door.
What kind of animal could have done such a thing?
I’ve had similar experiences in my own yard. Once a friend
gave me eight bantam
chickens. They were fun to have around, and the rooster served
as an alarm clock. But week
by week their numbers dwindled.
A Cooper’s hawk got one. When Phyllis went out with a broom
to protect the chickens,
she had to sweep the hawk off the chicken — he must have been
hungry.
One night as I sat outside, I heard something climbing a pine
near the house. In a few
minutes there was a crack, followed by a thump and a squawking
of fluttering bantams.
They had been roosting on a pine limb. The ‘possum had
crawled out to get them and the
limb had broken. The next morning we had one less chicken.
If you have unprotected chickens, guineas or ducks, sooner or
later they will turn up
dead. Here are some tips to help you determine the killer.
If the crop is eaten, or if the animal has been killed while
still in its cage and some
parts pulled through the wire and eaten off, suspect a raccoon.
If the chickens are simply
gone, maybe it was a fox or coyote.
If the head and neck are slimy, suspect a rat snake, which
swallowed as far as he
could, then gave up. Snakes can’t bite pieces out of their
prey.
If a white splash mark is near the kill, and the carcass is
picked clean with few or no
bones broken, suspect a bird of prey. If you find chewed or
broken feathers, the predator
was a mammal. Hawks and owls don’t do such damage to
feathers.
If large bones were cleanly cut, suspect a bobcat. They have
a pair of sharp shearing
teeth for cutting bone. If large bones were crushed, gnawed or
broken, maybe the culprit
was a member of the dog family.
A useful technique is to skin the dead bird. Then the marks
of teeth or claws will show
clearly in the flesh and provide clues.
If a lot of birds are killed and scattered and the inside of
the coop is a mess,
suspect dogs. If birds are killed and piled, think mink or
weasel. If baby chicks are
piled or pulled into a rat hole, maybe it was a rat.
In the Sprando case, since the animal forced its way in at
the top of the door, it was
a good climber. I suspect a raccoon — or a few raccoons.
What can you do to prevent a predator from taking your pet
birds?
A sturdy cage is your best answer. You can’t keep free-
roaming poultry without risk of
losing them to predators.
Even if you could shoot and trap every predator you saw, some
would still come through.
Besides, who would want to do such a thing?
Raccoons and opossums are especially common these days, even
in town. That’s due to a
decline in fur trapping, and a decline in larger predators —
wolves, cougars and bears –
which occasionally eat medium-sized predators.
Predators are interesting to watch should they visit your
wild garden. It’s best,
however, not to try and make friends.
