5 common chicken predators | and 10 ways to stop them 

An old trapper told me that a golden delicious apple was his favourite raccoon bail. He said take a bite out of it so they can smell it.

Double checked the comments and didn't see this bit contrary to poplar belief a nocturnal animal is not only out at night. They are far less visible during the day but they are there, especially spring when they have babies and fall when they are going to hibernate. Animals get hungry 24hrs a day, be them domestic or wild. So sorry for your loss. I'm praying i don't run into that.

Biggest issue we’ve had is our neighbor’s dogs. Neighbor’s dog to our left killed our dog. Neighbor’s dog on our right massacred our chickens :/ always thought I’d be dealing with wild predators when I bought land, but nope...just neighbors, same as the suburbs 🤦‍♀️

Thank you so much for your guidance. I’m new to chickens though not new to farm life. Wish I were much younger and with extra helping hands. Am in Tennessee on about 30 acres but it’s rapidly changing from rural land to development, breaks my heart to lose the natural night sky, unrestricted free flowing streams and springs, and flora and fauna. I had 5 different dogs in my yard this morning from surrounding neighbors, some I have never seen before, because my young dog has come into her first heat and can’t be allowed out without supervision and on a leash. My 6 hens only produced 1 egg, I suspect it’s the presence of the strange dogs. I’m also concerned about pesticides and herbicides being applied willy-nilly to my property by ignorant or uncaring neighbors who want to have the city in the country. I long for the old days when wildlife was all I had to be concerned about.

Thank you for a great video.

I am sorry you lost so many of your birds. I recently got chickens. I had watched several of my RU-vid friends who had chickens so I watched all of their learn from our mistakes videos. So thankfully I have been obsessed with protecting my chickens and rooster. We got a new metal barn and we are going to be building a predator proof run very strong we also have all of the same predators plus a mountain Lion so we have to be sure. Thank you for sharing Happy Holidays! Wendy⛄️🎄

Put a driveway motion sensor by the coop. it will beep in your house when a animal shows up at knight. 20 bucks. don't run with a loaded gun.

You two are a Beautiful Couple, Thank-you for sharing it was helpful 🙏✝️🙏

It's always the favorite chicken that gets wacked. Lost mine this morning

Thanks for the tips.

Game cams on cellular data plans that notify you in real time. Pcp air rile and thermal scope are great for night time predators

We've had almost everything come and take chickens. Here we have to deal with raccoons, foxes, coyotes, weasels, fishers, owls, hawks and eagles, all of which we have seen in the day, as well as the night. We did have a Maremma/Great Pyrenees dog, she was fantastic at keeping away a lot of predators and was very good with our chickens (our rooster and her were best friends, they even slept together), but they tend to cover a large area of ground and so she roamed a lot, most of our neighbours loved and appreciated having her around but not all, so when she passed away we changed to Bernese mountain dogs, they are home bodies, but don't guard. We have tried chickens multiple times and every time I think about getting them again, the fox comes around right up to the house to remind me that he is ready. I would like to have chickens again but this time we have to have a bullet proof plan, any help is appreciated.

If predators kills your chickens. It’s your fault.. it is up to you to keep your chickens safe.

Don’t have mercy on Racoons they will kill for fun!!!

Not all dogs kill chickens. My neighbors chickens were free ranging chickens. She kept saying my dogs were killing her chickens with no proof other than the chickens being dead with its neck muscle missing. It was not my dogs. The rest of her chickens ended up living at my house with my dogs protecting them. And I have a fenced yard. She called the animal control on me. When she thought it was my dogs. It ended up being hawks that killed her birds. She caused me unwanted stress I did not ask for. I should call on her with her 10 horses on 3 acres.

We have had Fox, Bobcat, and Bald Eagles. The Bald Eagle was mainly the ducks. The bobcat, last winter, made entry and killed everything. 12 layers and 7 ducks.

We have tried to let chickens free range in the yard during the day but the fox snatched them one at a time. The chickens wouldn’t go in the coop one night and hid from me under the deck. They were all taken by coyotes that night. But our Muscovy ducks have never been bothered. Our known predators: Mink, opossum, raccoon, hawk, eagle, owl, weasel, fox, coyote, stray dog, bobcat. Less likely: bear & panther.

Thank you for the tips this helps alot. I was curious, do you guys free range?? I really wanna free range but I wanna be smart about letting them just be free.

excellent

Thank you for the wonderful tips and I need to make some changes. My birds are great escape artists who are letting me know the vulnerabilities of my coop. I haven’t had any losses yet but my neighbor has had several birds disappearing. We have hawks and an owl. Have you thought about predator urine? Someone suggested that.

Thanks , very helpful just had my Barnevelder Pullet s wiped out. Have an open top run with no problems until i put my young pullets in it. No trace of them.....just feathers, no feet no heads a small part of a gut. Got all 7 the one survivor squeezed into the pen next door that has a top netting.From your video must be bird of prey? what can eat that many young pullets that had grown their first feathers weight about 9oz. putting on a top today.

You guys are interesting

We've actually had huge turkey vultures fly down pick up a full grown ground hog dead IN a coni-bear trap 16:48 picked up still in the trap & carry both off. Believe me my chickens are basically in a brinks truck coop. 😂😂 They'll work if they do get in.

Always trust your husband!

It may be many

I had a chicken go missing there was feathers everywhere but no body or blood

Nursing mother raccoons forage during the daylight hours

Nice video thanks for the great info , dont forget about the Stoats belong to the same mustelid family as weasels and ferrets. They're bigger than weasels and smaller than ferrets, and they have a bushy tail with a black tip. They are all a problem 👍🏽 oh , n i love Bobs , but your farm doesn’t,

I just heard one of our guineas screaming as she was taken by an owl 😢

Well nocturnal animals come out in the day if theyre hungry or feeding their young.

I’ve seen an owl land in a tree next to a young rooster and ran him off the roost and had him when he hit the ground

You should move your flock out of the woods and close to a light source.

It’s a vicious kill!

Why do you not have dogs that are trained to defend your land?

Netting, pellet rifle and a couple dogs

Maybe the other chickens killed it. Meek, Wetzel, rat, some ideas.

As far as Fox and coyotes you may not like it but I can tell you how to get rid of them

I live on 300 acres surrounded by a national forest . I have a small animals farm rescue , and do have many chickens which form I sell eggs . But I also have 11 akbash dogs that attack and kill anything that comes in property .

Wrong type of trap. You need a Duke’s dog proof raccoon trap.

Poor chickens never get any sunlight?😖😠

THIS LADY NEEDS TO LEARN TO TALK INTO THE MICROPHONE!

You don’t have a dog, or two or three (a little pack)? Yeah canines will help deter several of the predators you’ve been dealing with. Get a donkey instead, they hate canines like foxes and coyotes, haha.

you need to speak up, I could not hear you

If you're going to have livestock it's best to have outside cats and dogs to control the rodents and other critters that are going to be looking for food