Bobcat and Lynx seem very plentiful this winter! We saw a lynx a couple of days ago, and tonight we had a major encounter with a bobcat.
When we opened the chicken coop door, we wondered why the chickens were outside in the snow in the dark. Then we noticed there were two dead chickens in the coop. We didn't see anything else in there, so we proceeded to get the chickens back in, but they sure didn't want to go in! After we had them all in, we were in the process of going back in behind them, and we saw it! We'd thrown the chickens in WITH a bobcat! And, she killed a third one. :( We then put all the chickens in the main part of the barn and my husband killed the bobcat. It was a big female, but really, extremely sickly skinny. She probably would have taken them down one at a time if we'd let her live, but it's still hard to end the life of something so lovely!
So, I'm pretty sure it's goodbye to eggs for a while. Poor hens are really traumatized. I hope the roo isn't going to turn nasty; he's been such a nice boy up until now. At least my 8 year old's favorite, Olivia, is still with us. There would have been many tears if we'd lost her.
It's crazy, because we live in the extreme southern range of the lynx, and the extreme northern range of the bobcat, but I've never seen either in the wild until this month. Saw a lynx on St. Patrick's Day and now a bobcat.
Replies
Yes, Margaret. Many, many people take hikes/ski with a gun along, in case they need it to defend themselves against a predator, or an angry mama moose, or crazy bull moose. Mostly, those things don't happen though. We've been hiking these woods all our lives, and never personally had a problem.
I'm the opposite of you, can't stand the heat! Also just the idea of poisonous snakes/spiders really makes me shiver! It's a good thing we all have our preferences. :)
Man, it sounds really scarey were all you guys live!
You know how the grass is always suppose to seem greener? I don't think so! I admit that the sweltering temps here are difficult to deal with but other than that things aren't so bad! Besides I am use to that having been born here. And I cannot tolerate cold. We have crappy hay so we make up for it with more good pellets etc. And of course there are the parasites so we have to learn to manage accordingly.
Other than that we are pretty blessed with lots of great free natural goat food here and really no natural goat predators and a minimum of other natural predators. My biggest concern now that we are adding serious numbers of poultry (about 50 chicks so far...more each week & ducks and geese ordered) and a quad of rabbits is "Babytoon" the raccoon that I WILL NOT kill! Because we raised her and she lives loose around here now so I will have to really do a great job of protecting everyone from her. I am only worried about baby bunnies, chicks, eggs etc. not kids or anything like that. She grew up eating and playing with the goats, cats and dogs! We have a few possums here. I think the biggest thing even in more remote areas around might be a coyote if there are any left at all, but not here and occasionally we see a fox dead on the road nearby. Only seen 2 or 3 alive my whole life so not to many of those. I feel for you guys!
Deborah, I was thinking of your raccoon story when this happened. It made it a little easier for us, I think. We've had to shoot a fox once, and a black bear once pushed the fence over (cheap T-posts), got in the coop, pooped a big pile, ate all the grain, and left the chickens and eggs.
Another little bear (at least that's what I think it was) somehow got a 50 lbd. bag of grain and dragged it 50 feet or so into the wooded area, but didn't get into it.
I've seen one cougar, but not on our property, though a neighbor saw one running down our road. I don't EVER want an encounter with one! We've had timber wolves for sure, but haven't lost anything to them.
These animals are all so beautiful, and I love catching site of any one of them from a safe distance, but they sure could take out the goats and other animals pretty quickly!
Wow! That must have been scary!
I agree that it is sad to have to kill a predator like that because most of them are lovely and look like cuddly stuffed animals. There was a raccoon in my chicken house a few months ago, and I hated shooting it, but I couldn't very well just leave it in there and say, "Have a nice dinner." So far, coyotes and raccoons are the only things we have to worry about. I hope we don't get anything bigger or scarier!
Good luck with your hens. Hope they recover soon!
Patty, I am so sorry you lost the 3 girls and very sorry that you had to take down the bobcat! They are very beautiful. I know it is an awful thing to have to do and I appreciate that it matters to you. So many people seem to be able to take down anything that even slightly inconveniences them with no thoughts of it! It's bad enough when there IS a good reason like you had.
I just recently realized thru fb that there are some people out there who seem to jump mighty quick to taking down numerous animals for what don't seem like very good reasons. Some folks new to farming seem to be taking down everything that isn't one of there livestock.