[Andy Carson]

Oh boy Geoff! Looks nice. Is everything working, or do you have to work on it a bit?

[Andy Carson]

More clues. I set a couple live traps baited with chicken livers. One near the place I found the chicken and one near the coop. In only a couple hours after dark, the livers were gone from the trap close to where I found the dead chicken. No animal in the trap though. The animal dug underneath the live trap and reached up from underneath to pull the liver out from though the floor of the trap. I can’t think of many animals with the smarts, dexterity, and size to do this. I think it has to be a raccoon. Thing is it’s not news to me that there are raccoons around here. If I catch one, who’s knows if it was the “perp”…

[Andy Carson]

Egg production has gone down by roughly 33% in the last month or so, but I think this is the winter. Still, I think I’ll set a trap and see what happens. I can’t see how it would hurt. I wonder if I’ll just catch the barn cats… more clues can’t hurt. Too bad weasels and mink aren’t scared of dogs, my dog is getting to be a a wonderful guard… I wonder how close mink have to be to water. I’ve only got a small pond on the place, and it is dry in late summer. The nearest creek that runs all year long is probably a quarter mile away, but it’s across open fields. There’s a whole string of large ponds about a half mile away through the woods, though.

[Andy Carson]

This is funny… I don’t think a weasel is out as a suspect, ESP if they can be active in the day. I am not weirded out that there weren’t more chickens killed, as I was home and outside at the time. My dog was too. Maybe the rt of the chicken ran over closer to us and the animalmdidn’t want to risk it. I can’t the area from where I was, but it’s probably only 200 ft away (on the other side of the house). The other potential confounder here is that although I know what time the chicken was killed (roughly), I didn’t find it until many hours later. So it’s possibly it was killed by one animal and another animal was eating on it before I found it. I have a few barn cats who might have been at it, although they are normally more interested in killing things than eating them. Whatever was at it couldn’t have been very large, as there was a bunch of grass clipping around the carcass that was undisturbed. I think next time I will set a trap at Carl recommended. The other clue, actually, is that there hasn’t been another chicken loss. I was expecting a repeat offense. Maybe the additional vigilance was enough to ward off whatever this was. I have been watching this area pretty closely.

[Andy Carson]

I have been watching for several days and haven’t seen any sign of a flying predator, but I haven’t lost any more chickens. I really don’t know much about the weasel family as predators. Haven’t seen any, but that doesn’t mean much… I thought they were pretty noctural, though, and this definately happened in daylight hours. I also wonder if they would run down a chicken in an open area. Some of my chickens (ESP the americaunas) are pretty Dippy though, and might not have run away. I suppose better to have it happen when the birds are ranging rather than in the coop, where I could have lost many. Perhaps I will be lucky enough to never really know what killed this chicken, but that is wishful thinking.

[Andy Carson]

Very nice, Billy, Congrats! Looking forward to hearing more.

[Andy Carson]

The field is surrounded by tall trees, any a dozen or so would be ideal perches. I have been watching for a hawk in the trees, but saw nothing yesterday. It was a windy day though so might have detered a flying hunter. Keeping my eyes open…

[Andy Carson]

I did look for bite marks and wounds that would indicate a particular animal on the carcass without much luck. Much of the bony part of the lower back/pelvis is still attached, but is without wounds. The parts (head, neck, breast, organs) that were eaten were completely eaten and the other less interesting parts (legs, feathers, bones, gizzard) were pristine. It was taken apart and eaten with nearly surgical precision and cleaniness. The grass and feathers that are on the carcass in the photo were from me “messing” with the carcass looking for wounds. It seemed to be a hawk or owl, but have no definate “tell tale” fingerprints. I have read that there is often a “spray” that is left when hawks or owls eat a chicken, and that is missing. Also, I saw no evidence of feather plucking. This seems an ideal location for a flying predator attack, as it is in a open area with a few tall trees to dive from. The neighbors say they usually loose thier chickens to fox, hawk, and raccoon (in that order) so these are the short list of likely predators. I can’t think a fox would be so bold in daylight when me and my dog are home and to eat in the middle of a open field seems nuts. I think the same would go for a raccoon, plus I am not sure a raccoon would be able to catch a chicken in a open field in the day when they can run away. I think a raccoon would be more likely to ambush a chicken, and there are ceratinly opportunities for that when they are ranging. If nothing else, a chase would attract the dog. He has a very special hatred for raccoons, and I am sure the feeling is mutual…

[Andy Carson]

Whatever it was must have killed the chicken quickly and very quietly too. I was home at the time, as was my dog, but we were both on the other side of the house where you can’t see this area. Still, if there was a struggle or much noise, I think my dog would have taken a look and I would guess he would have barked if there was an owl or hawk on the ground. On the other hand, he is very well trained to leave birds alone and perhaps he doesn’t know the difference between “good” and “bad” birds. He won’t chase off wild turkey either… I haven’t really wanted to try to teach him the difference between “good” and “bad” birds, for fear that he might find out it’s fun to chase chickens. I can put up with loosing a pullet now and then to a hawk or owl, but I suppose I’ll have to see if this is a pattern that is starting.

[Andy Carson]

Sorry for your loss, Tim, I enjoyed watching you work with him.

[Andy Carson]

He did buy some bare ground a few years ago, and he is running beef cattle on it now. I am not sure if that piece was was part of that 320 acres or not. I have heard there have been some new houses built around there lately (and it’s been many years since I’ve been there) but it is still probably the first house on the right after you pass Anderson road going west on Pleasant hill. It’s a log house set back probably 100 yards off the road with alot of outbuildings. I never lived at this place, and don’t really know the neighbors. I do know there are (or at least used to be) some greenhouses when you go up Anderson road. Is this the Mason place? Dad probably knows them esp since they have cattle too, ask them when you see them again if they know Bob. It is a small world, but also a sparsely populated state :).

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Ethan, I got it now.

[Andy Carson]

Sorry to hear about your loss, Carl. He looks like he was a happy guy.

[Andy Carson]

I have been thinking of workign along side him. It might be unusual, but it might be very practical too. I can lift the front of a light two wheeled rig with a pole easily enough and steer and brake as well. That way, my dog would only have to pull when I pull and the rest of the time he would just “heel,” which he already knows how to do. That’s why I got a freight harness instead of one with shaft loops. If, after training, he can pull half what I can it would still be helpful for some repetative tasks (like watering) that aren’t worth hitching the horse up for. Heck, maybe he can pull the same as me and together we can haul twice the water.

[Andy Carson]

Wow Geoff, I had no idea you lived so close to my Dad. He’s on Pleasant hill rd (near the intersection of Anderson rd) probably five miles from your “spot”.

PS. I don’t see a blue arrow either. Not sure how to add myself to this…

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