Do groundhogs kill chickens?

[proud-armywife]

i just witnessed a very large groundhog crawl under our 6 foot fence.. I had two of my chickens free ranging. I frantically ran out and brought them inside... I have them in a dog crate while I finish the coop. I have never seen a groundhog in our yard... Ever. I'm scared! I don't want my chickens to get hurt or eaten... I thought groundhogs were vegetarian... Am I wrong?

 

[Alexandra33]

No, groundhogs do not eat chickens. We have several of those pests in our barns, and none of them have ever gone after the chickens and ducks even though they free range. So rest easy knowing that they most definitely are strictly vegetarians.

 

[TBirdsTheWord33]

That is correct. Groundhogs are vegetarians, so your chickens are safe. Unfortunately, however, the foundation of your home and outbuildings is another story. Last year, my husband removed at least 14 of them from our property, and THIS year, a big fat one has already taken up residence underneath our deck.

 

[jlmissouri]

I dislike ground hogs for several reason, but eating chickens isn't one of them.

 

[Folly's place]

x2. They will eat chicken feed, and make interesting tunnels under buildings, and hard to see holes in the ground to trip in. Occasionally they can be rabid. I understand that the earth moving is good for the soil, but I'm not a fan either. Mary

 

[proud-armywife]

Thank you all for your responses there are many people on the web , yahoo and Google, that said they will attack their chickens... And they didn't think they would. Keeping in mind this is a very unreliable source of info I ran the groundhog off... My dog was right on his tail chasing him out. I hope we scared him away for good... You start looking at wildlife different when your trying to protect your flock! Thanks again!

 

[TBirdsTheWord33]

You are very welcome.

 

[critterkeeper25]

I agree that ground hogs won't eat your chickens, but I do have a word of warning for you! They are extremely fast! AND the females are VERY agressively protective of their young! I once had the misfortune to experience this for myself. Years ago my hubby and I were looking at some property that we were interested in buying. The owner took us to his home to show us the property. Before we went outside he picked up a 22cal rifle! My husband asked him what it was for, he told us that he had a ground hog den in the back and that they never went out back without a gun! Well, we followed him out back, he was on guard and so was his son. We were looking over the property when they shouted "Look OUT! Here comes a huge ground hog. Running full bore at me! I turned and ran as fast as I could. They kept yelling "RUN! RUN!" I glanced back as I was running and there it was, right on my heels! It finally gave up and went back to its den. I don't know if it got tired or if it finally figured I was far enough away to not be a threat. If anyone with small children have them on their property, I would try to get rid of them for your children's safety.

We trap them with have-a-heart traps and let them go far, far away! They have dug massive tunnels along the foundation of our front porch. There is no possible way to fill them all the way up. We tried washing the soil back in but ended up flooding our basement as the tunnels ran along our foundation. My mother also has one along her foundation. I causes water to leak into her basement when it rains. Their tunnels always have two entrances. An escape route of sorts. They are very destructive! I have never seen so many in my 51 years of existance. I never saw one until about 10 years ago. Now they're everywhere! What the heck happened? No more natural predators?

Sorry...end of rant. Please be careful!

 

[proud-armywife]

Thanks for reply! Glad the dog ran it out ! But I did notice today he has a scar on his nose where the groundhog got him poor baby ! He has not returned thankfully!

 

[scooter147]

Critterkeep I agree with you. I'm 52 and I've never seen nor had to kill so many groundhogs the last two or three years.

We have plenty of coyotes around so I'm not sure why the population explosion.

They like to get under my coop, did a hole to their den and then pack the dirt up against the wood floor, not good.