New to chickens and have predator problem

[Americana24]

Hello, so I decided to get some chickens about 10 weeks ago or so. I started with 6 hens and raised them to about 7 weeks old and then turned them loose on my 1 acre of chain link fenced, grass type property. It’s a great place for chickens and I was hoping to let them free range. Anyway they were super easy and required zero training to automatically go into their coop when it started getting dark outside. I let them out of the coop when I wake up every morning at around 6:00. So I went out one day about noon to find 1 was missing and the water dispenser knocked over inside of the coop. So I set out a trail camera and found that there is a large feral cat coming in at night once in a while to the coop. So I’ve been setting the camera up every night but it’s only coming into my yard about every 5-6 nights or so. Today it happened again where I lost another hen right in the middle of the day. With the chickens out all day there are tons of trail cam pics but I’m going to keep the trail cam set up 24/7 from now on to get a positive ID on what exactly is happening but I live in a rural area so I’m just curious how I should deal with the cat? I really would like them to be able to free range instead of being inside of a fenced run.

 

[Americana24]

I also wanted to mention that I really don’t have any gaps in my fence where a cat could even drag a chicken though so I’m dumbfounded by what this could be other than a bird of prey of some sort. The fence is 5’ tall. I will report back if I can figure it out

 

[Happy hen lover]

I would set up a live trap for this cat. We put a roof of chicken wire cause we have feral cats too.!! I once found a cat laying on roof like a hammock!@#$_-++&@&. If it were me i would poison it but im tough on anything that comes near my food supply.

 

[Americana24]

Thanks for the reply!
I’ve set a couple of traps so hoping to eliminate the problem soon. I still think it’s the cat but just hoping not hawks

 

[Lor]

Thanks for the reply!
I’ve set a couple of traps so hoping to eliminate the problem soon. I still think it’s the cat but just hoping not hawks

Could be both a cat and a hawk. It's hard to know. Hopefully you will catch more of what's going on with the trail cams.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

If your coop not predator proof? The coop needs to be 100% safe for them at night. If another animal is able to get inside the coop, that is a BIG problem. It has nothing to do with whether your birds free range or not

 

[LilRedmamma]

Hawks are easy to deter with a rooster to warn their flock… they say (if you only have hens) that a black colored hen will supposedly scare off birds of prey because they look like a crow. I’ve had an owl overhead and a hawk flew right into my coop run when I first started— the next day I installed netting. And now I keep Black Stars also.
Agreed, a live trap would work for a cat. My husband put out ours 4 times after evidence of coons and my dog caught a baby possum. He then released the critters each into woods 3 miles away. I painted the front coop white after remodeling and again found a big dirty paw print on the bottom of the coop door! And btw, no fence will keep any cat out of your property. They will scale it, dig under and squeeze through a fist-sized hole. Then stand on top sneering nahnahnnahnah at you!
A river or field rat will also grab a chicken. Dogs are a effective deterrent for rodents. Live traps are about $40 at TSC. Then there’s a heavy duty deadset trap. They’re not safe for kids or with dogs around- it snaps the critter’s head at the neck or whatever body parts it catches with up to 100# of pressure. Takes a special tool to buy with it to undo the trap once sprung. I won’t touch it.
Hope you get the upper hand— they’ll ‘ppreciate it!

 

[LilRedmamma]

And yes, the coop MUST be made ABSOLUTELY predator proof. Hardware cloth, not chicken wire, hd locks, double latches, etc. A motion sensor light nearby…

 

[Americana24]

Wow thanks a lot folks for all of the posts!

So my coop is predator proof for anything around here with maybe the exception of a really big dog. And the chickens both disappeared middle of the day when I let the hens free range until it starts to get dark. I do leave the door of the coop open all day and with the spilled water feeder I do believe the predator got into the coop. I also forgot to mention that early on, I did see the cat in the yard in the daytime. All the hens were gathered over in an area of the yard that they never go to and were all looking back at the cat so I think the cat had been chasing them.

 

[Americana24]

I know that a cat can get over any fence, but I’m just wondering how it can get a full grown hen over a fence too? I don’t have any real gaps in the bottom of the fence.

also I’m going to get a black hen to add to the flock, thanks for the tips!