Duck killers

[buckcanyonlodge]

my money is on a ratcoon, they played hell on are chickens one year, there were 6 of the little masked bandits, but they soon found out that they messed with the wrong chicken coop  it was fun and a couple of them were huge coons

Coons don't just eat the head. They kill everything they can get their paws on. Plus he has pics of an owl.          Hey SNOW  PM me

[BOWHUNTER45]

Jackmaster must read threw threads like I do ... read some and skip some  Looks like the owl is the bandit  crazy how they just eat the head ...Back east we had alot of great horned owls and they did the exact same thing to our chickens ..guess it does not matter where they live they all act the same !

[lokidog]

Since owls are protected, the only thing you can do is prevention.  You should put a net over the outside pen.  this owl will return as it now knows where easy food is.  If the owl trips your camera sensor, you might be able to get one of those water sprayers with the IR sensor.  A few sprays out of the darkness might deter it.

Are they still protected when killing pets/livestock?  I thought you could trap or blast them if they were committing "depredation" or whatever it's called...?  I could be completely wrong though.....

Yep, some things are still protected from the wrath of the avenging poultry rancher.  Can't shoot/harm birds of prey like you can coons/mink/weasels/skunks.  You would not be allowed to harm a wolverine, wolf, sea lion, woodland caribou (the really mean ones    ), etc. federally protected animal, or some state protected ones like a fisher or martin (I think).

[BiggLuke]

I think you're looking at this scenario all wrong. I strongly believe that you do not have just 1 culpret.
Sounds like you have a whole bunch of different critters coming in close now that it is winter. This happens alot to livestock.
You can go all summer with no problems because there is food in abundance. But as soon as it gets cold out, those predators look for easy meals.
If you find a  dead duck with the head missing, it's allmost allways the result of a bird of prey. Like your owl friend there. They will eat the most nutrient part of the animal first, the eyes and brains. They do that because they dont need to expend much energy to eat that part. Then if they get desperate, they will come back for the rest.
Racoons and minks and weasels will also be a problem. But they usually just kill the bird, and eat it right there on the spot. One time when we were younger, we found 3 headless birds IN the chicken coupe. Turned out that it was just racoons. We also had problems with rats. They would litterally eat the feet off of our birds WHILE they were alive! lol....
That didn't last long, but it sure was a shock.
I think the best thing you can do is just put up some better defenses. The net over the top of the pen is a great start, plus locking them up at night will help as well. You can also try finer mesh wire along the bottom couple of feet, or bury the first few inches, that will help keep some things out.

Oh yeah, and don't even consider killing an owl....  a dead owl found on your place can cost you an arm and a leg. but if you DO need to remove it for reasons of depredation, then call the WDFW. But, I can tell you from first hand account that unless those few ducks are your only means of food or income, the state won't really do a thing. The nuisance animal pretty much has to kill off a cetrtain amount of moneys worth of livestock for the big guns to be called in.
I wish I could see your coop, maybe then I could help you better with advice to help protect your pets.
Good luck with the varmints.   

[lokidog]

It sounds like he needs a net over the top or to lock the house door at night.

I do beg to differ with you on the headless bird thing though BigL as my headless birds have always been the result of weasels or mink as my runs have roofs over them.

And, racoons will usually haul the body off if they can lift it and/or get it through the hole they came in from.  We had 6 or so chickens that were carried up a 5'+ high fence and squeezed out a 3" slot at the top leaving only feathers in the coop.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Maybe try criss-crossing the top of the pen with monofilament fishing line.  They don't want to risk damaging their wings to get down in there, and might go off to hunt elsewhere.  Worked to discourage seagulls at the dams when seagulls were picking off the stunned fingerlings that went through the dam.

[snowninja]

given 1000's acres of private forest on 2 sides of my property i am aware there are many predators, so far i have bobcat, cougar, bear, coyote captured with my trail camera. the cameras sit on the shared property line between my place and the forest. up until now the only bother has been coyotes and 2 dogs keep most at bay during the day because they are outside loose. at night it's a different story, the coyotes know this and rarely show up on camera during daylight hours. the chickens and ducks are not kept together, the chickens have a nice big coop with solid roof and doors that is locked up at night. the ducks need something similar but for now they have been penned in the barn overnight which is also closed up. i will likely install both netting and a small coop for them in their pen to keep them in at night and until i can get either they are safely kept in the barn. not sure how long an owl will come back to check for food before they give up and move on but i have a feeling they like this edge of the forest because it's the only place there are homes and thus easy meals, the rest is unoccupied for at least 2-3 miles. other than the coyotes i am not interested in killing anything esp a federally protected bird. we get nice eggs from the ducks but they are not an income source whatsoever nor do they plan to be, their productions is solely for our own use.