Serial Killers Captured in Joplin

Backyard chicken coops are a growing trend in Joplin, Carthage, Neosho and the surrounding communities. Unfortunately, it seems as the number of backyard flocks increase so do the instances of predator attacks. “Something is eating my chickens”, is a common compliant that we hear. It is our job to put an end to the killing and provide some ideas to reduce the chances of it happening again. Wildlife Damage Control is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy balance. A recent human-wildlife conflict we helped resolve had to do with a backyard chicken coop and significant losses to predators. The issue really began a few weeks earlier when the owners noticed a significant decline in the number of eggs they were collecting, then the killing began. Over the course of three nights 10 hens had been killed, some were left in the coop mutilated and dead, while others were completely gone except for a few feathers that had been left behind. There was no obvious hole for the predator to enter the coop, but with a little investigation it became apparent that the offending predator was pulling it’s victims through the chicken wire surrounding the coop. It looked like there was a team of predators going after this particular flock. Exclusion was not going to be an effective solution, the obvious solution to this conflict was going to be capture and removal of the offending wildlife, in this case most likely a family of raccoons.

So with a few traps set in strategic locations we waited until the next day. Early the next day we got the call that sure enough we had caught three raccoons just outside of the chicken coop, but there was another dead hen. After removing the captured raccoons, the traps were reset and baited. The following morning there were three more raccoons and all the hens were safe and sound. We left traps out for a few more days and didn’t catch any more raccoons and the killing had stopped. A few weeks later the hens began laying again also. Another human-wildlife conflict resolved.

If you are raising a backyard flock of chickens or ducks there are a number of predators that are going to be after your birds. Even if you have a “predator proof” coop the stress of predators prowling around the coop every night can cause your hens to stop laying. Stress from predators will negatively impact the health of your livestock. Even if you are not losing animals to predators it may be worth your time to look into predator control measures to secure the ongoing health of your livestock. Our technicians can help you determine effective solutions for whatever conflicts you may be having with wildlife.