It came from the manure pile...

[altivo]

The mystery hole Since the late winter we've hade something living in the manure pile. The hole has been filled in repeatedly but whoever it is just digs it out again. We thought it was a skunk or woodchuck, but now it appears to have been stealing the neighbors chickens and eating them. Fox? Coyote? We aren't sure.

Incriminating evidence The latest evidence is this entire chicken wing, and a single foot left lying outside the opening of the burrow. Now mind, we dislike these chickens. They keep letting the birds run loose, and they come over and scratch hell out of our garden and flowerbeds. But we're very curious about who our resident predator is. All we know so far is that he/she likes chicken, lives in a hole in the ground, and smells pretty funky.

[Edit, June 25: Positively a red fox.]

Comments

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Are you missing chickens? Do you have chickens in the first place? Or has the mystery predator been to KFC?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The chickens belong to one of our unpopular neighbors, the folks who came here from England and keep neither their animals (dogs, cats, kids, chickens, geese) nor their noise levels under control. Only their horse has stayed at home. The rest are tearing around our property causing mischief all the time. We are somewhat relieved to learn that they are moving again already. By the feather color, I can definitely identify the chicken as one of theirs.

We have ducks. Our ducks are in a fenced yard and are locked in a plywood house at night. No ducks are missing. ;p

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Have the sheep been behaving ... strangely ... lately? Noticing extra feathers in the sheep's quarters?

I'm not saying it WAS the sheep... but all suspects must be considered.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We have some weird sheep. But eating raw chicken is probably beyond their level of weirdness, let alone burrowing into the manure pile. And I know that opening the gates of their pen and wandering to the back pasture is well above their intellectual capacity. ;p

Normally their behavior extends to "Which way is the food?" and "Whose head shall I butt next?" Oh, and of course, for lambs, "Where's mommy?"

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider,

This sounds like a red fox to me. This is also a test for my LJ comments.

Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It worked. LJ recognized you. So what was different this time?

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

All we know so far is that he/she likes chicken, lives in a hole in the ground, and smells pretty funky.

Reminds me of a guy I used to work with out west.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had some coworkers like that too, but not in a long time thank goodness.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Why would a fox (or anything for that matter) want to live in manure? Eww. :-P

Possible alternate scenario: Maybe a hawk or other predator dropped the chicken wing while going after what lived in the hole?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

This is horse manure, actually stall sweepings so it is largely woodchips, with a little manure and dried urine in it. Probably very warm in winter, actually. And it has almost no odor at this point. Horse manure is very loose, crumbly, and dry, with little odor. Rather like garden soil or black peat, in fact. When it has been sitting for a year or two, as this has, and earthworms and such have worked on it, the smell is sweet and earthy.

Even so, predators often like to roll in or rub herbivore manure on themselves to disguise their own scent. One fur's stink is another one's perfume. But you knew that, I'm sure.

We have no flying predators here who would take a full grown adult hen. Our largest are the owls and the red tail hawk, all of whom prefer mammals as prey. The owls are mostly nocturnal too, when hens would not be moving about and are usually under cover. (Chickens can't see in dim light at all.) A stray dog would have scattered feathers and bits all over, rather than the tidy job that was done here. My odds are on a fox, or just maybe a large raccoon or a coyote. Badger might do this, but I don't think we have them around here.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

If it smells bad, it's probably a fox.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

My thoughts too, though any carnivorous predator that leaves bits of prey around or in its den will have a foul odor to me.

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

I vote for weasels.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Because you like them? ;p

Weasels or ferrets are extremely rare here if there are any at all. The burrow is quite large and would easily accommodate a fox or badger.

According to our books on poultry-keeping, weasels do not drag entire chickens away. They more typically eat part of the victim where it is killed and leave the rest lying there. The location of the burrow and the remains is 800 to 1000 feet from the neighbors' henhouse, and well outside the area where we normally see the hens wandering.

Of course, it's possible that the chicken was killed by something else and the burrow occupant is merely an opportunistic scavenger. That still points to fox and coyote, I think, rather than mustelids. Hmmm. Interesting thought, though. Minks were found here within living memory, and minks have a foul odor too. I hadn't considered that possibility. One of our nearby neighbors actually said he used to trap minks near this area of our property many years ago.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

I think it almost assuredly a fox, especially considering your responses to others who have conjectured similiarly (I would have posted this earlier, but didn't have time then, and the evidence has been mounting ;) Minks like smaller burrows than foxes, and though they sometimes drag prey they tend to do what other weasel-types do, which is eat on the spot and leave the rest (unless they feel threatened in that area, of course).

It's most likely not a coyote from what I know of them; they don't prefer to burrow like that in general. They also really prefer not to be solitary if at all possible.

Perhaps it's just a vole with delusions of gradeur ;)

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If it's a vole I sure don't want to meet it on a dark night. ;p

I went and examined the fur-bearing predators pages at the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources web site, and I agree that a red fox seems most likely, with mink and gray fox as also possible. The two weasels found in our area are much too small to drag off a four or five pound adult hen, and although lone coyotes are common here, you are right that they usually do not choose burrow dens, nor are the multiple openings to this one really large enough for them. They would suit a red fox, because they often reuse woodchuck burrows and can squeeze through openings as small as 8 inches according to the information I found. Raccoons and badgers are capable of this sort of thing but it isn't typical behavior for them.

The siting of the burrow would please a mink, however. Or at least, it would have earlier this spring, as it overlooked a pond. As often happens, though, now that the rains have tapered off, the small pond is quickly drying up. If indeed it is a mink, I expect the site will be abandoned soon.

If it's a red fox, though, then this is the season for a female to be just weaning young, which would explain why she might be staying for any length of time in a burrow so close to human activity. I'd love to see baby foxen. Guess I'd better start spying on the burrow at dawn and dusk.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Baby foxies! Cuuute!

Mmmm... crepuscular observation.

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

But we're very curious about who our resident predator is. All we know so far is that he/she likes chicken, lives in a hole in the ground, and smells pretty funky.

That could cover a lot of the fandom.

ducks and runs

[altivo.livejournal.com]

True enough. Cute icon, by the way. I don't think I've seen that one.

After some research, I think we've got it narrowed down to a fox or a mink.

[loriana.livejournal.com]

*hopes its a fox*
quite possible a fox...if it smells kinda like a skunk, and issa eating chicken *grins*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. The burrow has been active since there was snow on the ground, so I ruled out woodchucks back then. They'd have still been torpid. We have seen red fox around here two or three times in the last 8 years.

As things started to thaw, both of us suspected a skunk, because of the musky odor, precisely so. Now it's more of a bonepile smell outside the main entrance, but with dead chicken bits lying around, what could we expect?

Having done more research, I'm down to red fox or mink, with fox the most likely occupant. I'm hoping for mom with some baby foxen, actually. We're going to keep watch.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

Predator (as in the movie) is probably close.

@.@

[altivo.livejournal.com]

So if Ahnold suddenly leaves his post out in Califurnia and shows up here we'll know? I think not.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Strange that a creature would live in horse apples,
Hmmm tricky it'd have to be fairly fast and large to get the chickens.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not as strange as that. This isn't fresh stuff, it's full of wood shavings, and has been sitting long enough to be more like ordinary garden compost than anything else. Easy to dig in, though, and lots of predators like to use herbivore droppings to disguise their own scent.

Chickens are stupid and easy to catch, actually. Especially if you can get to them at night, when they are almost totally blind.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Realllly? At night you say....*cackle*