dead chicks and searched wild life area

[danny boy]

hey, ive never found any dead chicks in my garden and to day i found two, ive also let part of my garden grow wild and built a pond, but all the grass has been flattened and searched by something. There was also so horrible smelling fecies (yuck). I thought it might of been a cat, but it simply didnt smell like cat waste. What is doing this, i dont like to see it and i would like to stop it. thanks for reading

[darylp]

danny boy

Without seeing or smelling the scat or seeing the 'dimensions' its hard to guess what may have been prowling in your garden, however if on the small long and thin size i would say one of the mustilid family would be to blame, e.g. stoat, weasel or mink. All of which would raid nests and leave 'stinky scat'. If i were you i would attempt to identify exactly the predator then consider what action to take, set up a track trap or camera and bait it and see what turns up.

Are you near any watercourses?

Daryl

[danny boy]

thanks for the reply. not to much water near us, as far as i know theres only a few small streams. ad it does look how do you described it. Ill see if i can set something up to get a pic of one or atleast a foot print

[Kayleigh]

Could it have been a fox..

[2dogs2000]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Could it have been a fox..

That was my thought too.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by 2dogs2000

That was my thought too.

They have been known to climb trees..

[The Woodman]

I would have thought that fox or mustelid would have eaten the chicks.

I can't imagine mustelids flattening grass apart from badger whose low slung wide body can do this. They will predate nests for eggs and chicks and leave vile smelly scats. Depending on the age of the chicks and species, it could be that they've escaped a badger whose been into the nest and the animal hasn't caught up with them - a fox would have done.

Shock can kill chicks quickly, too.

It's been difficult for badgers to find worms, slugs and snails these last couple of weeks because of the very dry ground conditions and alternative food supplied are sourced.

Just another consideration.