[elizabethm]

Sorry to make my first post something of a gruesome one but today I discovered the headless body of a lamb half buried in one of my raised beds in the veg garden.  Any idea as to the culprit?  We have a badger set just outside our land and they are frequent visitors, causing havoc in what did pass for lawn but now looks like a warzone, presumably digging for grubs.  Do they attack lambs?  Should we be worried for our chickens?  If not, what could it be and is there anything I should be doing to protect our hens?
Any ideas?

[rustyme]

Hello Elizabeth,
                Sorry to hear about the lamb,  badgers will eat lambs in fact they will eat just about anything. Their normal diet is however worms and grubs. I have never seen badgers actively go out to kill a lamb , but I know they will take carrion or maybe even go for a very weak or injured lamb. Foxes are the most likely culprits I would have thought though . Foxes will do this sort of thing all the time , a badger would only do it on rare occasions . Some people I knew years ago had a problem with badgers killing their chickens, I however had a badger set very close to my chicken/ducks/geese etc , had no problem at all , in fact I saw the badgers walking among the chickens etc on more than one occasion . The chickens took no notice at all . Maybe I was just very lucky ?, the only sure way to find out would be to put the dead lamb back , and stay up and watch to see what comes to collect it . Motion activated cctv's are quite cheap now , so you could set up one of those to see what you have walking around after dark, most of them work perfectly well in the dark . Hope you find out what it was, and good luck in the future.
 
cheers

Russ

[elizabethm]

Thanks Russ.  I like the idea of seeing a badger walking through your chickens and being ignored.  Perhaps the lamb was already dead as most of the farmers round here don't bring them inside to lamb and it is not unusual to see the odd tiny lamb in a field.  Let's just hope it is the last! 

[rustyme]

your welcolme Elizabeth,
                               it could have been a still born or one that died soon after birth. Crows will soon move in on anything laying around at this time of year , so they could have done a fair bit of damage also . Fingers crossed there won't be anymore like it ....
 
cheers
 
Russ

[Blinkers]

Oh poor you - sorry to hear that Elizabeth.     Yes, fingers crossed it was just a 'one off'.