| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Hosanna |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 08:21:32 AM
A couple of nights ago, we had "something" get in our coop and kill 9 laying hens and 2 young roos. Whatever it was left three older laying hens, and five other roos. And, whatever it was left our 24 6 week old chickens alone that were in the yard in a smaller coop and attached run.
When we discovered our chickens were missing the next morning, we found 3 bodies: 1 in the door of the coop, and in the tall weeds on the tree line behind the coop, and one headless hen, half buried in the plowed field behind the coop. There were no excessive piles of feathers, no body parts; it was all very clean and neat. Except for the three bodies we found.
My question is: WHAT kind of predator kills THAT many chickens in one evening, obviously toting them off, and WHAT kind of predator would try to BURY a dead chicken?
I know if it were dogs, they'd have made a much bigger mess with them. Eight chickens simply vanished into thin air. My husband says he thinks it was a fox with youngsters; the neighbor thinks it was a coyote. Has anyone had a predator try to bury their killing before?
www.happilyeverafterhosanna.blogspot.com
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Peach |
Posted - May 01 2010 : 4:28:44 PM
my boyfriend and i hunt all sorts of predators. i told him about the chickens and he thinks it would have been a coyote but it could have been anything. sorry to hear about your chickens |
| Windsong |
Posted - May 01 2010 : 3:06:16 PM
I had a raiding possum last year and he ate most all of the chicken. They really like the bones. I was told when they were left headless it was skunks. Coyotes and bob cats take them away to the woods. Makes me so mad.
I have an enclosed run and cannot let the chickens free range. I want to have a more efficient chicken tractor. I can move mine but it is not easy. But I lost so many to raiding critters.
Farmgirl Sister #758
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| lovingewe |
Posted - May 01 2010 : 06:54:01 AM
I had a weasel do this to my hens. Didn't kill the roaster but took out his eyes.
Marlyn
http://sweetlocuslane.blogspot.com |
| Bear5 |
Posted - Apr 30 2010 : 9:01:59 PM
I'm sad about the loss of your animals.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
| homsteddinmom |
Posted - Apr 30 2010 : 2:04:04 PM
possums will eat the heads and leave the bodies, and they will take more than one a nite.
Homesteading Mom in East Texas. Raising chickens, Rabbits and goats here on my farm! |
| msdoolittle |
Posted - Apr 30 2010 : 06:17:04 AM
Oh, and I will add, these were all chickens which were not put up in the coop!
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| msdoolittle |
Posted - Apr 30 2010 : 06:15:18 AM
http://icwdm.org/Inspection/livestock.asp
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2111/ANSI-8204web.pdf
http://texnat.tamu.edu/ranchref/predator/pred.htm
Here are several good predator identification sites. I hope theis helps you all! All of us chicken owners need to add these to our favorites so we can ID the perpetrators and react accordingly. I know that my coop is not impenetrable, but I have buried wire around the whole thing, and I do lock them up in the evening. We are now working on snake proofing the coop and re-covering the run. Just remember that chicken wire does NOT keep out predators! They will tear right through it.
I wouldn't recommend welded wire, either. A determined animal can break the small welds. I have had this happen in my garden several times. We use woven wire, with the bottom 3 feet covered in hardware cloth, which is buried a foot in the ground. I have lost a chicken to a hawk (just a pile of feathers), and several to a coyote (whole body is gone, you will find a small trail of feathers, coyotes have 3" prints), and one to a raccoon (hole was torn in side of chicken under a wing, crop was eaten).
Good luck!
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| arabianhorselover |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 8:28:14 PM
I just had 2 chickens disappear into thin air too. No sign of feathers any where and it was during the day. Also had a rooster that disappeared and then I found him all the way across the other side of our property by my new barn. They dug a hole and laid him in it but he had no head. Some of my other chickens that roosted in my trees by the house, found in my yard dead with no heads. We think maybe it was a owl that did this or skunks. I am down to 8 chickens, Ugh!
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Farmgirl Sister #561
Never squat with your spurs on!!!
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| prariehawk |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 7:59:51 PM
For one animal to kill that many birds, it was probably a weasel. They can kill twenty or more chickens in one night. But I don't know if they would carry them off. Maybe something else took them?
Cindy
"There is more to life than increasing its speed". Mahatma Gandhi
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
| Faransgirl |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 5:51:46 PM
I would bet on something working in a group. Most likely foxes if you have those in your area. Probably a couple with babies. Maybe coyotes. They work in a group a bury the extras to come back for later. Cats usually put the dead ones they want to come back for up in a tree.
Farmgirl Sister 572
When manure happens just say "WOO HOO Fertilizer". |
| walkinwalkoutcattle |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 10:00:51 AM
Hmm. My bet is on more than one predator. Maybe one started it, ran off, and another smelled blod and followed?
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com |
| karla |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 09:34:37 AM
We had the same thing happen & we caught the raccoon that was doing it! We now have to screw our doors shut on the chicken house every night! They are smart enough to figure out how to open the doors! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 09:25:31 AM
another animal that buries his food is a badger
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| natesgirl |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 09:23:24 AM
I had raccoons get into a small pen we had about 5 years ago with my girls show chickens. There wasn't much mess, just dead chickens. The neighbor seen the raccoon leaving and ran over to check on them, but it was too late. That's the only reason we knew what it was.
Farmgirl Sister #1438
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
| melody |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 09:18:09 AM
Mink? Weasel?
So sorry to hear that-Doesn't it just make you sick?
I lost my whole brood of laying hens and there wasn't a thing I could do about it-Wiped out in 2-days. I cried for a week.
"The best mirror is an old friend."
- George Herbert
Melody
Farmgirl #525
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| kristin sherrill |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 08:47:35 AM
Hosanna, I am so sorry this has happened. And the others are prbably traumatized from having to see it all happen. It will take them awhile to get over this. I have a pile of feathers in my front hen house. No signs of a body or blood. Just a pile of feathers. I have no idea what did that since it's all fenced in. But I have heard different preditors kill different ways and are only after certain parts of the chicken. But I am not sure what does what. I hope you find out before they come back for the rest of them. Mayby you can sit out there tonight and watch for them to come back. I hope you get it.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Apr 29 2010 : 08:38:47 AM
skunks
racoons
weasels
ferral cats
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
