What killed my chickens??

[candyce]

Hi everyone,
This is my first time posting here. Unfortunately, we lost all 3 of our sweet chickens this week. I'm so saddened by this. It was our first go with our chickens and we were just coming up on our 1 year with them. Either very late at night or early in the morning something got to our chickens. When I discovered the awful scene I thought it was either a raccoon or fox. I want to be sure so that I can make our coop safer and also for peace of mind. I saw feathers EVERYWHERE. There was one chicken dead inside of the coop with just the head seperated from the body but nothing eaten from it. The other chicken was found about 15 feet away from the coop and it was just the wings. I found feathers and the feet from the second chicken about 30 feet from the coop. The other chicken was gone. I could see some feathers from it near the coop but that's it. Whatever got into the coop did so thought the nesting box that is raised from the ground about 3 feet. I am just so heart broken. Please help if possible!

Thanks,
Candyce

 

[CozyFanatic]

I lost one of my hens to a fox and later had someone 'remove' the fox when it came back for more! This fox couldn't carry my big hens and just tore the feathers off her and chewed her back up and she managed to escape and hide! I was so glad to find her and doctor her up!
Do you have maybe a stray dog that could have gotten in your pen? I lost another hen to one of those and he didn't even try to eat her, he just went around and around the pen trying to get to the others!
Lots of luck, because whatever that is will probably be back, so be prepared!

Anne

 

[candyce]

Hi Anne,
Thanks for your response. Im not sure it could have been a stray. I should add that our yard is fenced all the way around and whatever it was entered through the part of the coop where they hatch the eggs. I wish I would have somehow attached a lock so that it could not have been opened.

 

[candyce]

Also, our chickens were a very small breed. They were leghorn chickens.

 

[CozyFanatic]

That sounds like a fox, maybe. Did it dig under the coop? I know my sister said foxes would dig deep to get under a fence to get chickens!