Yesterday we had our first casualty of an unknown predator. We have a hen and her 4 chicks in a pen by themselves. It is chain link 8 feet high with 3 feet tall of chicken wire around the bottom. There are two small trees in the enclosure with bird netting on top. The netting is closed around the trunk of the trees. We have an old dog house the mama and her one month old chicks sleep in. Yesterday morning we found one chick dead in the house with head detached and innards eaten. The gizzard was left. another chick appeared wounded, but we couldn't see any injury. We say openings around the trees so we close those up. Today, we have another chick dead in the house but this time just wings left. One chick is injured with tail feathers missing and a wound on each side of it's rear end/back area. There is a new hole of the mess at one of the tree trunk. I've brought the wounded chick inside with me. The hole in the mesh is not very big, maybe 4 inches?
Our plan is to lock them up in a raised pen tonight and put a cage trap inside the pen. My trail camera decided to not work so I that won't help. Any ideas what it is?
Our plan is to lock them up in a raised pen tonight and put a cage trap inside the pen. My trail camera decided to not work so I that won't help. Any ideas what it is?
