Bad Tuesday Morning

[MooreSulaChicks]

I have 5 RIRs and two ducks. Who are probably around 3 months old. Over the weekend I got 3 more RIR chicks and 3 buckeye chicks. As soon as I put the new chicks in with my older chicks, the roosters came out and started being very mean. I put the new chicks in the inside coop to keep everyone separated. The coyotes were out last night and my whole neighborhood was out with shotguns. Around 3am my horse Levi started going crazy in her pasture which is right next to our coop. Usually I go out and check on her but I had been up all night hunting with coyotes. This morning I went
out to feed everyone and the baby chicks had been murdered. I'm devastated.

This was the baby chicks on Sunday.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

By the older chickens or the coyote?
IMHO 3 months is too old to introduce baby chicks with.

Introductions after the first month or so should be like numbers and like sizes.

 

[MooreSulaChicks]

Either coyotes or racoons. The bigger chickens had no way to get in.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Were there wing and entrails left? Then it was raccoons. The coyotes would probably eat everything.

 

[MooreSulaChicks]

For the most part everything was left. A couple heads were torn off

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not a coyote. Likely raccoon.

 

[MooreSulaChicks]

Update: I'm pretty sure sure my main rooster is the one who killed my new baby chicks.
Yesterday I went and picked up 6 new baby chicks while my fiancée cleaned up the mess and secured the hatch where we had believe the predator got in. This morning we woke up to one killed baby chick while the others appeared to be unharmed.
The only other point of entry is a cut out for a window that leads to the run. This window is over my head. I didn't think it was possible for the olders(who are locked in the run) to get into this window.
So this weekend we will be doing another add on for the babies to be separated for the olders. Which is fine because we were going to be doing an extension anyways for the pond. I will post pictures soon

 

[MooreSulaChicks]

Here you can see a little of the window. The little door leads to the coop. And the tall door leads to the run. And you can see a part of the window

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO, it's best to have another housing option separated as far as possible from the primary coop. That way you have a place to raise chicks, house a broody, quarantine sick, injured or new birds.
Any new bird is considered by the established flock to be a threat and they can kill said birds. Until they are big enough to fend for themselves they probably shouldn't be mixed.

That said, unless you saw the rooster in with the chicks pecking at them, I'd still think raccoon. They can climb a sheer wall and get into anything without well secured hardware cloth over openings.

 

[MooreSulaChicks]

I'll post more pictures when I get home. I just don't see how the racoon would kill the baby chicks and not the olders. I will most likely end of building a smaller coop for the chicks. My fiancée loves to build things, and did an amazing job with the first one so far.