Birds are disappearing

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palmerchick

palmerchick

Chirping
6 Years
Sep 4, 2013
28
0
85
I'm pretty new to raising chickens, but have gone all winter and it was cold without losing a bird. My birds need to be out of their pen, just because it is a little too small for as big as they have gotten. I have been letting them free range and the last couple days I have lost a couple birds. What's weird is its happening during the day, we have a dog, but there are no feathers anywhere. It's like the birds have been abducted by aliens. I lost a runner duck today, I was devestated, those guys hang out together and stay pretty much next to the pen. I don't have a lot of cover for the birds and intend to come up with some sort of little huts for them to take cover in. Got some ornamental windchimes to hang out by their pen as well, but I really don't know that it is a hawk. I sure haven't seen one and I would think I would notice it. Anybody have any other ideas? Thanks, love this group, I learn so much!
Palmerchick
 
i think your birds are running away. if they feel so cooped up they go mad, they WILL find a way to escape. you need to make a sturdy run, or make your fence higher. i hope your duck comes back!
it might also be a mountain lion, they usually don't leave a gruesome scene.
 
Sorry for your losses. My guess would be a fox, coyote or bobcat. You don't say where you are located, but if you have any of these predators around, they will all grab and run, many times with little evidence left behind. If you free range, you will lose birds. Its a balancing act between safety and freedom. I free range in the afternoons and evenings when I get home from work, and the chicken yard is protected by electric net fence. I was losing ducks and chickens on a weekly basis until the electric fence went up, and all of last year I lost only 1 rooster, and my guess is he flew over the fence to take on a threat and paid for it with his life. I found a trail of feathers through the underbrush, but nothing more. I then set up two motion sensor trail / game cameras around the coop area, and found out I was dealing with a bobcat. I also catch pictures of coyotes, so I know they are out there waiting for an opportunity for a chicken or duck meal.
 
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I live in Kansas and have been watching the girls pretty closely the last couple days. I haven't lost any and haven't seen anything. Coyote makes sense as we have quite a few around. We do have a fresh water pond about 100 yards behind the house. We built this place about 4 years ago, so we don't have any trees or brush area around us, that's what has stumped us. We have lots of geese and wildlife at the pond, so I'm sure something is wandering up from there
 
do you have any nasty neighbors that might want to steal your hens? before you go collect eggs next morning, look closely at the lock to see if its exactly how you shut it last night.
 
palmerchick said:
I live in Kansas and have been watching the girls pretty closely the last couple days. I haven't lost any and haven't seen anything. Coyote makes sense as we have quite a few around. We do have a fresh water pond about 100 yards behind the house. We built this place about 4 years ago, so we don't have any trees or brush area around us, that's what has stumped us. We have lots of geese and wildlife at the pond, so I'm sure something is wandering up from there
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Coyotes can make them disappear without a trace. I had what I'm sure was a family of them come through last summer and 4 or 5 of them vanished. The only trace was one of my rooster's tailfeathers.
 
Someone here on the website posted a video of a bobcat jumping over their electric fence, and grabbing a pekin duck and jumping out with it. He did this two or three times during the video. Search youtube for bobcat taking ducks. Had it not been for the video, there would have been no evidence. So even when we take extensive steps to protect them, predators can still find a way to get them. Makes me worried about the upcoming spring - I protect my chickens and ducks with an electric fence... I am thinking I need a good livestock guardian dog!
 
A hawk would leave a mound of feathers behind, so I agree with the fox/coyote/bobcat theory. I'm also trying to balance the hens desire for free range and my need for security by only letting them out when I'm around to hopefully hear their alarm calls. Guardian dog sounds like a good idea. What about a life size model of a ferocious guard dog?
 

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