Does a fox do this?

[psychoroo]

Went out this morning and found 4 dead and 19 missing. On the back side was this hole.

It's approximately 14" in diameter.

I know a fox will carry them off but will anything else?

 

[manaze88]

I haven't seen that before, sorry for the massive loss you suffered. I don't recommend chicken wire for anything more than keeping chickens in. It doesn't hold up against anything that wants to get in after them. I use welded wire. Hopefully you can recover from this, but definitely add something to keep foxes and the like out.

Good luck finding the culprit. I ended up using a live trap to catch a racoon around my coop, and relocated him/her.

 

[Hholly]

Bummer. I hope you get the missing ones back. You can also get an electric fence charger for under $30 and string some around the outside of your coop.

 

[tdepointe]

I had something like that before but my bird were free range and someone (me) forgot to shut the door that night. It was coyotes, they had not carried of the chickens not killed they had just scarred then into the woods a lot of them came back within the next couple of days.

I agree with manaze88 that chicken wire will not stop predators.
What I do know is put electric fence around the chicken yard 3 inches up from the bottom and 3 inches above the top. the one on the bottoms keeps dogs (fox, coyotes, etc.) out and the one at the top stops racoon from climbing over. I do this because the yard large and has an open top.

 

[trailrider330]

Sorry for your loss.

Do you have any other larger predators in your area? 14" seems quite large for a fox.

 

[JanetS]

Sorry for your loss. I hope some of your missing return soon.

1/2" hardware cloth is a lot stronger than chicken wire.


Do you have a game/trail camera? They work great for knowing what's moving around your yard.
This bobcat is looking right at our chickens but the chickens were safe because of the secured hardware cloth. Good luck. Whatever it was will be back.

 

[psychoroo]

I know, I got complacent. Been raising layers, meat birds, and turkeys now for about 3 years. I've seen the occasional possum but never saw a racoon, fox, or coyote although I know they roam the woods a couple of miles away. I'll be beefing up the layer run today.

 

[bigt447]

Coyotes did same thing to me several years ago...cleaned out entire crop of game bantams. Current pen is chainlink all sides & top with 48 inch hardware cloth around bottom and welded wire buried outside & inside to prevent digging in. I also have bears here in north Florida's Big Bend.

 

[JanetS]

Has any of your missing birds returned yet?