HELP EMERGENCY ATTACK

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

HELP ME!!!! This has happened twice before, but we never saw evidence... The chickens have just disappeared. We have raised these 2 month old Chickens, but now three are dead. We have evidence here, but only this night has there been real evidence. I don't understand... We have a secure cage with a lock on the door! How could have any animal gotten in???

 

[21hens-incharge]

Weasels could fit in that, coons can reach in, cats can reach in, snakes but I doubt it was a snake.

What did the injuries look like?

Can you secure the cage with hardware cloth wrapped all around and over it?

Is this a temporary cage?

How about a solid coop and run? They look ready for one.

 

[ocap]

look in the coop, I shut a possum in the coop once, they will sneak in when the flock is free ranging, check carefully I found it after three days of heartache.

 

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

Weasels could fit in that, coons can reach in, cats can reach in, snakes but I doubt it was a snake.

What did the injuries look like?

Can you secure the cage with hardware cloth wrapped all around and over it?

Is this a temporary cage?

How about a solid coop and run? They look ready for one.

There were no injures... Only these leftover organs.
I think securing the cage with hardware cloth might help though... As you see, we have a green fence wrapped along the sides for extra protection, but somehow something got in...

No, we plan to keep the chickens in this cage for forever more... Not my idea.

 

[bambi]

HELP ME!!!! This has happened twice before, but we never saw evidence... The chickens have just disappeared. We have raised these 2 month old Chickens, but now three are dead. We have evidence here, but only this night has there been real evidence. I don't understand... We have a secure cage with a lock on the door! How could have any animal gotten in???

so sorry for your loss.... what I am seeing from the pictures is that predators can reach into the cage and just grab your chickens. Raccoons and other predators do not have a problem just picking apart your chickens at night when the chickens are asleep.
Your chicken wire will only keep chickens in but will be no problem for predators to feast on your chickens. You may look into adding hardware around the cage.

 

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

look in the coop, I shut a possum in the coop once, they will sneak in when the flock is free ranging, check carefully I found it after three days of heartache.

Free ranging? That was what happened the last two times... Only the chickens just disappeared. This time was just a real scare because we have caught actual evidence.

 

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

so sorry for your loss.... what I am seeing from the pictures is that predators can reach into the cage and just grab your chickens. Raccoons and other predators do not have a problem just picking apart your chickens at night when the chickens are asleep.
Your chicken wire will only keep chickens in but will be no problem for predators to feast on your chickens. You may look into adding hardware around the cage.

Thanks.

 

[Stepnout]

Looks to me that a raccoon could reach in and pull the birds apart piece by piece. I would suggest covering the outside of every square inch with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. You need to attach the hardware cloth with metal hog ring clips anything other than metal the raccoons will break or chew off. You need a tool to close them.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=meta...i#imgdii=9IrHZ4eVlZsg4M:&imgrc=MAI0ilS_kBXBIM:

 

[Willowspirit]

I am so sorry and i don't want to be critical but that setup is woefully inadequate to house that many chickens and to protect them. There are lots of ideas for inexpensive coop/run setups in the coop forum. In the meantime hardware cloth is a must NOW. Your predator will be back.

 

[bobbi-j]

I can’t think of a gentle way to say this. If you plan on keeping those chickens in that bitty cage, “forever more” won’t be very long. If your current predator doesn’t wipe them out, they will likely injure or kill each other when they outgrow that little space. Over crowded chickens can develop some nasty habits. One of those habits is feather picking. That seems harmless enough until it turns into an open wound. An injured chicken has nowhere to escape in that tiny cage, so the others would keep pecking at the wounds until it’s so badly injured it dies. Then they will eat the carcass. Cannibalism in a flock is an ugly thing to deal with.

I don’t know where that cage is located, but if it’s not fastened down, a determined predator will easily knock it over. If you can’t provide a larger, secure coop with an attached run, the kindest thing for you to do for your chickens would be to give them to someone who can.