My chickens have been free ranging during the day for about 2 months now. They have a secure coop and I shut them in every night before dusk, and let them out the next morning. I haven't had a single loss until today. I had 17 birds (3 hens, 3 EE cockerels, 4 silkies, and the rest pullets) in the coop plus 7 older cockerels that free range with everyone but they sleep in a different area. Those are just about ready to go in the freezer.
I live in a very rural area so I was expecting that eventually I would lose a bird or two, but I am just in shock
I usually go down to the coop once or twice during the day to bring the chickens treats and/or to check for eggs. When I went down today there were only a few birds to greet me. I started looking around and I saw some white feathers down by the road. We live on a one lane road with very little traffic. I went down to investigate and it looks like at least one of my silkies was taken. There were lots of silkie feathers but no blood. I wasn't terribly attached to those silkies so I am just annoyed at this point.
I kept looking around and one of my cockerels comes running from up the road. He follows me home. One of my EE pullets shows up and flies into my face, I catch her and take her home. I find two pullets and a cockerel in the woods on the opposite side of the house, the one pullet is petrified and hid in the rocks, the other was roosting in a tree. Of the 7 older cockerels I find 6.
On my way to the coop I spot one of my white EE cockerels in the bushes. I go to retrieve him - he's alive but badly wounded. He had 2 deep puncture wounds sort of under his wing. He was barely moving and died a minute or so later, now I'm mad. I found him in one of the spots where the younger birds like to lay in the sun and dust bathe. There were lots of white feathers, some could have come from one of the other silkies or they could have been downy feathers from the white EE.
My hubby and I go out searching all around the woods and along the road, I find the feathers from what I believe is one of the older cockerels, again no blood but lots of feathers, strewn along the path they take to one of the areas where they sun themselves.
In the woods we find one of my EE pullets hunkered down, and my cuckoo marans showed up at the coop.
Missing are my sweet, puppy-dog Ameracuana hen, my BCM hen (both laying), a SLW that would have been laying soon, and 2 other EE pullets. I don't know if they're hiding in the woods, or if they've been taken too.
Everyone is locked up in the coop until I can build a secure run this weekend, but I would like to know exactly what is killing my chickens. What would leave lots of feathers but nothing else (aside from the wounded bird - I must have interrupted its meal)? I was thinking hawk but would a hawk kill so many birds in one day??
I live in a very rural area so I was expecting that eventually I would lose a bird or two, but I am just in shock
I usually go down to the coop once or twice during the day to bring the chickens treats and/or to check for eggs. When I went down today there were only a few birds to greet me. I started looking around and I saw some white feathers down by the road. We live on a one lane road with very little traffic. I went down to investigate and it looks like at least one of my silkies was taken. There were lots of silkie feathers but no blood. I wasn't terribly attached to those silkies so I am just annoyed at this point.
I kept looking around and one of my cockerels comes running from up the road. He follows me home. One of my EE pullets shows up and flies into my face, I catch her and take her home. I find two pullets and a cockerel in the woods on the opposite side of the house, the one pullet is petrified and hid in the rocks, the other was roosting in a tree. Of the 7 older cockerels I find 6.
On my way to the coop I spot one of my white EE cockerels in the bushes. I go to retrieve him - he's alive but badly wounded. He had 2 deep puncture wounds sort of under his wing. He was barely moving and died a minute or so later, now I'm mad. I found him in one of the spots where the younger birds like to lay in the sun and dust bathe. There were lots of white feathers, some could have come from one of the other silkies or they could have been downy feathers from the white EE.
My hubby and I go out searching all around the woods and along the road, I find the feathers from what I believe is one of the older cockerels, again no blood but lots of feathers, strewn along the path they take to one of the areas where they sun themselves.
In the woods we find one of my EE pullets hunkered down, and my cuckoo marans showed up at the coop.
Missing are my sweet, puppy-dog Ameracuana hen, my BCM hen (both laying), a SLW that would have been laying soon, and 2 other EE pullets. I don't know if they're hiding in the woods, or if they've been taken too.
Everyone is locked up in the coop until I can build a secure run this weekend, but I would like to know exactly what is killing my chickens. What would leave lots of feathers but nothing else (aside from the wounded bird - I must have interrupted its meal)? I was thinking hawk but would a hawk kill so many birds in one day??
