No Chickens, just Feathers!!??!!

[TrixieChickenGal]

My daughter went out to a sad sight this morning...about 10 of her bantam chickens were gone!! There were feathers everywhere, no blood and no chickens!! She found one lone survivor! This pen of chickens were inside a shed that is under construction...figured what ever it was wiggled inside one of the openings that we had boarded up. They were inside a old rabbit hutch locked up.
Unfortunatley it snowed after the attack, so there were no tracks to be found around the shed to give us a clue to what it was. Any ideas on what would take all the chickens? Very confused and sad.

 

[Chemguy]

Difficult to tell. I'm going to guess that it was a fox, even though the only clue is that only feathers remained. Foxes will kill and drag off their kill, store it away for later. Another possibility is a dog or cat. Might be that coons or opossums do the same but usually they kill, tear and leave the carcass.

 

[riverpilot69]

This is very puzzling. I doubt it was a raccoon or opossum. No one animal is going to kill and carry off 10 chickens. It seems to me as it may have been a pack of animals. Coyotes, dogs, etc. A fox would have taken one, and come back when it is hungry again. 10 missing at one time is mysterious.

 

[darin367]

i had a pack of coons kill 18 chickens, packed off 8 of them, left 10 dead in the coop............

 

[ivan3]

My first guess would be Red Fox, but am unsure of your location. Our neighbor had 13 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets taken by a pair of Reds, in less than 15 minutes (and only a few feathers left). The foxes cached them under some cedars in our tree line (piles of feathers). I then circled out through the woods and found the den. That was that. A little early, here, for this sort of concerted activity by fox.

 

[ThaiChick]

I'm with others. I had a fox carry off five chickens in one hour. The last one was a SLW snatched right in front me on my back patio. My next door neighbor had a patio full of people and fox was not bothered by them at all. Two seasons ago the neighbor dog killed four RIR hens and just left them. It was just a game to her.

 

[Kickin' Chickin']

Had a fox last year that got away with 20 of my pullets. They will come back again and again . sorry for your losses.

 

[TrixieChickenGal]

Than;s everyone for your thoughts and input! Just wish there were some tracks so I had an idea what I was dealing with. My brother inlaw is bringing his trail cam over and setting it up to see if it comes back. In the mean time, the remaining chicks have been moved and traps have been set.

 

[riverpilot69]

Than;s everyone for your thoughts and input! Just wish there were some tracks so I had an idea what I was dealing with. My brother inlaw is bringing his trail cam over and setting it up to see if it comes back. In the mean time, the remaining chicks have been moved and traps have been set.

Good luck.

 

[JackE]

Sounds like a fox. They WON'T just take one, I've had them take half a dozen or more in one attack. Sounds like the same thing I found, just piles of feathers around the yard.
Jack