Thief Stealing Chickens. Please Help!

[McChooky]

I'd padlock everything until I found out what happened to my chickens and if you suspect a person trespassed and killed them put up a camera. If they're caught its a felony.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I don't hear any mention of a pen for your chickens to sleep in. You said the ducks sleep on your porch which leads me to believe that there may not be any pen? IDK but if that is the case it certainly could be raccoons that are arriving for a chicken dinner every night instead of a human.

 

[Anon112]

I agree with many others here that if it is happening every night, staying up one night (possibly after installing some motion sensor lights) might be a really good idea. After a man came onto my property at night (WITH A GUN!) and scared the crap out of me, my sister got me some solar-powered motion sensor lights and we put them up near my coop.

I do think that you should be very careful, though, and make sure that you are not putting yourself in a dangerous situation. For example, I would want another person out there with me, or at least sleeping in the house where they could quickly get up and come to assist you. I would also say that you should have a phone with you and some means of self-defense (I'd be leery of a gun, but a baseball bat or shovel or something). The last thing you want is to jump out and surprise a person who is bigger/stronger than you or, heck, even surprise an angry raccoon if you aren't armed/prepared.

I have two trail cameras (they are battery powered and you do need to get an SD card out of them to see the images). They have options to take video or photos. I have used them very successfully in the past to capture images of animals and people in my yard or near my coop. They are camo-colored and you cannot see them at night. They come with little bungee cords so it is very easy to mount them on a tree or a post or anything. (I have even at times mounted one to a gallon jug and then strategically placed the jug). There is a small red light that some on when it takes a picture--a person might notice, an animal wouldn't.

I hope that you are able to resolve this. In a weird way, I hope it is a clever animal, because I find a predator behaving naturally much easier to take then the grossness of a person coming into my yard/coop/property.

 

[countryladyNH]

You can get motion lights with sirens.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=motion+light+with+siren&ref=nb_sb_noss

Those are a great idea! We got those for our 'bee area' to scare off predators. They were under $25. for a PAIR on Amazon and have been amazing! I would get a game cam, but also a couple of the light/alarms.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086ZQ86D2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[cmom]

I wonder if the OP solved the issue yet. They haven't posted since the day they started this thread.

 

[McChooky]

I agree with many others here that if it is happening every night, staying up one night (possibly after installing some motion sensor lights) might be a really good idea. After a man came onto my property at night (WITH A GUN!) and scared the crap out of me, my sister got me some solar-powered motion sensor lights and we put them up near my coop.

I do think that you should be very careful, though, and make sure that you are not putting yourself in a dangerous situation. For example, I would want another person out there with me, or at least sleeping in the house where they could quickly get up and come to assist you. I would also say that you should have a phone with you and some means of self-defense (I'd be leery of a gun, but a baseball bat or shovel or something). The last thing you want is to jump out and surprise a person who is bigger/stronger than you or, heck, even surprise an angry raccoon if you aren't armed/prepared.

I have two trail cameras (they are battery powered and you do need to get an SD card out of them to see the images). They have options to take video or photos. I have used them very successfully in the past to capture images of animals and people in my yard or near my coop. They are camo-colored and you cannot see them at night. They come with little bungee cords so it is very easy to mount them on a tree or a post or anything. (I have even at times mounted one to a gallon jug and then strategically placed the jug). There is a small red light that some on when it takes a picture--a person might notice, an animal wouldn't.

I hope that you are able to resolve this. In a weird way, I hope it is a clever animal, because I find a predator behaving naturally much easier to take then the grossness of a person coming into my yard/coop/property.

There was a similar post recently that turned out to be a clever fox with kits .It opened door on 2 different coops on 2 different days and killed every chicken that didn't run and get away.They were small chickens just like these and easy enough for a fox to carry a short distance.

 

[RooStar Chicken Gang]

A dog should help, even a little one to bark may send them off. Sorry Ur chooks got stolen, especially little cute silkies that sucks. These days depends where U live but if U set up cameras and do catch them there may b other cameras throughout Ur area that sees them too and police may access that if they care enough and follow them back to where they came from sort of. If someone is climbing Ur fence it's probably just imo between the hours of 2am and 5am.

 

[Vickischics]

Double barrel shot guns don't rack. Pump actions do.

I stand corrected!!! Darn, I like that scary racking sound!! Lol

 

[DatCampG]

Hi There,

First off I should clarify and give a lil’ context. I live in the suburbs with a flock of around 60 (pre thief) ducks and chickens. I don’t think my neighbors like my hobby especially when I used to own guineas. But recently about a week and a half ago we started to notice our a few birds went missing. We scoured our whole yard for feathers, bones, or anything that would give us a clue as to what happened to our birds. A few more nights pass and more birds start to go missing again. No carcasses. Nothing. This is when we start to get suspicious. The thief continued to come and pick and choose which ones to take, likely at night because birds I saw during the day have been stolen. The thief has not stolen a single duck. (probably because they slee on our porch out of site. Which is why I’m certain it is a human, because they would be easier to pick off) I also recently found a dead body of a (Young healthy) serama of mine inside my coop which makes me think they killed it for some reason. I should also mention that at first they have only been stealing my silkies and once all of them had been taken they went on to a few of my seramas.

I know I should obviously do a security camera, but if I do I feel like it’s likely that they’ll just be wearing a hood or something like that and if not I’m not even sure that’ll help. Will the police even care? And the gate closest to my coop is locked I plan on locking the rest of them. But it’s likely they hopped it.

Sorry for the long story, but

 

[DatCampG]

Hi There,

First off I should clarify and give a lil’ context. I live in the suburbs with a flock of around 60 (pre thief) ducks and chickens. I don’t think my neighbors like my hobby especially when I used to own guineas. But recently about a week and a half ago we started to notice our a few birds went missing. We scoured our whole yard for feathers, bones, or anything that would give us a clue as to what happened to our birds. A few more nights pass and more birds start to go missing again. No carcasses. Nothing. This is when we start to get suspicious. The thief continued to come and pick and choose which ones to take, likely at night because birds I saw during the day have been stolen. The thief has not stolen a single duck. (probably because they slee on our porch out of site. Which is why I’m certain it is a human, because they would be easier to pick off) I also recently found a dead body of a (Young healthy) serama of mine inside my coop which makes me think they killed it for some reason. I should also mention that at first they have only been stealing my silkies and once all of them had been taken they went on to a few of my seramas.

I know I should obviously do a security camera, but if I do I feel like it’s likely that they’ll just be wearing a hood or something like that and if not I’m not even sure that’ll help. Will the police even care? And the gate closest to my coop is locked I plan on locking the rest of them. But it’s likely they hopped it.

Sorry for the long story, but any help is appreciated.

"You definitely need a game camera". It could be a coyote, raccoon or Henery the red tail hawk. It could even be a barnyard dawg. I say that dog is lower than a snake full of buckshot.