WHAT killed my chickens???

[JackE]

My heart totally goes out to you! I to am attached to my chickens. My flock has been decimated by a predator. I've lost 12 chickens in 2 days. They free range during the day. No sign of anything except for a few feathers of one chicken and 1 carcass of another. I'm absolutely devastated. I think it is a hawk since it happened during the day. Someone suggested I put up reflective ribbons around my coop, another suggested a goose or peacock as a good watch dog for chickens. I'm thinking about a scare crow or an emu Any suggestions?

If you lost twelve birds in two days, it was NOT a hawk. They will kill one, eat, and leave the remains. Sounds to me like you have a fox. They will kill and remove multiple birds in one attack. They are a 24hr/7day threat, they don't just come out at night. Your description of happened to your birds, is exactly what happened here to my birds. Reflective ribbons, scarecrows won't mean anything to the fox. Even you standing there, unless armed, will not deter him. A peacock will become just another meal. If you keep letting them out there, the fox will wipe you out. I ended up surrounding my coop with 650' of electrified poultry net. That was the answer for me. The fox are still here, but all they can do is look at the chickens.

 

[GingerCW]

JackE,

Thank you for your input! I live out in the country in an old farm house and have a really large chicken coop. My coop is a ways from my house surround by cattle pasture. My chickens have been free ranging up to my house eating all the bugs, etc during the day since the fall when I started on my chicken journey. I am absolutely devastated that I won't be able to enjoy them clucking around my house. Their chicken run is quite large and I don't how I will be able to completely cover it. I have never seen foxes around my house, but we definitely hear coyotes all around us. And I have only seen one raccoon on the day we moved in a year ago and none since then. I also have a dog but she was out the first day but not the second day of chicken disappearance. I have no experience with either type of predator. I did find a second carcass this morning on the road near my house that wasn't there last night on the drive home. I didn't loose any chickens after I got home. Would this describe attacks by coyotes? If it is a fox or coyote do you think they will be okay if they stay inside the fenced chicken run or do you think I would have to cover the run? I am guessing if the attacks were at night maybe a raccoon but not during the day? If it is a fox, coyote or raccoon do you have any recommendations to eliminate them? As I said I have not seen any foxes, coyotes or raccoon around my house so shooting them when I see them would not be sufficient. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats so traps would have to be safe and humane. It is crazy that I got so attached to a bunch of silly old chickens when I have been planning to raise meat chickens this spring, but I am just heart broken! Any other thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TheEggCollecter]

Raccoon or fisher cat. I am so sorry

 

[GingerCW]

What is a Fishercat?

 

[TheEggCollecter]

They are nasty creatures much like raccoons, that love to eat chickens. When they see a moving creature there instinct tells them to kill it. This way they are known to take out whole flocks at a time.

 

[JackE]

JackE,

Thank you for your input! I live out in the country in an old farm house and have a really large chicken coop. My coop is a ways from my house surround by cattle pasture. My chickens have been free ranging up to my house eating all the bugs, etc during the day since the fall when I started on my chicken journey. I am absolutely devastated that I won't be able to enjoy them clucking around my house. Their chicken run is quite large and I don't how I will be able to completely cover it. I have never seen foxes around my house, but we definitely hear coyotes all around us. And I have only seen one raccoon on the day we moved in a year ago and none since then. I also have a dog but she was out the first day but not the second day of chicken disappearance. I have no experience with either type of predator. I did find a second carcass this morning on the road near my house that wasn't there last night on the drive home. I didn't loose any chickens after I got home. Would this describe attacks by coyotes? If it is a fox or coyote do you think they will be okay if they stay inside the fenced chicken run or do you think I would have to cover the run? I am guessing if the attacks were at night maybe a raccoon but not during the day? If it is a fox, coyote or raccoon do you have any recommendations to eliminate them? As I said I have not seen any foxes, coyotes or raccoon around my house so shooting them when I see them would not be sufficient. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats so traps would have to be safe and humane. It is crazy that I got so attached to a bunch of silly old chickens when I have been planning to raise meat chickens this spring, but I am just heart broken! Any other thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I got away with letting my chickens freerange for almost a full year. They were let out early everyday. When I would come home from work, they would all come running up to greet me. They would hang around the house, and peek in the back sliding door, looking for handouts. A lot of times, they would follow us around the yard. I kinda miss all that too. But it just could not be done safely anymore after the fox found them.
If you have coyotes, sure, these attacks could have been from them. And the news is the same, they will keep coming back for a free meal. With regular fenced run, predators can dig under, or climb over. That is why I went with the electrified net fence. Animals always check things out with their nose. When they check out my fence, they get over 7000Vs to the face, and then forget all about messing with the birds. With your regular fenced run, you could run a perimeter strand of hotwire around it, about 6" off the ground, and another one about 1 1/2' up. That should keep undesirables away.
Shooting them is another option, but if you have my luck, the only time you will see them is when your gun is in the house, and you are out in the middle of your yard.

 

[Rpvogel]

My money is on the Raccoon. I found 3 headlees chickens and several were missing completely. I followed feathers back to a hole in the ground with coon tracks, I set a trap and lets just say I have a new coon skin hat.

 

[Gallus Sapien]

I hate the fact that this subject is what prompted me to become a member of this AWESOME site! I just can't find any answers to this question to convince me 100% that I know what killed them. So, I'm reaching out. This may be a little graphic for some.
I had 20 Orpington Buffs- 3 older hens (one a new mamma), 1 older Rooster, 2 - four month olds, 6-three month olds and 8 chicks..
My Yard is fenced in and never had intruders that I'm aware of. I let them free-range during the day and lock them in their coop/house at bed time. It was a clear day and I stepped out for 1 1/2 hours. When I got home...they were EVERYWHERE! Dead and on their backs. The body count was 8 chickens & 4 chicks. One younger hen, one chick and my rooster are totally missing. 3 young hens were found up on a fence (unusual) and 3 chicks were found alive..hiding in weird spots. This is what is confusing: Only one chicken was missing her head (no trace) but the other dead chickens were not mangled or damaged except for tiny sub-surface "holes" at the base of their necks between their wings in the shape of a "c" or upside-down "U". No blood, no gore. Their feathers were dry. Feathers were on the ground around each of them. All birds BUT TWO CHICKS were within the fencing - who were about 15' outside the fence...and these babies looked "squeezed"--their intestines were coming out of their bottoms.
. (sorry for the graphic description) and they also had tiny puncture marks under their wing. I have seen hawks and a fox in the area. Someone suggested fisher cat.Oh, and my neighbor has a German Shepard who in 3 years has NEVER figured out how to open the fence! I just don"t know. If it weren't for the 2 babies on the outside of the fence, this would be easier to solve. Needless to say, my remaining 6 will never free range again. My heart can't handle this again.

Any thoughts? Thank you!

Without knowing the distance from one side of the "U" to the next, or the size of the puncture wounds it is hard to be 100% accurate. However, with the amount of information given (i.e. Multiple birds killed w/ little damage.) I would have to say that it was a dog, IMO. Sorry for your loss...

 

[tjo804]

I hate the fact that this subject is what prompted me to become a member of this AWESOME site! I just can't find any answers to this question to convince me 100% that I know what killed them. So, I'm reaching out. This may be a little graphic for some.
I had 20 Orpington Buffs- 3 older hens (one a new mamma), 1 older Rooster, 2 - four month olds, 6-three month olds and 8 chicks..
My Yard is fenced in and never had intruders that I'm aware of. I let them free-range during the day and lock them in their coop/house at bed time. It was a clear day and I stepped out for 1 1/2 hours. When I got home...they were EVERYWHERE! Dead and on their backs. The body count was 8 chickens & 4 chicks. One younger hen, one chick and my rooster are totally missing. 3 young hens were found up on a fence (unusual) and 3 chicks were found alive..hiding in weird spots. This is what is confusing: Only one chicken was missing her head (no trace) but the other dead chickens were not mangled or damaged except for tiny sub-surface "holes" at the base of their necks between their wings in the shape of a "c" or upside-down "U". No blood, no gore. Their feathers were dry. Feathers were on the ground around each of them. All birds BUT TWO CHICKS were within the fencing - who were about 15' outside the fence...and these babies looked "squeezed"--their intestines were coming out of their bottoms.
. (sorry for the graphic description) and they also had tiny puncture marks under their wing. I have seen hawks and a fox in the area. Someone suggested fisher cat.Oh, and my neighbor has a German Shepard who in 3 years has NEVER figured out how to open the fence! I just don"t know. If it weren't for the 2 babies on the outside of the fence, this would be easier to solve. Needless to say, my remaining 6 will never free range again. My heart can't handle this again.

Any thoughts? Thank you!

Sorry for your loss
I am not sure if this has been suggested yet, But I occasionally set up a live trap In different areas of my yard I bait it with cat food just to see who may be hanging out by my coop.
During the day I have caught Cats
and at night an opossum
You may be able to rule out or find out who is in your yard it wont catch the German Shepard but could add clues
I have not lost any of my chickens but I only let them free range when I have time to be out with them. Hawks here.
Make sure you have enough room for them and that you have things to keep them busy when not roaming so they do not get bored.

 

[Dvroenen]

I think one of my dogs is killing my chicks! Last night was the second attack and they were in a hen house with hardware cloth! There was no recux outside at the time. My husband weren't put side and found the wire pulled back and the bottom piece of wood broken! It looks to small for the dog I suspect. The chicks had no damage externally but I think their necks were broken! The sad part is that they were the two chicks that survived the first attack! Rip Charlotte and Jenny! The big hen house and run withe the oldere chicks and ducks is left untouched, please help

Diane