10 killed last night

[zippy11455]

Pen of 2 month old chicks. 10 dead, 1 left living. 1 missing completely, no trace left. 1 was partially pulled through the cage and dismembered. The rest just had their heads pulled off and were still in the cage. The pen was an extra large dog cage with a tarp tied tightly around all side but the front at night. The chicks were attacked from the front that was uncovered. Raccoon? Something else?

I have 2 other small pens with birds a couple of weeks older that were untouched. I'm assuming the killer or killers will be back again tonight if I don't take precautions.

Going to local feed store this morning and getting a trap. Bait it with what? A dead chicken? I wonder how many predators there are? If I catch one, do I keep putting out the trap till I get no more?

I'm also going to have to build Fort Knox Chicken pens for nighttime lockdown. Hardware cloth (1/2 inch) all the way with solid bottoms. But until I get those done I'm going to have to bring the remaining birds in every night.

Anyone else have any other ideas? This really sucks. Chicken raising isn't for the weak.

 

[paulpig]

sorry to hear bout your loss. We hopefully built strong enuff with the hardware cloth buried down into the ground then a 90 degree angle out 12 inches away from coop(2 hopefully prevent digging) concreted then back filled. Now I need to go buy a fake blue heron to convince the real one from invading my koi pond!!!! I hear heron are territorial--I hope the one that has eaten my 12 year old koi is real scared of plastic..........We have tried waiting with a gun, but no luck so far..........don't need to start a new thread or get off path from yours, but make sure you DIG DIG DIG.........BOL paul

 

[Opa]

Definately sounds like raccoons to me. Golden Maldrin and coke makes a nice after dinner drink for coons.

 

[meme9726]

I am very sorry to hear of your loss

. Sounds like racoons and yup they will be back. Bait your trap with tuna and good luck.

 

[CedarRidgeChicks]

Hi zippy..boy this sounds exactly like my story!! Went out yesterday morning to check cages..(covered with tarp on three sides, up off ground 2-3 feet) in one cage that had 12 BRs 6 wks old..there was only one left sitting on top of waterer. The others were pulled through the bottom of the cage..we did find 1 wing, 1 foot and feathers. I know ours was a raccoon. My son sat up last night in his truck to see if it came back..it did..right to the same spot..but when my son opened his truck door to get the shotgun in a better position ..it scared it off. Fortunately we had moved all the others to the porch..

 

[falloonfarm]

Nothing worse than seeing your chicks gone -- I baited my trap with many things, but a chicken carcass was the only bait that caught anything. I found the raccoon in my area had a pattern - it hit my coop on Friday & Saturday night. If you don't catch it right away, make sure you have the trap ready same time next week. The full moon seems to bring out the critters in force as well. Good luck!

 

[amazondoc]

Sorry to hear of your loss!

This is a good lesson for folks -- ALWAYS cover pens/cages/brooders with wire that has openings too small for predators to get their paws through! Regular dog crates are NOT safe, and chicken wire will NOT do the trick. Cover everything with 1/2" x 1" welded wire or 1/2" hardware cloth!

 

[Boyd]

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[chickensioux]

Oh my, so sorry for all your losses.

 

[mmtillman]

Soooo sorry for your loss...we woke up one morning about a year and a half ago and found all of my 9 birds killed, too...by a gang of raccoons, we think.
Probally what got your birds, too.

Soooo sorry, I know just how devastating this is ....We too built a predator proof coop after that learning experience!! Good luck to you !!