2 Hens dead (2 slightly wounded, one pretty bad.)

[AidKD]

3rd one seems fine she was a little lethargic and ruffled for a day or two but I got some electrolytes and vitamin packets down her and she’s out with the flock now no injuries but the problem with the other 2, is I literally could not get them to eat or drink at all they just slept till they passed I even dipped their beaks in it and they would shake it off or just let it drip off so not really much I could do.. the one that had a bleeding nose I’m not sure if that came from an internal injury or not but she died within an hour or less.

Do you have very many cats around? A hawk wouldn't have been able to get all 3 so quick. Also very sorry this happened!

 

[Purelychicks]

Do you have very many cats around? A hawk wouldn't have been able to get all 3 so quick. Also very sorry this happened!

I have my own cat, she’s super docile wouldn’t do anything and she’s mainly inside but other than her, no. And it’s ok, it happens.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

I was talking to a lady who used to raise chickens about 20 miles from me. She said a mink got into her chicken coop, killed all of her chickens, and sucked the blood from all of her hens. It didn't eat the chickens though. Do you have any similar predators in your area?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The only way to truly protect your chickens is to keep them in a predator-proof run and coop. This means using hardware cloth from the ground to at least 4' up from the ground with no openings bigger than 1/2". Chicken wire is for chickens, meaning it will keep chickens in, but not keep predators out. It's also a good idea to run an "apron" of hardware cloth around the pen on the ground or slightly underground to prevent digging. Best wishes!

 

[Purelychicks]

I was talking to a lady who used to raise chickens about 20 miles from me. She said a mink got into her chicken coop, killed all of her chickens, and sucked the blood from all of her hens. It didn't eat the chickens though. Do you have any similar predators in your area?

Safe to say, I have literally never seen a mink in my whole life here so I don’t know.

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Safe to say, I have literally never seen a mink in my whole life here so I don’t know.

I found this nugget of info right here BYC Mink . It talks about their range as well.