2nd kill, carcass 20 feet up tree

[lotusgirl73]

Hi All,
This is my first time raising chickens. We have had our 10 chickens for over a year now. This past Thursday night, may 31, something must have gotten into our coop and scared/gotten our chickens. All 10 are gone and none have returned. It has been 3 days now. My 5 children and myself are very upset. We love bed these chickens so much. Has this happened to anyone else? I was hoping a few would return. We have scouted the neighborhood and we have walked our property numerous times. Is it possible for a fox to have scared, taken our chickens? I do not know what to make of this. I just didn’t thInk all 10 would disappear.

It's a difficult situation to deal with. And understandable more so, when kiddos are involved. We've moved several times in the last ten years so I'm always having to acclimate my hubby, daughter, flocks, and I to different environments. That said...research the predators in your arena. Take an investigative look too, at ones who kill multiples in one session. And based on that information, set your traps and fortify the coop. Also, if you provide the area you reside in, a BYC member (living in the same region) may have some great insights in to what spooked your coop.

 

[Sabanos]

Than you for your response. I live in Bridgewater, NJ. I know we have fox I’m the area. But I see a fox killing or taking 10 chickens. I know they hunt solo. I want to get more chickens because we love having them.

 

[DrumstickRanchTex]

I’m in Texas and I’ve lost goats and geese and chickens to lions. They are in quite a few areas and usually leave tracks as well as trails of feathers.
Bobcats will get into a coop and even if they are not hungry will kill every chicken. It’s like they kill for practice or for sport. It is extra sad when they kill fifty birds and not eat any.
We have miners cats, also called ring tails and they eat what they kill but they live in family units.
I wish you the best of luck in catching the predator and then starting a new flock.

 

[BreanneRN]

I don't know, chickens that go into a covered chicken house at night are not usually subject to owl attacks. I think the owl really needs a visual of the animal prey and then they swoop down to the ground to attack. If the prey is too big to be killed by the ground attack, they will fly up high and drop it on the ground to kill it. They are silent flyers, but if it is owls, and you stay out and watch for them, you will hear and see them. They talk to each other. If the chickens were outside roosting on a fence, I think they might be subject to an owl attack. Unless of course, there is no chicken house, just an uncovered run? If you see owls, you can see where they roost and find their regurgitated owl pellets consisting of undigestable parts of their meals (teeth, fur, jawbones). Mostly they eat nocturnal rodents such as mice and rats. Unless you have a great horned owl, they are able to take larger prey, but it is still snatch and go, they don't break into chicken houses (unless you can fly in).

 

[Cod]

Nothing on the trail cam last night, pointed up the tree angled at the carcass.

 

[Sabanos]

Thank you all for your support and responses. It is sad that I have no idea what has happened to our 10 chickens in one night : ( we have put a lot of effort into raising the chickens. My husband built the coop and I built the run after one chicken, Breeker, was killed by a hawk. We will start our new flock pretty soon. Thank you small again. I wish you all well.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Nothing on the trail cam last night, pointed up the tree angled at the carcass.

I do not know what you are looking for, but keep looking... it sounds like a cat to me, but who can say.... I will say that most predators will return. So your preparations may reveal something later. Cat's will return to a kill (as will hawks) but not if they think it is an ambush (which it generally should be if you can manage it). A cat will oftentimes lay up very near it's kill and you might have been watched as you set your preparations. I would secure the coop, so you have no more losses, and then position the camera for a wide field of view. You just want to get a look at what it is for starters anyway.

 

[BreanneRN]

Another critter indigenous to most of the US that hasn't been mentioned so far is the Opossum, and yes, they will take out a chicken or two, though may invade your coop for the eggs. They are nocturnal and very good climbers, elusive and you would almost never see one during the day. They sleep and hide and are well camouflaged and are hard to see. They are completely comfortable in trees. I am thinking that this might be the more likely predator in this particular case. If so, the TSC trap may be the answer. Most are about the size of a medium cat or smaller, though some males are bigger. I caught one in a cat trap once trying to trap some stray cats I wanted to relocate. They love cat food! So bait up your trap with some of that, wet or dry. I didn't want the one I trapped and let it go. It made terrible growling hissing noises at me and wouldn't leave the trap. I left the area and when I came back it was gone. I didn't have any birds at the time, had just moved to the property. Raccoons are the predator I worry about the most where I am these days. We have foxes, but they don't climb only dig and only come one at a time usually. Just be sure your coop is strong enough to keep everything out and cover it. A strong easy cover can be made out of 16 ft stock panels covered with hardware cloth or 1 " chicken wire.

 

[Howard E]

Thank you all for your support and responses. It is sad that I have no idea what has happened to our 10 chickens in one night : ( we have put a lot of effort into raising the chickens. My husband built the coop and I built the run after one chicken, Breeker, was killed by a hawk. We will start our new flock pretty soon. Thank you small again. I wish you all well.

A lot of predators will steal one or two chickens and leave no trace, some will kill as many as 10 or more chickens and leave them dead for you to find, but few will take 10 birds and leave no trace.

One might be a bobcat. A video was posted several months back of a bobcat that came back for 5 or 6 birds in one night. It only left feathers. If not for the video camera that caught it, that would not have been a suspect.

The other possible culprit would be a human thief. They can take that many birds and leave no trace.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Thank you all for your support and responses. It is sad that I have no idea what has happened to our 10 chickens in one night : ( we have put a lot of effort into raising the chickens. My husband built the coop and I built the run after one chicken, Breeker, was killed by a hawk. We will start our new flock pretty soon. Thank you small again. I wish you all well.

I concur with Howard E. It sounds like a person. A no good chicken thief. I am only tuning in to hear about what put the chicken in the tree. Sorry about your birds. Welcome to Backyard Chickens.... I hope you get some more.