3/4 of my flock turned into feathers today, any ideas what took them?

[PatrickSheehan]

Hi all,

I just came home to find 17 out of 24 chickens missing. They all disappeared during daylight and the only thing they left behind was piles of feathers. No blood, no bodies, no body parts, just a handful of feathers in each pile. I'm pretty sad about it; whatever took them took almost all the ones I liked the best, too.

I live in the Catskills and am new to chickens. The birds were just over 10 weeks old. We hadn't had any predator attacks until today. I don't think it was a bird because of trails through the grass near some of the feather piles. Didn't notice any tracks, though.

Thoughts?

Best,
Patrick

 

[hennyandpenny]

when my chicks were about that age i had dogs and hawks kill the majority of them hawks 5 dogs 8 but they both left carcuses cat however leave very little just some intestines if too hard for them.

 

[hdowden]

the dogs around here will leave piles of feathers...might be a coon

 

[featherz]

Hi all,

I just came home to find 17 out of 24 chickens missing. They all disappeared during daylight and the only thing they left behind was piles of feathers. No blood, no bodies, no body parts, just a handful of feathers in each pile. I'm pretty sad about it; whatever took them took almost all the ones I liked the best, too.

I live in the Catskills and am new to chickens. The birds were just over 10 weeks old. We hadn't had any predator attacks until today. I don't think it was a bird because of trails through the grass near some of the feather piles. Didn't notice any tracks, though.

Thoughts?

Best,
Patrick

My guess in your area is fox if all that was left was feathers. A hawk would not take so many at once and a dog would leave carcasses around. Raccoons prefer to hunt at night (although not always). Fox will hunt in broad daylight. All my fox attacks have just left piles and trails of feathers everywhere. That said, 17 at once seems a bit much - I am betting it buried them somewhere for later.

 

[groundpecker]

I would guess a pack of coyotes or other pack of animals, because so many are missing and piles of feathers.

Tame dogs would just kill them and leave the bodies. Feral dogs would take them to eat.
Coons hunt at night unless rabid, and would not take so many birds.
Hawks would eat part of the birds and leave the rest behind.
Foxes and bobcats would get one or two and leave, unless hunting in a pack like "mother training pups".
Maybe even 2 legged predators, chasing them around.

These are the predators in my area, you may different ones in your area.

 

[featherz]

Yuh right now in our area (Upstate NY) the foxes are training their babies. I lost 5 in one day and I know it was a fox since I saw the durn thing running off with the chicken, trailing feathers behind it. =(