4 of my 9 found dead

[erinlee]

Sorry for your loss. Unfortunately I had the same thing happen last night; although every one of my chickens was killed. It has been suggested it was also a weasel as it killed them all but didn't eat them.

I have to warn you though; I had thick boards sunk into the ground about 6" all the way around the base of my coop and whatever it was still managed to dig under to get in. I'm thinking 6" is not enough. If I decide to re-use my coop, I will only do so once I have hardware cloth securely fastened to the entire bottom of the coop preventing anything from digging thier way in.

 

[theoldchick]

Horror stories like this always freak me out. Folks who have done their very best to keep their chickens safe only to discover one tiny mistake ends up killing most of the flock. Your story is a good reminder for all of us to thoroughly check our coops!

 

[akcountrygrrl]

Quote:
Yep. Plus, in most states, it is illegal to "relocate" wild animals. By relocating them, you are potentially causing problems for other people. Additionally, you could be bringing disease into the area, exposing the animal to disease, over-stressing an area that may already be overpopulated, and causing upheaval in the form of territorial battles. If that was a young animal that hadn't learned to hunt yet, you may have just sentenced it to a slow starvation death. If it is a mother with babies, you've just sentenced the babies that were left behind to a slow starvation death. I understand that folks think they are being humane by relocating wild animals but in reality it is more humane to put the animal down.