4th of july masacre

[McChooky]

I originally was going to bring her in but she was living her best life and literally behaving as if nothing happened. Usually, if there was an attack, all my birds would huddle and I'd have to go find them under various landscaping but she was 100% normal. She was unscathed of any injury when I looked her over and went up into the coop completely normal. It's very hard, with our current setup to safely bring inside a bird because of the temperatures in our garage and I can't put her anywhere inside without full supervision due to some of our indoor pets. I would have made it work somehow if she wasn't acting like her normal self. This whole thing seems like a multi-predator attack with Hercules losing his head in the front but the ladies' bodies missing.

Have you tested the door yet to see why it was partially open or closed ? Coons like to trap chickens in the coop and foxes will wait until they come out or go to roost

 

[McChooky]

Possibly stray or neighbors dogs?
That must have been a great shock to you all.
I am so sorry this has happened.

Yes sounds like a canine (foxes,wolves,dogs)

 

[CraziChknLady]

I would just recommend before the 4th or major event, or a storm to round everyone up and secure before leaving. I learned the hard way as we had storms coming, racoon attacked. Lost a hen. It may take extra time to put everyone away but would be worth it to not come home to a bloodbath. So sorry to hear about that. Any massacre or attack is never easy. No easy way to say it other than it just sucks.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

I'm so sorry That is so hard especially for the children


LORD JESUS is KING of kings and LORD of lords!

 

[McChooky]

I would just recommend before the 4th or major event, or a storm to round everyone up and secure before leaving. I learned the hard way as we had storms coming, racoon attacked. Lost a hen. It may take extra time to put everyone away but would be worth it to not come home to a bloodbath. So sorry to hear about that. Any massacre or attack is never easy. No easy way to say it other than it just sucks.

Stormy weather can cause the sky to darkened and predators hard to see.Movement is also not easily detected when the leaves on all the bushes and trees are moving.Damp leaves don't make much noise when a predators walking so its a good time for them to hunt.

 

[Mooncake]

I'm so sorry for your losses!
Your predator will return, keep your surviving hen safe!
Consider a game camera, you might see who's visiting,
And maybe a live trap also.
Mary

We had cameras up but we've had 97% humidity so when we went to review the video the lenses were completely fogged over:-(

 

[Mooncake]

Have you tested the door yet to see why it was partially open or closed ? Coons like to trap chickens in the coop and foxes will wait until they come out or go to roost

I disconnected it but there's something definitely wrong when I was testing it. We've replaced a gear before and might need to do it again because it's not going all the way up now.

 

[Mooncake]

I would just recommend before the 4th or major event, or a storm to round everyone up and secure before leaving. I learned the hard way as we had storms coming, racoon attacked. Lost a hen. It may take extra time to put everyone away but would be worth it to not come home to a bloodbath. So sorry to hear about that. Any massacre or attack is never easy. No easy way to say it other than it just sucks.

I agree. I wish I had thought about doing that before leaving. We usually never go anywhere for the 4th. This was the first time and of course, I didn't think about doing it. It sucks to think I could have done something so simple that would have prevented a lot of heartache. Sorry for your loss too!

 

[Mooncake]

I've been using BYC for years and i finally created an account because I had something so insane happen that im still in shock over. We had a flock on 6 hens and 1 very large brahma rooster. We have an auto door. We left to see 4th of July fireworks at a friend's house, which is usually fine because of the auto door. Our dogs were inside because of the fireworks. This morning, my daughter went to feed the birds and came back in tears. Our entire flock is gone except 1 hen. Our rooster was found in the front lawn with no head (typically a racoon), but the weirdest part about this, the front lawn is near a major road. Every predator attack we've had has drug them to the back near the dense woods. But, our rooster was found there. There were feathers all over the pastures, side of the house, near the coop. There was blood on the coop door. Every bird is missing except just one lone hen. We manually put up thr hen tonight, no one else has shown up. I was hoping some were scared and would reappear. There were no other bodies. Im devastated and at a total loss. All I can think of is that the fireworks had a portion of our flock roosting out in the yard. Not sure what happened with the auto door... it was only a 3rd of the way open this morning. I have unplugged the auto door just in case its malfunctioning and manually closed the door for our remaining hen. I honestly dont think I can own chickens again. I've lost one or two over the years, but the whole flock in one night? 5 hens and 1 rooster.... its devastating.

UPDATE: No others have shown back up so I can assume they're all gone. I will be taking my remaining hen to a friend's house who owns many chickens so she won't be alone and well loved. It'll give me some time to build my dream coop and setup more predator protections. I think I'm not going to free range after this, I'm not sure. I have a time to think about it. It'll be really weird to not have any chickens running around for awhile. I don't want to rush it though. I'll take my time and set everything up really well before building back up my flock. Thank you to everyone who responded. I really appreciate it!!

 

[Helping No-Tail-A]

I know this is late but I was just reading and crazy you say this because the same thing happened to all of my papas chickens and one of ours. They ripped their side open and took the head off. I don't know what it is either.