- Aug 7, 2016
- 7
- 0
- 57
Hello, I was hoping you all would me. This past Thursday 2pm, my husband was leaving for work, and saw a large amount of feathers, so he came back to tell me to check the chickens. I went to the lot, and found one of my girls with her head gone and bottom parts gone. I did a count and seven were missing including her. On the out side of the pen, near my dead girl, I found a pretty good size area of barred feathers. I checked the area where my husband saw feathers, which is closer to my house, and again, a big area of of barred feathers. So, my my Salmon Faverolle was dead in the pen, and I was missing a small Dominique, and Plymouth Barred Rock. I have two age groups, and these girls were 5 months old. I live in rural area, my sister came over, and we scouted the perimeter of my home/yard. We found my Plymouth with her head gone and bottom parts missing. I can not find my Dominique, she was small. My older 4 hens, are 10 months old. There are no clues from them at all. My lot is relatively new, 3 months old. And my older group were originally, a group of 10, that I would free range some last summer. I lost 3 of them to hawks last July. My fence is 4 feet tall, with rows of barbed wire over it, however, 3 of the big girls missing can fly or get overit, but not the 4th hen. The fence is loose in one area, and my husband is suppose to fix that arwa. My girls can't get out, but maybe a craft predator could. My husband did see a hawk that afternoon. I am so distraught, How can so many of my girls be missing, and what type of predator eats their head and bottom parts and leaves the rest of the body. Obviously, there was a struggle, because of the feathers. But what about my 4 big girls? Could I have had more than one predator? Please help me, she'd light on this! Thank you.
