A few birds survived predator attack 😥

[Silkie Princess]

Foxes attacked my hens a few hours ago. I am so devasted! The foxes killed 6 of my laying hens and one silkie pullet R.I.P Marylyn, Pearl, Amber, Chocolate, Mavis, Suxy and Pinkie. I now have 4 of the laying hens that are pretty shaken and 3 silkie roosters that are just missing feathers. One of the hens Toffee has a small but quite deep wound under her wing. Other than that they are okay but I'm worried if the stress is not too much for them. When I took them inside some of them shrieked but they are now calm and sleeping. But the find that I can't figure out is that the laying hens were in their run but Marylyn ( silkie) was in our backyard and her head was beside the coop in the run. And how on earth did something get into our backyard?!? I took my torch and looked around into the fields and there were 2 pairs of fox eyes watching a few meters away. And will the hens survive the shock? I am very worried about them. I sprayed Toffees wound with disinfectant and put some lavender essential oil in the coop for them to calm down. One hen's eyelid is scratched but she's okay. It looks as If they all did calm down. I hope they make it till the morning. I will be very thankful for any advice!

 

[Silkie Princess]

Here is a photo of Princess

 

[FL_chick]

So sorry for your loss! I don't have any advice but it sounds like you're doing everything you can to take care of your babies. Wishing a speedy recovery for Toffee and the rest of your flock!

 

[Silkie Princess]

Huggy one of my silkies saved all of them yesterday She came to the kitchen window and started knocking on it with her beak I went out and scared the foxes away. Huggy is a real hero to me (she is the buff one in the front)

 

[kurby22]

I’m so sorry for your losses :-( I can’t imagine how much it hurts to lose so many of your babies all at once and so violently :-( I think if you can keep your survivors inside in a quiet and safe feeling space for a couple days and keep wounds clean and maybe up their electrolytes the may make it thru okay. Chickens are surprisingly tough!! Good luck and give them all extra treats and love

 

[Shezadandy]

Figuring out how they got in is going to be your #1 chicken job, because now the foxes know their way in and you don't know how they're managed to do it. And now they've had a "free" meal and will be back for more.

Is your coop 100% secure? If so I would keep the remaining flock locked in there until you figure out how the foxes got in and repair it.

Some animals will catch chicken's heads through the fence and decapitate them, leaving the body inside their enclosure and the head on the outside. But if I'm reading your situation right, everything was inside your backyard and/or run.

Look for spots they could have dug under. Push on every last bit of fencing from BOTH sides of the fence.

Hardware cloth and using electric wire on the exterior of your chicken's living areas are the "gold" standard. I use chainlink fencing with hardware cloth attached to it with metal wire, and a net over the entire top. But I don't have foxes.

They can get into VERY tight spaces that you might have dismissed as not worth worrying about. For all their fluff, they aren't that big.

 

[blackforestbirds]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how traumatic this has been for all of you. I read in one of my poultry care books that adding a spoonful of molasses or sugar to drinking water helps restore birds who experience extreme stress from heat, cold or injury. I tried it with my ducks when we had an usual heatwave this summer and it worked. Best of luck. Please keep us posted.

 

[Tonyroo]

Sorry for your loss I totally understand, I lost 12 chicks at varying ages to a bobcat. My heart dropped

 

[Silkie Princess]

They are now in the backyard.
Chirp: lost a lot of feathers, his shoulders/wings are sore

Teddy: okay, wings/shoulders are sore
Fluffy: seems tottaly fine
Princess: wings/shoulders are very sore, keeps hunchinh them and walking sideways
Dora: tottaly okay
Leggy: limping, leg sticking out a bit?
Toffee: missing feathers, wound is healing

 

[Silkie Princess]

I noticed that the roosters are shivering a little. Should I make chicken saddles for them?