A "what got my chicken" question

[huntersmoon]

Hi,

I've read a few of these posts but don't see something that clearly matches mine.

We have a coop with attached run, with a screen door between coop and run. The coop is three sided hardware cloth with the fourth side a wall to the feed room. The run (and the coop) have a 12" deep (top/bottom) cement footing around the perimeter, about 6" across from interior to exterior. The run is fenced with bull panel fencing that has openings about 2"x3", and across the top I have shade cloth stapled. Since the chickens are closed into the coop at night, I figured the shade cloth was sufficient from the main day predator of hawks.

We forgot to close the door between run and coop for a couple of nights. Tuesday evening I went to shut the coop and was missing a barred rock - I found its remains in the run: there was the beak and skull, and the spine - all one long strip - and nothing else but some feathers.

I closed the door to secure the hens and I left the carcass to retrieve in the morning since it was late and I didn't have tools there to scoop it up. When I came back in the morning, the carcass was gone.

There is a small gap in the shade cloth where it fits around a young tree trunk, and that is the only place I can see that something could come in. There are no holes dug and nothing torn.

Since it only took the one chicken and seemed to be pretty straightforward about eating rather than maiming, I assume it was not a raccoon. I think if it was a daytime hawk attack, it wouldn't have eaten the chicken right there and down to the spine...the legs and ribs would still be there.

We have foxes and possums here but I thought possums didn't eat full grown chickens really.

Any thoughts? We are going to set up a nighttime camera to see what tries to get into the run, and I'm going to secure that patch of the shade cloth - haven't let the hens out into the run during the day yet in case it was a predator that might also come back in the day.

Thanks
Shannon

 

[sylviethecochin]

@A_Fowl_Guy may be able to answer that.

 

[Alaskan]

I would guess raccoon

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Sounds like an uninterrupted bird of prey. Raccoons usually only eat the crop and head of a bird and opossums eat the innards first. A fox or weasel would have most likely taken more than one bird. I’d it was in the run I assume a dog didn’t get to it.

 

[50-45-1]

I was first thinking rat, but also the carcass sounds like what a possum or skunk would leave.
The camera may solve this for you.
Your 2x3 cattle pannels will hold up against quite a few larger preditors but will allow in the smaller ones like weasels, rats and snakes. Adding hardware cloth may be a good idea.
I would beef up the screen door so they are protected at night when they are most vulnerable. A weasel can fit thru a hole you might only think a mouse would fit through.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[50-45-1]

Also if you could update your profile so we know where you are located, it helps us to know your climate and what preditors you may have in your area.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

I was first thinking rat, but also the carcass sounds like what a possum or skunk would leave.
The camera may solve this for you.
Your 2x3 cattle pannels will hold up against quite a few larger preditors but will allow in the smaller ones like weasels, rats and snakes. Adding hardware cloth may be a good idea.
I would beef up the screen door so they are protected at night when they are most vulnerable. A weasel can fit thru a hole you might only think a mouse would fit through.
Good luck and keep us posted.

X2 on the trail cam and hardwire cloth.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I was first thinking rat, but also the carcass sounds like what a possum or skunk would leave.
The camera may solve this for you.
Your 2x3 cattle pannels will hold up against quite a few larger preditors but will allow in the smaller ones like weasels, rats and snakes. Adding hardware cloth may be a good idea.
I would beef up the screen door so they are protected at night when they are most vulnerable. A weasel can fit thru a hole you might only think a mouse would fit through.
Good luck and keep us posted.

A 2x3 opening allows larger predators than that....

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

A 2x3 opening allows larger predators than that....

I’ve seen coyotes actually scale 2x3

 

[huntersmoon]

Sorry for the confusing details. The coop itself is hardware cloth wrapped with 1/2" hardware cloth. The screen door going to the run has bolts at top and bottom, and is hardware cloth wrapped. When the door is shut, nothing is getting in the coop. The only entrance to the run is through the coop; there's no exterior door.

The run has shade cloth covering the entire run, stapled at 6" intervals over the top, but there is a small gap where a tree trunk goes through, that is the only opening I think it could have gotten in.

We forgot to close the door and think that something got in and took one of the hens out to the run.

However, it could be that it was a daytime predator, based on the predator behavior descriptions you've given. I've kept them closed in the coop during the day until I can make sure that gap is foolproof.

Sounds like a good plan to overlay hardware cloth over the larger run openings.