All 31 Meat Chickens Gone!

[sonofabish1]

I figured a few pics might make this more interesting....

First is from the Spring when I first built the coop.



Second is from when I moved this flock outside at about 2 weeks old. This was a week before they got eaten. The predators got in at the bottom right corner where that one chicken is laying down. Surprisingly the staples held up and they had to rip a hole in the fencing.

 

[yochickiemomma]

I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost a few to a family of fox when I let them free range w/o being home. When they're in the run I have no worries. My run has recycled roof sheet metal for skirting buried 6-8" deep and recycled chain link fence the rest of the way up. However I am considering a hot wire around the bottom when I have some extra $.

 

[yochickiemomma]

Its not the prettiest but its efficient. May by on if these days I'll find time to paint it. Hmmmmm I'm thinking camp

 

[yochickiemomma]

I meant camo gotta love auto correct

 

[sonofabish1]

Its not the prettiest but its efficient. May by on if these days I'll find time to paint it. Hmmmmm I'm thinking camp

Hey, whatever keeps them out, right?

I thought about chain link fence but I like the idea of the smaller openings of 1/2" hardware cloth.

 

[enola]

I live in a heavily wooded area and have lost a few to a family of fox when I let them free range w/o being home. When they're in the run I have no worries. My run has recycled roof sheet metal for skirting buried 6-8" deep and recycled chain link fence the rest of the way up. However I am considering a hot wire around the bottom when I have some extra $.

Is the top of the run covered?

 

[AllAboutMyGirls]

I had a single skunk wipe out 20 silkies in one night. The skunk didn't eat any of them just ripped their heads off. We cought the massacre on a trail cam. Next night we trapped the skunk and shot it. We reinforced our run with hardware cloth and haven't had a problem.

 

[yochickiemomma]

Its covered with cattle fence panels for now ( they were free ). It kinda over laps so most of the holes are about 2" X 4". I know the holes in the top cover are larger than I'd Like. I'm trying to get a steel roof over it before snow shows up here so my girls can still go out on nice days and not get stuck in really deep snow.

 

[sonofabish1]

Welp, this is interesting...

I came home after work to find a hole dug in my daughter's sandbox, some chicken feathers in the bottom, and a whole, dead chicken laying about 5 feet away. The digging looked like a small dog or cat but I was able to identify one clear coyote (not dog) print in the sand. Evidently the coyote buried the chicken the night of the attack and came back for it a few nights later. This sandbox is a good 150 feet from the coop and I know this chicken hasn't been laying there since because Sunday I was right there hanging up a new swing. Doing some reading it sounds like it is somewhat common for coyotes to bury food and come back to it but what baffles me though is it came back to dig it up to just leave it lay...there were no signs of eating anything!

 

[aart]

Welp, this is interesting...

I came home after work to find a hole dug in my daughter's sandbox, some chicken feathers in the bottom, and a whole, dead chicken laying about 5 feet away. The digging looked like a small dog or cat but I was able to identify one clear coyote (not dog) print in the sand. Evidently the coyote buried the chicken the night of the attack and came back for it a few nights later. This sandbox is a good 150 feet from the coop and I know this chicken hasn't been laying there since because Sunday I was right there hanging up a new swing. Doing some reading it sounds like it is somewhat common for coyotes to bury food and come back to it but what baffles me though is it came back to dig it up to just leave it lay...there were no signs of eating anything!

It may have been disturbed and left the scene after digging it up but before eating it.