An exhusting morning already...

[steveo]

maybe your scale is wrong or you are in the kg mode

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I wish... Odd huh? I swear their organs weighed a ton!

Steve are your eyes blue? Their very nice

lol

 

[steveo]

Quote:
Yes very blue lol. Thank you

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I know that was totally random, but my grandfather had the most vibrant blue eyes and he was one of the most handsome and gentle men I have ever known. Yours are almost the same color from the looks of that pic and it grabbed my attention.

Corny, I know...

 

[Brunty_Farms]

So how did this morning go?

It's sounds to me like a fox, especially if you don't see strays running around. A fox will kill during the day and especially this time of year as they have pups to feed. Your best bet is to keep the dog out there with them or try to trap them.

If hubby hunts have him get a predator call and sit with a gun and a spotlight and call them in.

Another thing to look out for are the raccoons as your description (besides the prints) fit a raccoons profile as well.

Coyotees usually kill and run off with a chicken... foxes are more like cats... they will kill one eat the head and part of the breast and see one running away and take after that one.

As for the small broilers, it's that time of year for commercial broiler breeders to be switching their flock out with replacement pullets so you very well may have received a bunch of chicks from pullet eggs and these take a few weeks extra to raise. It's not centrals fault but their susppliers, this is why we wait until April or May to get chicks as in Jan-March they are usually switching out their flocks.

 

[dadof4]

Sorry about your meaties. As for the smaller size, I agree. Mine are about 9 weeks old now. I've had to hold them over because of small size.

 

[Truedus]

Quote:
Former trapper here, its not a fox with a pawprint 2 inches wide, perhaps a big coyote or a dog as has been suggested.

 

[wisdom_seeker]

I would say coyote.

I can't be that far away from you and we lost some birds the same way last year. Do you ever hear yipping and yelling just before night fall? I found that if the coyote can see the meal they will get it. If you use material such as wood that it can't see through, that seems to have worked for us.

 

[Bossroo]

Just a little true story for you to consider. We have TONS of coyotes around our place. Both of my 90 and 95 pound solid muscle Boxers were killed by Coyotes about a year ago. One comes in and egs the dog on untill it starts to chase it, then they have a running fight to keep the dog to chase untill they come to the pack and the dog is ripped to shreds. One of my Boxers actually broke it's chain to give chase. All that I found was some coyote hair and scrapes on the ground down the driveway and in the pasture. I never did find them or even their bodies. My neighbor accross the street raises sheep. When a coyote comes to make a kill lambs, his Border collie goes into and shakes inside it's dog house and never makes a sound. One night the coyote killed 9 lambs. Then on another occation the coyotes attacked and killed the Border Collie inside it's own dog house. He never even heard a sound that night. He then got a over a 100 pound male ( intact) Rotty to guard his sheep. He lasted all of 2 weeks...the coyote pack did him in royally... all that he found was the head and hide of the Rotty in a neighbor's field.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Nothing this morning because we moved them last night.
I cannot take the financial hit of losing anymore because I have just enough left to fill my orders for this batch so I have fenced off half of my LARGE layer run up at the front of the property for the meaties for now and we built them a shelter with pallets and tarps so they can get out of elements.
The layer run is right next to the house and nothing comes up this close usually, they should be safe.

I only found one paw print, very clear but it was rather large and wide to be a fox. I went out there this morning to the hoop house to see if there were any fresh prints because I roughed up the dirt on purpose and left a carcass out there trying to lure it back, but nothing had come by to check things out and the carcass was still where I left it.

I also KNOW we have Fisher Cats around here. My neighbors and I have heard them at night (we have water all around us in the woods and you can hear them in there). I looked up what their tracks look like though and it didn't match.
I know the print wasn't from my dogs 100%. I have a Newfie who's paws are the size of my whole hand, and I have a lab who's paw is about the size of just my palm. I also have a Chihuahua who's paw is about the size of a housecat.
This paw was about this wide ___________ and
I
I
I
I
I
I

Tall. Too big for the Chi, too small for the Lab.

There were four distinct toes.

I am leaning towards dog especially since nothing came around last night. Wouldn't something else have come back for seconds?

I am going to have to hold these birds back a couple more weeks than I wanted to so I can grow them out somemore. I went out today and really looked them over and the sizes vary a TON. Some of them are huge, some are puny. And it doesn't matter what sex, like all the Roos aren't huge and the pullets smaller. It's all over the place. I have several HUGE pullets and then some smaller...
DH thinks it's just that the big ones are getting more food. I think I might add two more feeders and see what happens.

DH doesn't hunt, but I do. The first thing that crossed my mind was that I was going to sit out and wait for the sucker to come back... Then I realized that I would be home alone last night because DH was working late shift. I couldn't leave the kids inside alone so I didn't sit out. Good thing I didn't waste my time. I also have a large trap.