Chickem
Hatching
- Aug 18, 2015
- 9
- 0
- 7
I just lost another chicken, the last of my two Buff Orpington hens. The chickens were being really loud in the barn, and I hadn't put them away yet, so I went out to check and saw that my last Orp hen was missing. I walked around the barn and saw her feather everywhere, and then she popped out of nowhere and started running around like crazy. I eventually caught her and saw that something had completely disemboweled her from the underbelly, her crop was almost completely separated from her breast. I had no other option but to quickly euthanize her.
Within the last two months, I've lost three hens to something that I've never seen. Millet, on of my RIR hens, was killed during the day and chewed from the tail up in the middle of my yard. Then, a few weeks later, something drags one of my Orp hens into the nearby woods. She survived the horrible wounds for about a week after, but unfortunately succumbed to her wounds. Since then, I've been penning all of my chickens at night. And just a half hour ago, all of what I stated above happened.
I trapped a huge feral tom cat after my first Orp hen was attacked, and judging from the fact that the predator had de-feathered her and dragged her off (and there were rather large cat prints everywhere near where I found her to boot), I assumed that the cat was the culprit, so I killed it. I thought that would end the slaughter, but I was wrong. Whatever attacked my chicken tonight did so in the barn, with all of the lights on. I couldn't find any prints anywhere. All of my chickens are penned up now.
I'm terrified for the safety of my chickens, and I feel ridiculously discouraged right now. Up until these past few months, the only predator incident I had was with a raccoon, and the victim chicken survived that. As a matter of fact, the chicken that survived was the first one to have been killed. Now, all of a sudden, I'm losing chickens let and right.
What could this predator be? I feel like the cat definitely killed my first Orp, but now this happened and I don't know what to think, or what could've done it. Any help, ideas, or suggestions would be very appreciated, because I certainly need some.
Within the last two months, I've lost three hens to something that I've never seen. Millet, on of my RIR hens, was killed during the day and chewed from the tail up in the middle of my yard. Then, a few weeks later, something drags one of my Orp hens into the nearby woods. She survived the horrible wounds for about a week after, but unfortunately succumbed to her wounds. Since then, I've been penning all of my chickens at night. And just a half hour ago, all of what I stated above happened.
I trapped a huge feral tom cat after my first Orp hen was attacked, and judging from the fact that the predator had de-feathered her and dragged her off (and there were rather large cat prints everywhere near where I found her to boot), I assumed that the cat was the culprit, so I killed it. I thought that would end the slaughter, but I was wrong. Whatever attacked my chicken tonight did so in the barn, with all of the lights on. I couldn't find any prints anywhere. All of my chickens are penned up now.
I'm terrified for the safety of my chickens, and I feel ridiculously discouraged right now. Up until these past few months, the only predator incident I had was with a raccoon, and the victim chicken survived that. As a matter of fact, the chicken that survived was the first one to have been killed. Now, all of a sudden, I'm losing chickens let and right.
What could this predator be? I feel like the cat definitely killed my first Orp, but now this happened and I don't know what to think, or what could've done it. Any help, ideas, or suggestions would be very appreciated, because I certainly need some.
