Hi Folks,
It's been awhile since I posted. I have lost two full grown Black Copper Marans hens in the last two weeks. I work from home and live at the end of a wooded dead end. I had let my birds free range in my yard almost since I got them as day olds from My Pet Chicken last June. I have/had 2 roos & 8 hens. What's happened is this. I would go out in the morning to let the girls out and everybody would leave the coop and go into the yard. However, after about 5 minutes the one or two hens that were actively laying would go back to the coop while the rest of the birds would forage around our yard (1.7 acres). Later in the morning the birds that were in the coop laying would come back out and hang around the waterer which is just outside the coop. They would crow alot too. I had thought that they were trying to crow to find the other birds in the yard but the others never reacted to the crowing and they never seemed leave the immediate vicinity of the coop.
Well what I have found is that when I have gone to check the birds in the afternoon or lock them into the coop at night is just a little patch of feathers close to the coop, no blood, and the feathers I do find are the short fluffier ones from their behinds. I am guessing this is a fox ? They are too big to be carried off by raptors. This is happening in broad daylight and only to the birds that are close to the coop. After losing a second bird in 2 weeks I have started keeping them in the covered run I have which is approx. 12'x20'. I had thought 2 roos would give me a little extra protection in that since I am home I can hear most times when there's alot of crowing. I would like to trap/kill whatever it is. Any thoughts ?
Joe
Oxford, CT.
It's been awhile since I posted. I have lost two full grown Black Copper Marans hens in the last two weeks. I work from home and live at the end of a wooded dead end. I had let my birds free range in my yard almost since I got them as day olds from My Pet Chicken last June. I have/had 2 roos & 8 hens. What's happened is this. I would go out in the morning to let the girls out and everybody would leave the coop and go into the yard. However, after about 5 minutes the one or two hens that were actively laying would go back to the coop while the rest of the birds would forage around our yard (1.7 acres). Later in the morning the birds that were in the coop laying would come back out and hang around the waterer which is just outside the coop. They would crow alot too. I had thought that they were trying to crow to find the other birds in the yard but the others never reacted to the crowing and they never seemed leave the immediate vicinity of the coop.
Well what I have found is that when I have gone to check the birds in the afternoon or lock them into the coop at night is just a little patch of feathers close to the coop, no blood, and the feathers I do find are the short fluffier ones from their behinds. I am guessing this is a fox ? They are too big to be carried off by raptors. This is happening in broad daylight and only to the birds that are close to the coop. After losing a second bird in 2 weeks I have started keeping them in the covered run I have which is approx. 12'x20'. I had thought 2 roos would give me a little extra protection in that since I am home I can hear most times when there's alot of crowing. I would like to trap/kill whatever it is. Any thoughts ?
Joe
Oxford, CT.
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