Any guess on what caused this loss??

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Coons or dogs are high on the list for having killed all those birds, with perhaps a possum or two coming in to feast on the carnage after the fact.

Dogs mostly kill em and leave em. A family of coons can kill many, but don't gut em, instead they go for the heads, necks, breasts, etc.

To know for sure, it would help to install a game camera to find out who is lurking once the sun goes down. You might be shocked at all the traffic that comes and goes. Things that go bump in the night. Shocked.
 
I've had a family of raccoons take on several chickens so the young could practice, so it could be several of them.
 
flyin-lowe said:
I’m wandering if something didn’t get the door open and maybe the hens spooked and ran out. It was the run door that was open. When I opened the coop I expected to see chaos in there but everything looked normal... Almost like they got flushed out and were then hunted down... I do have a lot of trees and brush around, I assume if they were flushed out in the dark they would have been able to take cover, but who knows
Click to expand...

At night or in the dark a chicken is about as helpless an animal that there is.

Coons live in colonies and it would not be unusual for 10 or 15 or more to join in the fun once they discovered what a rich hunting ground that your coop and run provided.

Here is one example of a herd of coons.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...7f30ac462abcf7db5e7de58021fdb453&action=click

here is another example
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...=4158bddbfe746c9a5d23a8f109387be2&action=view
 
Last edited:
That’s just heartbreaking! I moved to the “city” recently, therefore relieved to be rid of raccoons. However, now I have nasty possums! I don’t want to literally “see”, but possums seem to move so slow, and they don’t seem to be nearly as coordinated with their disgusting paws (or hands, appendages...whatever!) I always make sure my “kids” are secure at night. , but I just don’t see how a possum could catch a chicken, even at night, when the kids are vulnerable... I’m just sick thinking about that horrible incident you went through...sincerely with all my heart!!
 
chickengeorgeto said:
At night or in the dark a chicken is about as helpless an animal that there is.

Coons live in colonies and it would not be unusual for 10 or 15 or more to join in the fun once they discovered what a rich hunting ground that your coop and run provided.

Here is one example of a herd of coons.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...7f30ac462abcf7db5e7de58021fdb453&action=click

here is another example
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...=4158bddbfe746c9a5d23a8f109387be2&action=view
Click to expand...
OH MY Goodness! :eek: That is a lot of raccoons!!!
 
I've had families of raccoons (momma and her cubs) totally wipe out 25 of my birds in one night. Left hardly anything, feathers and all were eaten. The first time it happened, I thought a 2 legged predator had gotten them, nothing at all in the pen...they had just vanished.
To make a long story short, I set steel traps all around my pens. The next night caught momma and her 4 babies. Another time I caught 5 boars in a single night. They tend to travel in packs, or at least the young boars do, and will totally wipe out a pen. If they don't get them all, they will keep returning until they do get them all.
 

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