Any ideas what can make 9 chickens disappear in 4 1/2 hours?

[Chickens-246]

I'm glad that my crew are...well...chickens

No one but me can get near them, even with food.

 

[ty_09]

it could be that since youve just built a new coop for them, they dont know that the coop is their home yet so they just wandered off and when nighttime came they went and hid inside bushes or something like that. most likely they got attacked by a predator at night while hiding in their spot. i read somewhere that when you put a chicken in a new home, leave it in there for atleast 48 hours. after that the chicken will consider that place home and will return to it when it gets dark outside whenever you let the chickens out. it works for us, whever we get new chickens, we keep them in the coop of a couple of days first and then after that we let them out and to roam around the yard and when it gets dark they go back inside their coop.

 

[rcentner]

well, thanks for the input, but they had been in the new coop for a week before this happened and had been free ranging all weekend, went back to the coop every night by themselves. no more have come back and I have not seen or heard any traces of them. This is true, even if they did survive the intial attack and hid somewhere, they would have a hard time making it back home without runnin into a coyote, the fox or any number of hawks. like I said, I will post if any more return. As for now, I try to concentrate on the new fuzzy butts and lovin the remaining members that survived.

 

[rcentner]

so, I have the answer, this here are 2 pics of what can make a plethera of chooks disappear in 4/12 hrs:

my DH made a trap last night and we will see how long it takes to get it. He has been here every night since monday. I saw it monday mornin on my way back from walking the dog, got back to the house and he was sniffing my runs, but by the time I got in the house, got the gun and ran back outside he was gone. It won't be long now before revenge is had.

 

[rcentner]

and here are a few pics of my new babies that hatched 2 days after mr fox killed my chickens

 

[Badlatitude]

Happy hunting

What kind of trap is your husband trying to make? Does he have any legholds handy?

 

[rcentner]

Quote:
He has made a trap similar to a hav a heart trap that they make for cats, but bigger. So, bait is hanging in the trap and when he pulls on the bait, the door shuts on him.
We will see if it works. I don't know what legholds are, but he was talking about some sort of trap that will grab the legs, but I wasn't grasping what he was talkin about.

 

[Badlatitude]

Its going to be hard to get a fox into a cage trap.

A leg hold trap has jaws that grab their leg yes. http://www.wild-about-trapping.com/tips/tips_012_dirt_hole_set.htm here is a pictorial on a dirt hole set. A dirt hole set is much more effective than say just throwing a trap where you think he will run. It is designed to make them stop and investigate. The key is to place your trap right where he will step to sniff the hole. You are a land owner with a nuisance problem. You are not fur trapping so you dont need a trapping license to the best of my knowledge.

trap > http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies....NWS001&Product_Code=WCS0473&Category_Code=TFH They also have fox urin and lures on that site.

BTW if you guys trap coons , Opossum , etc often their brand of cage traps ( Safeguard) are EXCELLENT much higher quality than hav a heart. We use their brand exclusivly for your Nuisance wildlife control business. Hav a heart brand cage traps MIGHT last us a few months. The safeguards last us several years more often than not

If he comes cruising and you have your rifle handy and you want him to stop trotting to take the shot give him 1 quick little whistle (1 note real short) and he will stop dead in his tracks and look right at you. Again your rifle needs to be up and aimed when you do it. If you move at this point he will most likely throw on the afterburners and be gone. What are you fixing to plug him with anyway?

 

[rcentner]

monday morning, I came face to face, long enough to shoot, if I had my gun. I use a 22g rifle, I know it's not preffered for this, but it is what I am comfortable with (and a pretty good shot). I am aware that the long range can be troublesome and I will need a real good shot. Now, on the other hand, my DH has asked to borrow a shotgun (we need to buy one when we can) which will be better for this application. I target shoot, never wanted to kill anything, but I feel different after this fox incident. I will practice with the shotgun so that when/if the time comes I can use that comfortably, inplace of my rifle. All my neighbors are aware of the situation and are fine with us killing the fox too, so I am not concerned about permits and such anyhow. If they protested, I would get the nusciance permit that would be required to legally shoot the fox. The DEC has told me, when I consulted them about a bear trying to break into my coop, that if you catch them in the act of disturbing/eating/destroying any personal property or pets/livestock that we are allowed to shoot it. (and in case you were wondering, I will not shoot the bear with my 22). I will check out those links you attached, I really appreciate the help, I hope to get this fox soon so that I can rest easy. He was not very bold until he tasted my fat, wed fed chickens.

I must add that we are concerned about accidentally trapping my cat, dog or my neighbors pets. makes me feel un easy having a trap for an animal to step on.

 

[Badlatitude]

Id avoid the leg hold with a cat or dog around for sure! If you watch where the fox comes and goes from you might be able to set out far from the house where your critters dont wander. The fox probably uses the same trails when making its rounds to check your place for a snack. You might even be able to find its den.

Which brings up another concern. They most likely have young now or will be having them here in the next couple of weeks. It might be a good idea to just batten down the hatches and wait to do some removal of them as the pups are dependant till late summer. I know its hard when you are loosing your birds but the fox is only doing what mother nature intended so its kind of a catch 22.

The .22Lr will do the job with good shot placement at closer ranges but here is a large chance it might not do the job and wounding something never feels good nor is it ethical.

A .22WMR (commonly called a .22mag) or .17hmr would be preferable over a plain .22Lr. As for other firearms. Savage bolt action rifles can be had pretty cheap used. Something like a .17rem .223rem are bolth center fire and have almost no recoil but you need to use ear plugs for the noise and be very aware of shooting in a safe direction as their range is vastly farther then a .22lr. Either would be good for fox and coyote at several hundred yards. You guys might be able to come up with one used for pretty cheap or borrow something.

Shotguns are great but are pretty range limited and most non shooters dont appreciate the recoil which can be pretty severe.