Arizona Chickens

[LarryPQ]

Cluckin' The eggs do (in general) get larger as the hens get older. My smallish eggs from last year are all big now, and my banty's eggs are all the regular "smallish" size.

 

[CrazyerThanAverage]

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I'm no expert, but I'd say bobcat family. They definately live "in-town," and are capable of tree and coop attacks. I haven't lost a chicken to one yet (but I have plenty on trailcam checking out the coop!), but I find remains in my yard from other kills. They are always in a protected area, over a wall or in a fenced in area, away from the kill site, and never consist of more than a gut pile. (They must not like the grassy taste of rabbit guts.

) Mommy bobcats often have two kittens, which would explain the 3 x kill. They are hard to catch in "live" traps as they don't like to go into confined spaces. (Although that doesn't keep me from trying!) Tell your sister I am very sorry for her loss.

 

[rufus]

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Considering the neighborhood where these "feral" chickens are roaming, I think it is only a matter of time until they have a fatal encounter with some red chili.

Rufus

 

[ca]

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Becky,
I sometimes get home really late (10 pm-isch) and leave at 4:30 am! I had to install an automatic door opener/closer and a light inside the coop that is on a timer. When it gets dark, the chickens ALL go in the coop attracted by the light and the door closes. At dawn the door opens again, light-sensor driven. It's actually cute, the chickens have learned the sound of the little motor and crowd around the door when it starts humming. This way I have not had any problems with anybody getting into the coop that should not

. I also don't have anybody left outside when they should be in the coop

.I have an alluminum sliding door which is not super strong but seem to be enough to keep unwanted critters out. This could be a solution for your sister as well.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

While it could be a bobcat, the people I know who have poultry losses that were confirmed to be from a bobcat lost considerably more birds at a time than three. I would suspect an owl or a coyote as likely predators. Not sure how tall the tree was, but coyotes can get pretty high with little problem. Owl would be my best guess.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

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Oh boy, she lives about a mile from me. It sounds like the birds were killed at night, am I correct? Do we know how high up in the tree the chickens were roosting? Is it possible that they were killed in the early morning, after they came down from the roost but before your sister found them? Two things come to mind: coyotes and Great Horned owls. I think it was a coyote. There is a wash that runs north-west to south-east right across that area that coyotes use to travel. For years I drove my daughter to and from school down the length of 5th St. and we have seen coyotes in that area, particularly right by that wash. Coyotes also kill the chickens and carry them away from the point of capture/kill. They can jump pretty high and even climb into the bottom limbs of trees. My neighbors at the end of the block used to have a flock of about 15 chickens that they let free-range 24/7, and never locked them up at night. Their chickens slowly disappeared and one morning I found out why--a coyote was carrying the chicken down the road right in front of my house! We watched for them in the early AM after that and saw them many times, a couple of times with chickens (and once a cat). They were boldly carrying them down the road, presumably to the wash at Columbus Ave. It could be GHO too and we certainly have them in the neighborhood. I don't know much about their feeding habits with chickens though. It also seems odd that three would be eaten by an owl, or even a pair of owls in a single night.

 

[rufus]

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Homeless people. Coyotes don't climb trees well.

Rufus

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

Becky, it sounds like coyotes to me too. That's their m.o. They will eat everything but a few feathers probably 50 to 100 yards from where they catch it here. When an owl got one, it left the head and a few other bits. I don't know about bobcats.

ca, that's the story that was on the news too. The video was pretty funny. I'm surprised too that they haven't found their way into a nice enchilada casserole already.

Or even a new coop, well, except for the roo maybe, being in town and all.

 

[mahalo4]

cluckin Our eggs have gotten considerably larger after the first molt.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

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You also have a considerably larger breed of bird... I wonder if that has something to do with it... the only birds I've seen through a molt and starting to lay again were a SLW, a BA and a Buckeye. The Buckeye came to me during the molt though, so I don't know how big her eggs were before. She was a huge bird, though. Big breed.

I don't really care, I just hadn't experienced it.

Today is a MUCH better day than yesterday. Yesterday was super rough at work and DH left me with a little pearl of wisdom this morning:

"Sometimes life gives you lemons. You just have to pick them up and start hurling them at the people who piss you off."

It definitely helped.

I also thought it was Wednesday when I woke up, so I was pleased when I got to work and learned that it's actually Thursday!