baby chicks disappearing

[Chicken_loverr15]

so, i’m back on here again…recently a lot of our baby chicks have been going missing and even some have been killed, but we don’t know what is taking them/killing them? We found one of our baby chicks with it’s head cut off and the rest of the body laying there. Then, one baby chick went missing and we never found it, it’s body, or even feathers. Two more baby chicks went missing without a trace last week. Yesterday, my parents were outside and they said they heard the adult chickens screech and when they looked back they saw a huge white-ish colored bird taking off from the ground back into a tree in our backyard and my mom didn’t see if it was carrying a baby chick, but one of our tiniest baby chicks has been missing since the bird came by so i think it took the chick. Does anyone know what this animal is? I wasn’t outside with my parents when it happened, so all I know is that it was huge and was almost white-colored.

 

[mowin]

Owl or hawk. You need to get a cover over the run.

 

[Chicken_loverr15]

Owl or hawk. You need to get a cover over the run.

Yeah, we’re working on fixing that today. thanks!

 

[Leatherworker]

so, i’m back on here again…recently a lot of our baby chicks have been going missing and even some have been killed, but we don’t know what is taking them/killing them? We found one of our baby chicks with it’s head cut off and the rest of the body laying there. Then, one baby chick went missing and we never found it, it’s body, or even feathers. Two more baby chicks went missing without a trace last week. Yesterday, my parents were outside and they said they heard the adult chickens screech and when they looked back they saw a huge white-ish colored bird taking off from the ground back into a tree in our backyard and my mom didn’t see if it was carrying a baby chick, but one of our tiniest baby chicks has been missing since the bird came by so i think it took the chick. Does anyone know what this animal is? I wasn’t outside with my parents when it happened, so all I know is that it was huge and was almost white-colored.

Along with the cover over the run, which is very inexpensive, look for holes in your run. We had chicks disappearing like that and it was covered all over. We finely saw a large rat run in, grab a chick and he and the chick disappeared down the hole. We were out in the country surrounded by farm land and forest. We never noticed the hole until he appeared in front of us. When they got a little bigger and could be out more with the other chickens, we had hawks swoop down, grab and fly away. So many ways chicks and dissapear.

 

[Chicken_loverr15]

Along with the cover over the run, which is very inexpensive, look for holes in your run. We had chicks disappearing like that and it was covered all over. We finely saw a large rat run in, grab a chick and he and the chick disappeared down the hole. We were out in the country surrounded by farm land and forest. We never noticed the hole until he appeared in front of us. When they got a little bigger and could be out more with the other chickens, we had hawks swoop down, grab and fly away. So many ways chicks and dissapear.

ohh okay, I’ll check for some holes. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rats or squirrels can and will eat baby chicks.

 

[Leatherworker]

Rats or squirrels can and will eat baby chicks.

The one getting mine tunneled underground to come up in the coop.

 

[Al Gerhart]

A rat for sure. Do a forum search for Howard E.'s rodent control posts.