Bobcat or Raccoons?

[EastWindFarm]

I had 10 chickens that are free roaming during the day and put themselves to bed at dusk. We lock them in the coop after we do the nightly count of 10. The coop is 10 feet from my barn and they usually stick in or near the barn, playing in the shrubs and whatnot. I let them out at 6:30am like normal. I came home from work to find only 2 hens "in bed" with 8 others MIA. Upon further inspection of the bushes, etc, I found feather piles all around my barn and directly outside the coop with 1 pile of feathers being about 60 feet from the barn out in one of the pastures. I found no evidence at all of two of the biggest hens so something just carried them off to the woods I guess. There were no body parts at all to be found, just feathers. I was originally thinking raccoons but then my Father (avid hunter) came down and said he found bobcat tracks. Obviously something killed them, I'm just wondering if the type of evidence left would point to typical raccoon group kill or a bobcat kill? And would 1 bobcat kill 8 chickens? I just have a hard time grasping 1 cat doing that much killing at one time.

 

[gpwelding1]

EastWindFarm,what you deescribe sounds identical to the racoon group kill we had 2 weeks ago.2 roosters and one hen killed in one night.no bodies or body parts,just feathers and blood in the pen.at first we thought it was a bobcat as well,until i caught 4 racoons in three days in my traps.

 

[EastWindFarm]

Thank-you. My gut tells me it was a group of raccoons but the time of day is concerning since they are nocturnal.

 

[darkmatter]

A fox will do that too. Finding a food source, it will carry off the hens one by one to bury for later.

 

[greenegglover]

Coons sometimes will be hunting for food right before sun up or sunset, but sounds like you have a rabid coon if its out during the day. Is it possible for hawks to have gotten them?? Open run? All I can say is thank goodness for hardware cloth...its my best friend... it saved my flocks life when we had the largest redtail hawk harrassing them a few days ago.

Sorry you lost your girls. But check around the area some may have escaped and are in shock and hiding!

 

[roxyblue]

I'm so sorry for your loss!
one of my 3 girls flew the fence on a stormy night while I was away, (the person supposed to be taking care of them forgot to shut them in that night) I found just feathers and the beak with a couple of chunks of skin no blood. ( we later did find the eaten carcass). I also think you have a group of hungry racoons around, try setting some traps and see what walks in to them. (we caught two huge racoons a couple weeks later, and a curiouse chicken

)
good luck!
-roxyblue

 

[farmdude]

I really doubt that it is racoons since this happened during the day and no bodies found. Sounds like foxes,coyotes, or bobcats, and more than one at a time. Sorry for your loss.

 

[roxyblue]

oops!
missed that these girls were taken during the day
good luck!
- roxyblue

 

[flowerhensowner]

Sounds Like Fox Or Bobcat Coon Would Only Go So Far Before Stopping To Eat Had A Possium Get In My Coop Last Night But I Got Him Before He Could Get My Girls Thank God For Baby Moniters I Have Not Lost A Chicken Since I Put It In The Coop

 

[ChickcrazyCharlie]

Anything can happen, but I would say fox or bobcat. I had a bobcat kill 5 pullets at one time. Never found 3 of them, well only feathers. The two I did find had very few wounds. This was about 30 minutes before dark.

Sorry for the loss.