Can anyone tell me what is killing my chicks

[MissPrissy]

Possums will eat the bellies out and leave the rest.

 

[peeps7]

I'm guessing it is your bigger chickens, chickens have no mercy.

 

[sakari26]

I think it is something big and/or heavy. I believe it is climbing the orange tree and jumping into the coop. When it leaves, it is either jumping or climbing the fence and has bent the top.

 

[maybejoey]

I had the same problem. I figured out that is was just one of my roosters that had turned canibal.Luckily we only had one canibal rooser. We had to give it away to someone who had no other chickens but wanted a rooster. But sadily we lost about 15 chicks and 1 other rooster to it.

So what i would do until you find out what it is i would seperate the chicks from the bigger chickens, hope this helps. And sorry abut your lost chicks.

 

[NC29mom]

It could be a rat killing them (by simply biting them) and then your adult chickens seeing/smelling the blood & pecking them (after the chicks are dead) making them look as if you have one vicious predator.

This is what happened with my chicks. I never, ever saw the adults picking on the chicks. Started finding dead chicks....got rid of the adults...only to find out....IT WASN'T THE ADULTS...it was a rat! A big rat biting them on side of neck, leaving them for dead. Apparantly, my adult chickens had pecked my dead chicks......

 

[redsoxs]

I always see on TV about the infestation of constricting snakes in Florida - not sure how far up into the state the snakes go but you said they looked squished. Could it be a snake constricting several and only eating a few? Beats me?

 

[ranchhand]

Just FYI, this thread is 3-1/2 years old.

 

[trailchick]

I also am losing chicks & I dont know what is doing this. I have lost a half dozen or or so, with only one body found. All the others just disappear. They are in a pen without adult chickens. One or so disappear every other day or so. I had a big bull snake camping in the other side of the seperated coop for the adults to roost in. I finally caught it and hauled it about 2 miles away, because they do much good to reduce the rodent population, and I didnt want to kill it. Another story if it had been a rattler, which we do have. Do rats completely remove their victims? The one carcass I found did have its head gone. I have cats that are very good mousers, but they cant get into the coop. Should I close off the interior of the coop and set some traps?

 

[sourland]

Quote:

 

[trailchick]

Time is relevant -
You dont really need to make fun of the pain of predators.....