Cat got in the chicken coop

[TariOronar]

We woke up this morning to find all of our chickens dead, feathers all over the coop, food, water and a log knocked over (none of which is an easy feat...they were pretty heavy. We think a cat got in from the run (which now has a hole in it). So, part of the solution for the next set of chicks we get is to make the run more secure. We think it was a cat becuase there are a lot of strays in our area... So, I have a couple questions.

1. Is there anything else we can do to keep cats away besides making the run more secure?
2. Only 1 of the chickens showed any signs of physical attack. All the others looked perfectly healthy if they werent dead...did they die of fright? What happened to them?

 

[Catstar68]

Sounds more like a raccoon then a cat, esp. if something tore a hole in the wire run. Not generally a cat's MO, they will slink into existing holes.

 

[schellie69]

what kind of wire had the whole ripped in it sounds like a raccoon to me.

 

[TariOronar]

we live in the desert....there arent any racoons for about 100 miles in the mountians.
It wasnt real chicken wire...we couldnt afford wire at the time, so we got plastic netting chickenwire lookalike as a temporary fix -- we thought it would work, apparently not....

 

[animals1981]

its not a cat sounds like one of the many desert predators

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I agree, not a cat's MO...maybe a desert fox?

 

[DDRanch]

Could it be that something chased them and they died from stress or fatigue? Sorry for your loss.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I also agree that it doesn't sound like a cat. Sounds like a fox or something of that nature. We have cats go in our yard with the chickens, and they always go running the other direction once the birds start stalking them

There's gotta be other predators in your area. Next time save up and get wire fencing (welded wire is best, chicken wire actually isn't very strong). You can dig the fencing down into the ground to keep things from digging underneath the fence, and definitely put wire on top of the run to protect from climbing/flying critters.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Yeah, I agree with the other posters, that doesn't sound like a cat. Many other "varmits" like fox, coon, coyote, etc would be higher on my list. When you're ready to get chickens started again, you should try to make your coop predator free. Here in the north, that means a secure wooden structure. Desert areas call for more ventilation, so your wooden structure should have the heaviest guage wire you can get - hardware cloth or 1x1" welded wire is what is generally recommended for your night time security measures. Your day time run, when predators are not QUITE as active, you can probably use 2x3 welded wire (mink or weasel got through mine though) as a secure place to leave your birds. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Catstar68]

If the food, waterer and a log were all knocked over, it must have been a larger, heavier and stronger predator. What do you have out there, if there are no coons? Foxes? Strange that so many were not showing attack wounds.