- Oct 30, 2010
- 39
- 0
- 32
The facts:
-5lb. Dominique hen could have gone missing daytime, dusk, or slightly after dark (late closing up coop one night)
-thin trail of feathers originating in thicket of small pines near the fence ending at fence
-large pile of feathers on OTHER side of fence, no parts or corpse found, very little if any blood
-fence is 4 foot high welded wire AND 7 ft. high plastic deer fence partially buried in ground
-fence was not dug under to the best of my knowledge
-owl has been heard nearby recently
-some other kind of raptor flew through the yard a couple of weeks ago
-have seen foxes in the area though not recently
-Our German Shorthair Pointer has run of the yard before they are let out and after chickens are put in at night. He's killed chickens before so he is never left with them unsupervised.
Hypotheses
1. Racoon or fox climbed over fence grabbed chicken and carried it back up tree and down other side (problems: not bloody, no parts found, carry over fence?)
2. Owl got it. (Problems: doesn't seem likely owl could get it in those thick pines)
3. Northern Goshawk got it. (Rare and don't think we've seen one around here)
-5lb. Dominique hen could have gone missing daytime, dusk, or slightly after dark (late closing up coop one night)
-thin trail of feathers originating in thicket of small pines near the fence ending at fence
-large pile of feathers on OTHER side of fence, no parts or corpse found, very little if any blood
-fence is 4 foot high welded wire AND 7 ft. high plastic deer fence partially buried in ground
-fence was not dug under to the best of my knowledge
-owl has been heard nearby recently
-some other kind of raptor flew through the yard a couple of weeks ago
-have seen foxes in the area though not recently
-Our German Shorthair Pointer has run of the yard before they are let out and after chickens are put in at night. He's killed chickens before so he is never left with them unsupervised.
Hypotheses
1. Racoon or fox climbed over fence grabbed chicken and carried it back up tree and down other side (problems: not bloody, no parts found, carry over fence?)
2. Owl got it. (Problems: doesn't seem likely owl could get it in those thick pines)
3. Northern Goshawk got it. (Rare and don't think we've seen one around here)
