HuskerHens18
Crowing
Living on a farm in the middle of nowhere means overloads of predators. I've always known this and accepted it.
Last year, about 14 of my chickens vanished without a trace. Not one feather, not one drop of blood found. It turns out, we rented out our hog barn to someone and my chickens would fly over the high fences and eat the feed, which the hogs then killed and ate them.. We no longer allow hogs on the place.
Well, Easter Sunday it was decent, so we invited the family over. I let my chickens out to show them off. Please note that it was 6 in the evening! By 7, we were all still outside as the chickens put themselves away. I count, and I'm missing ONE. She is a 4-5 year old Easter Egger. So we all start a search party before we lose all our light.
Long story short, we searched until 11pm that night and found NOTHING. We walked the fence lines, the fields, EVERY barn, every hole, crevice, tree, EVERYWHERE. There is nothing, no sign we even let the chickens out at all.
Oddly enough, while searching we discovered a dead hawk with its center eaten out. It looked to be somewhat recent (in this last few days). We have had over populations of hawks before which lead to cannibalism.
Will hawks take chickens without dropping a feather? Usually I've found evidence when my chickens are killed by predators (except for the hogs). We did discover something dug under a barn on the edge of the property, but we shone a flashlight down and it was empty. No feathers there either.
So pretty much I'm asking what predators will take a chicken and kill it silently, without a trace. Or could she have flat out left the property the second we let her out?
I'm in the Northeast corner of Nebraska, we've got pretty much every predator. I would like to add we just did a mass raccoon hunt before the disappearance. So I doubt it was a raccoon, it's still possible I guess.
Last year, about 14 of my chickens vanished without a trace. Not one feather, not one drop of blood found. It turns out, we rented out our hog barn to someone and my chickens would fly over the high fences and eat the feed, which the hogs then killed and ate them.. We no longer allow hogs on the place.
Well, Easter Sunday it was decent, so we invited the family over. I let my chickens out to show them off. Please note that it was 6 in the evening! By 7, we were all still outside as the chickens put themselves away. I count, and I'm missing ONE. She is a 4-5 year old Easter Egger. So we all start a search party before we lose all our light.
Long story short, we searched until 11pm that night and found NOTHING. We walked the fence lines, the fields, EVERY barn, every hole, crevice, tree, EVERYWHERE. There is nothing, no sign we even let the chickens out at all.
Oddly enough, while searching we discovered a dead hawk with its center eaten out. It looked to be somewhat recent (in this last few days). We have had over populations of hawks before which lead to cannibalism.
Will hawks take chickens without dropping a feather? Usually I've found evidence when my chickens are killed by predators (except for the hogs). We did discover something dug under a barn on the edge of the property, but we shone a flashlight down and it was empty. No feathers there either.
So pretty much I'm asking what predators will take a chicken and kill it silently, without a trace. Or could she have flat out left the property the second we let her out?
I'm in the Northeast corner of Nebraska, we've got pretty much every predator. I would like to add we just did a mass raccoon hunt before the disappearance. So I doubt it was a raccoon, it's still possible I guess.
that is tough.
