Chickens acting very strange.....

[Chickens4Life101]

The "egg song" is not related to laying eggs. It is a flock location vocalization. It is associated with laying eggs because that is typically when we humans hear it and we have assumed that's what it's about. It is actually the hen who is just laid issuing a here I am where are you, and the flock joining in with a response so that the can be re unite. It stems from when flocks were ranging in a large feral situation and a hen let's stop to lay would often be there for a considerable length of time before wanting to rejoin the flock which had moved on. Your flock is trying to locate each other and the other members that they have become missing due to the predation that you have done nothing to stop. It is a distress call because your birds are in distress.
Do you plan to allow the entire flock to be eaten or are you going to take any steps to stop it?

We have tried lots of things. We have been letting them out later, we set a game camera, and we have multiple traps set. We also have left them locked in the coop last Wednesday, and the coyote must've thought they were gone because we hadn't had any more attacks until this morning. Trust me, we are trying to stop this!

 

[cmom]

I don't know of any way to stop them, only to provide the best security for your birds. With each loss over the years I put electric wires around my coops and pens because of a possum and fox, concrete under the gates because of a fox, heavy duty netting covering all of the pens because of owls and hawks, and once I had a coyote jump over a fence into a pen and I ended up loosing 3 birds to the coyote. I did shoot at the coyote as it was chasing a bird through my back yard, but had bird shot in my gun. Not long ago something got a gate open to one of the pens and killed 2 birds. It tried to open the gate the following night but I had wired it shut so nothing was going to open the gate again. Now I'm going to look for new gate latches. Recently a fox snuck up and grabbed my most special bird as she was dusting in the garden. I should have left her in her pen as I was painting coops. Prior to this last incident I hadn't lost a bird in years. I do have a live trap out in case I catch a dog or somebody's pet then I can release it.

 

[Chickens4Life101]

This is actually the third thred..
First it was a red fox, then a coyote.
Now the girls are trying to tell you there is danger out there and you are in the house typing on your computer asking us to help you.
Is this your first flock?
How long have you had chickens?
The rest of your birds are doomed unless you get out there and put up a sturdy fence, hopefully heavy guage woven wire 6 ft tall with a top enclosed. Also put it a foot into the ground so things dont dig in. Then go around the parimeter with electric fencing. Then you wont have these heartbreaking losses so often.
Im not going to say never, just not as often.
I am sorry for your birds, and you.
Good luck!

Yes this is our first flock.
We have had our chickens for about a year and a half.
We do have a sturdy fence, however the parameter of our fence is too big to enclose the top. We have considered electric fencing, but how much does it cost??
Also, these had been our first attacks ever. We had never had any predators until recently.

 

[Chickens4Life101]

So what steps are you taking to stop the problem? your girls know there is a problem they are probably singing from in or very near the coop maybe a elevated spot. even the nests as that is the "safest" place a silly chicken can think of. They know somthing is up. they have lost their leadership and don't know what else to do they will sort out the new dynamics of their pecking order but they don't know what else to do as a domesticated animal they are very much in need of you stepping up and making them safe. even if that means cooped up when you aren't physically present to watch out for them.

We have set traps, we got a game camera, we've let them out later, and we have also tried spending more time out there with them, that way we can see if something's up. Also, we have shut our coop door at night every day since they moved out there.

 

[Suzi18]

This is actually the third thred..
First it was a red fox, then a coyote.
Now the girls are trying to tell you there is danger out there and you are in the house typing on your computer asking us to help you.
Is this your first flock?
How long have you had chickens?
The rest of your birds are doomed unless you get out there and put up a sturdy fence, hopefully heavy guage woven wire 6 ft tall with a top enclosed. Also put it a foot into the ground so things dont dig in. Then go around the parimeter with electric fencing. Then you wont have these heartbreaking losses so often.
Im not going to say never, just not as often.
I am sorry for your birds, and you.
Good luck!

X2

 

[Chickens4Life101]

This thread wasn't supposed to be about the coyote, I just wanted to know why my girls are singing/alerting/or whatever they are doing. I have been outside almost all day and there are no predators in sight, and that was the point of this thread.

 

[Suzi18]

We just got one from our neighbor, but unfortunately we didn't have it set up in time. But hopefully now that it is set up it'll work!

That's great! So now you can have a video of the predator taking the remainder of your flock because you refuse to LOCK THEM UP!

 

[Chickens4Life101]

That's great! So now you can have a video of the predator taking the remainder of your flock because you refuse to LOCK THEM UP!

We have locked them up a couple times this week.

 

[Suzi18]

We have locked them up a couple times this week.

And how did that work out for you?

 

[cmom]

Yes this is our first flock.
We have had our chickens for about a year and a half.
We do have a sturdy fence, however the parameter of our fence is too big to enclose the top. We have considered electric fencing, but how much does it cost??
Also, these had been our first attacks ever. We had never had any predators until recently.

I don't know how large your pen is but mine are totally 200ft x 60ft.
I put netting over my pens several years ago when the trees were small, over one pen at a time until I had it all the way across all of the pens.