Chickens are disappearing without a trace...?

[Peeps61]

Sounds like it. I had an attack on Saturday evening. I found my coop door open (my daughter forgot to shut it for me when I was out of town :-( ) and 2 younger pullets were dead and a cockerel were missing, and two of my laying hens were dead. The surviving 8 birds all have wounds of some sort on them. They are all locked up securely and I am doctoring them and feeding them. Some are less traumatized than others, so they are still laying. 4 others are not at the moment. I think it was a dog or a raccoon. Whatever went after them did so without being picky about what they attacked or took. Only one bird totally missing - the young cockerel. Sigh. I'd like to throttle my daughter, but she feels bad enough as it is.

 

[Farming Feathers]

from all you describe there seems the possibility you could have more than one culprit involved.

I don't know you location and types of predators in area, but feel you have (1) racoon and (2) hawk after your beloved chickens....

don't assume your daughter left the door open...as racoons are crafty with their hands and know to open door latches.

If your birds are not free ranging and living in an open coupe run lines of white cloth rope (clothes line) above the open pen criss cross then hang objects on lines...Hawks won't risk their life for a single meal unless starving.

Racoons will still invade but the more isolated the pen the more evidence they leave behind...look for foot prints and try to strengthen your area against this very persistent and aggressive predator.

 

[Sequel]

Hi! I’m so sorry for your loss! Yes hawks will attack older birds, I lost an adult hen a few years ago to one. You might have better response if you start a new thread. You will be asked about the structure of your coop and run etc..
I sure hope you figure out what’s going on, it’s really awful to lose your birds!

 

[cmom]

luckily she showed up out of nowhere this morning, with what looks like a sprained ankle (?) i put them in their own little space with a place they can sleep and so hopefully she will be OK.

Glad she showed up ok except for her sprained ankle. Good luck and have fun...

 

[50-45-1]

Hey everyone, so lately I've noticed that several of my birds have have started to vanish without a sign of ever being attacked by anything. There's no feathers missing, no crazy squawking that I've heard, they've just disappeared... I have seen a fox once or twice in our back pasture, but last time a fox decided to attack my birds they left feathers all over the place. In this case the birds are just gone with no feathers or anything anywhere. Anybody know what could be happening?

if you free range during the day, losses to predators are going to happen. i lost 6 hens this summer and like you i could find no trace of evidence, no feathers, no carcass, nothing. i suspect a bobcat as like you say, fox usually leave a pile and a trail of evidence.
i have 3 guardian dogs outside with my flock all day and they do a good job of chasing off predators but this guy is pretty sneaky. i get pictures of him many times in the middle of the day.
trail cameras are great for finding out what is roaming around your yard when you are not looking. i have 7 cameras out most of the time. the below camera is just a few yards from my back yard where the chicken coop is located.
i dont loose any chickens at night as my coop is tight and secure.
a hawk will kill a full grown full size chicken but will not be able to fly away with that much weight. just eat what they can where it lays.
a racoon will also not move a carcass very far.
you may have to coop your chickens up in a run until your predator moves on.

 

[cmom]

I have 7 cameras too in different spots on my property. Here most of the predators roam at night when it's cooler out and most nights I get a predator, mostly coyotes, on at least one of the cameras. This was last night.