chickens attacked last night

[tressiah]

hey, you might have a mink or a weasel. they can get through the tiniest holes, and only drink the blood, I know because I had one get to my ducks . left the body, only it was like a vampire attack.
Hardware cloth did the trick for me, but I also pen my ducks & chickens up @ night. Trust me, they will get used to it, and if they don't want to walk the plank, pick them up gently and place them inside.
Good luck. I have buffs too, they are lovely and hard to come by.
Tressia from Beecher, Il.

 

[ruth]

Hi - and welcome to BYC. You have a cute coop and run set up. However, as has been posted, you have two problems.

1. The chickens must be in coop at night, especially with a chicken wire run even with 2' of plywood at bottom.

2. Anything can and will go through the exposed chicken wire and get them at night.

Instead of the plywood, cover the entire run with hardware cloth as has been posted. Just nail it over the chicken wire.

To get your chickens in coop at night you have to herd them in or catch them and put them for awhile till they get used to sleeping in there. The ramp does look too steep and slick. Cut and nail some small thin boards to the top, every few inches, to make a ladder-like set of rungs that they can get a grip on and walk up. Something like a 1x1 can be cut and nailed to top of ramp. That's what I used on my chicken ramp at last home's coop.

 

[amysflock]

Do you have hardware cloth over the diamond-shaped holes in the sweet little arched doors on the side that I see in the photo? They appear to be large enough for a small climbing animal (mink, rat, etc.) to get through.

Your coop is lovely, by the way.

 

[bob67cam]

mom,wewantchicks! :

this may already be in here and i could have missed it,but by mutant chickens do you mean meat birds. i am also new to chickens and had that happen to me, got birds,some where huge and once finding this site, found out i had meat birds. we only had two and after some debate,we desided to go ahead and make them dinner. if thats what you have, and didnt know, they are not the smartest of the chickens. which is why they dont want to go up that ramp,or the ground is closer to the food LOL

yea the "mutants" as i call them are just fast growwing meat birds

 

[yukonchickens]

how sad!

Do the survivors have PTSD? are they freaked out by things?

We too, lost a couple of birds - 3 who were impossible to catch to toss in the coop and huddled under the coop to stay warm. but yukon nights aren't known for warmth and it was wet, and we figured they just got too cold. My husband performed a necropsy (?) on them and found no read sign of injury, bad food, etc...

for the first few weeks we did (well, HE did) chase them down, toss them in, encourage, etc....but they would pop out again as fast as you put them in! It was still light out at midnight, you see and they wanted to be out....crazy birds.

 

[bob67cam]

ok ive heard hardware cloth mentioned many times, i have no idea what it is
as far as minks and weasels, i know we have them farther north, maybe 30-45 min drive but noone around here has ever seen any
what i know we have, by sight or have heard
skunks, lotta skunks
dogs
hawks
eagles
raccoons
seen a couple foxes, few and far between
seen 1 baby possum awhile back
cats some feral mostly domestic, neighbors cat wont touch em, he was trained by the neighbors 2 roosters his daughter brought home as chicks..lol, and if he wanted any hes had many chances while the birds are out during the day, he wont even go after the small 1s
thats all i can think of at the moment

 

[bob67cam]

Quote:
ptsd?, as in post traumatic something or another?, i wondered that about 1 for a minute then i thought i was giving them too much credit..lol
but 1 never got up after the attack, however i noticed its crap was very green so i shoved her in the house and gave her tetracycline in her water, but she wont stand or mover other then in a circle pretty much, i looked all over her and there was no injuries that i could find, but she still has an appetite nd drinks, so i really dont know what that means

 

[stacym]

It sounds like a weasel could have possibly gotten in. I agree with the other posts about shutting them in your lovely coop. The ramp may need to be wider and longer. It's no guarantee the meat birds will climb up. They get to a point were they just kind of waddle. The Cornish x's we raised didn't even want to go out of a doorway that was only 6 inches off the ground. It even had a nice ramp. Very lazy birds. Tasty though!

 

[tressiah]

Hardware cloth is literally a metal cloth, loosely woven, comes in rolls at Menards hardware, or any hardware or poultry supply store should have it.
The reason you don't see minks or weasels is because they move mostly @ night, but the ones I saw was an entire family 2 adults 3 little ones that walked across a bridge that spans a creek maybe 25 feet form the corner of my yard. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. I didn't think we had coyotes until we heard them howling one night, and then say seveal standing out in my husband's bean field.
The coyotes have not come into the yard because we have a large stupid dog that barks @ strange anythings
Good Luck
Tressia from Beecher, Il.

 

[chickflick]

Cute coop!! Hardware cloth is next to the chicken wire....it's wire that's has 1/2 in opening...welded so it's pretty strong. Best things to keep predators out.
No one has addressed the injuries. I'm no expert. Haven't had any to deal with...knock on wood. Any way, clean the wounds and put neosporin on. Bluekote if you have it. Give them vitamins and keep them in a dark area so they can rest. You got to watch out for maggots getting into the wound, tho. Best to keep them indoors...like in your laundry room or basement. Hoping the more experienced folks will join in here and give you advice on the wounds your birds have.