Chickens gone missing

[Monkeykid220]

I recently had 38 chickens and now I’m down to 34. I lost a rooster about a month ago with only a pile of feathers left to find.. as well as two days ago I lost 3 chickens in 2 days with the Same conclusion just a pile of feathers no tracks no blood just a pile of feathers. I assumed it might be a fox because They Are behind chain link fence on the back side of my house during the day and occasionally they will jump over the fence and that’s where they end up missing with the pile of feathers. They sleep in the coop at night with no problems. Does anyone have any idea what might be happening?

 

[Monkeykid220]

I recently had 38 chickens and now I’m down to 34. I lost a rooster about a month ago with only a pile of feathers left to find.. as well as two days ago I lost 3 chickens in 2 days with the Same conclusion just a pile of feathers no tracks no blood just a pile of feathers. I assumed it might be a fox because They Are behind chain link fence on the back side of my house during the day and occasionally they will jump over the fence and that’s where they end up missing with the pile of feathers. They sleep in the coop at night with no problems. Does anyone have any idea what might be happening?

 

[Neggative]

that is most definitely a hawk, iv'e had 11 or 12 of my chickens killed by hawks with similar piles of feathers i actually saw one try to get mine once (swooping out of the sky and slamming into my frantically running chicken) and another time when i went out to my chicken pen to find a large hawk sitting on my half eaten chicken. Sometimes tho if the hawk is big enough they will actually carry away a full grown chicken landing on the chicken, killing it, and flying away. which is what i think happened in your case as there is no body and not that many feathers.

 

[Neggative]

the bad thing is about hawks eating chickens as there is no legal way to kill or remove the hawk. the only way is to deter the hawk by putting netting up or hanging flashy stuff in trees, one other way is to put fishing string or piano wire from tree to tree as the hawks can barely see them it make's it a lot more work to nab a chicken while dodging barely visible string...

 

[Monkeykid220]

that is most definitely a hawk, iv'e had 11 or 12 of my chickens killed by hawks with similar piles of feathers i actually saw one try to get mine once (swooping out of the sky and slamming into my frantically running chicken) and another time when i went out to my chicken pen to find a large hawk sitting on my half eaten chicken. Sometimes tho if the hawk is big enough they will actually carry away a full grown chicken landing on the chicken, killing it, and flying away. which is what i think happened in your case as there is no body and not that many feathers.

Thank you so much for the info what do u think about owl decoy’s and a deer Deteror

 

[Neggative]

good idea.

 

[Neggative]

i put out an owl decoy for a little but never properly screwed it down and it kept blowing away. it also gave my chickens quite a fright for the first day or so...

 

[ShannonR]

that is most definitely a hawk, iv'e had 11 or 12 of my chickens killed by hawks with similar piles of feathers i actually saw one try to get mine once (swooping out of the sky and slamming into my frantically running chicken) and another time when i went out to my chicken pen to find a large hawk sitting on my half eaten chicken. Sometimes tho if the hawk is big enough they will actually carry away a full grown chicken landing on the chicken, killing it, and flying away. which is what i think happened in your case as there is no body and not that many feathers.

If It's a hawk, why is it only nabbing chickens who hop over the chain link fence? Wouldn't a hawk be able to nab them from inside the fence just as easily?

A trail of feathers indicates to me another kind of pred. Hawks don't tend to leave trails when they carry a chicken off. Not trying to be argumentive here, but it seems more logical that another animal is the culprit.

 

[chickens really]

I'm thinking Fox myself...

 

[Neggative]

maybe it is a fox, i don't no, but i think why the hawk wouldn't get them in their fence is that they like large open area's, but if the pens very big that wouldn't be the case. maybe whatever it is is dragging or flying them over the fence before eating-killing them... just another suggestion