Chickens Vanishing

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

We have not had such a loss in a year like we have had in the last month.
It all started when our LSD had to be inside for a week due to an open wound. We lost 5 in one day. And now steady we’re losing 1-2 a day.
Whatever it is has taken our beloved, Lady Belle, who had been with us since we started our chicken journey 4 years ago.
Since we have had chickens we’ve lost maybe 1 a year. 2 or 3 at most over our 4 years and it’s now baffling us.
We knew the 1st was a coyote and then I saw a hawk attack both times feathers everywhere.

These recent attacks have left 0 feathers. I cannot find a single trace of the chickens being attacked. On the day we lost 5 I saw either a coyote or fox in my backyard and shot at it to scare it away, We’re still losing chickens and I haven’t seen anything not even a hawk roaming around. I’m almost thinking aliens are taking them because of the lack of information I can gather.
We have a livestock guardian that sits outside all day and would chase off anything with 4 legs. I’ve seen him bark and chase after hawks once or twice but he hasn’t been alerting on anything. Even the roosters haven’t been alerting on anything. Chickens are just missing at lock up.
It’s not neighbors as ours are very far away and the chickens don’t roam near them. We live in a heavily wooded area and after the initial attack cleared out a lot of brush to prevent the fox/coyotes from sneaking right up to our back door. I’m just at a loss to what’s happening does anyone have any idea what we can do? We cannot afford fencing and always knew the chickens would become prey one day but never to these numbers especially since we’ve never had such large attacks or issues before. Especially since I’ve seen 0 sign of any type of predator I’m not sure what we’re up against to even prevent further attacks.

 

[Tonyroo]

I suppose you can Google what type of wildlife lives in your neck of the woods and narrow down potential suspects.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I'm sorry you are losing so many chickens, including your beloved Lady Belle. My guess is either a fox or coyote, and probably a sly fox that is stealthily hunting when it knows your dog won't see/hear/smell it. The circumstances you describe are nearly identical to a situation i experienced five winters ago. One afternoon I saw the culprit, a gray fox. I acquired a second dog, an adult Great Pyrenese that was a proven varmint killer, but it was another six weeks before the dogs finally aucceeded in driving the fox away. Meanwhile, I had locked up the surviving hens to keep them out of the woods and prevent more losses. If you don't lock up your survivors, I fear you may lose them all. Whatever is hunting your chickens will be more likely to reveal itself to your dog once your chickens are penned, because it will get hungry and desperate that chicken is off the self-serve menu. That is what occurred in my situation, and what enabled my dogs to finally confront and drive it away. I didn't see the confrontation but heard it, because the hungry fox had come near the chicken coop at night. It's possible my dogs caught and killed the fox idk; all I know is it never returned, and I've had no losses since.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Are the chickens confined or free-ranging? With losses like this, it seems you are going to have to keep them confined for a while, at least a week or two, until your predator gets discouraged and moves on. If you are losing one or two chickens a day, you are going to have to change the situation or you are not going to have any chickens left. Instead of trying to control the predator, tighten up your defenses so the predator, whatever it is, can't get at them. Tighten it up so even a snake can't get in. Good luck!

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Are the chickens confined or free-ranging? With losses like this, it seems you are going to have to keep them confined for a while, at least a week or two, until your predator gets discouraged and moves on. If you are losing one or two chickens a day, you are going to have to change the situation or you are not going to have any chickens left. Instead of trying to control the predator, tighten up your defenses so the predator, whatever it is, can't get at them. Tighten it up so even a snake can't get in. Good luck!

My chickens free range so I would have to lock them into the coop all day. ): but I guess it was built for 27 chickens and now there are only 14 so it should be okay enough for them.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I'm sorry you are losing so many chickens, including your beloved Lady Belle. My guess is either a fox or coyote, and probably a sly fox that is stealthily hunting when it knows your dog won't see/hear/smell it. The circumstances you describe are nearly identical to a situation i experienced five winters ago. One afternoon I saw the culprit, a gray fox. I acquired a second dog, an adult Great Pyrenese that was a proven varmint killer, but it was another six weeks before the dogs finally aucceeded in driving the fox away. Meanwhile, I had locked up the surviving hens to keep them out of the woods and prevent more losses. If you don't lock up your survivors, I fear you may lose them all. Whatever is hunting your chickens will be more likely to reveal itself to your dog once your chickens are penned, because it will get hungry and desperate that chicken is off the self-serve menu. That is what occurred in my situation, and what enabled my dogs to finally confront and drive it away. I didn't see the confrontation but heard it, because the hungry fox had come near the chicken coop at night. It's possible my dogs caught and killed the fox idk; all I know is it never returned, and I've had no losses since.

Our landlord has banned us from getting another guardian so we only have the 1. However we have been wanting to add in another since we know 2 is the best number. I’ll lock my chickens into their coop and see if we can catch the killer. I will lock the chickens in their coop and hope whatever it is moves on or has to face my male Anatolian.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

It’s only been taking my chickens so now I’m fearful with my chickens locked up will it attack my goats and their young? They stick closer then the chickens do but I don’t want to set my goats up for failure. However I guess it’s unlikely for a fox to take down a goat? The youngest are 3m old.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

It’s only been taking my chickens so now I’m fearful with my chickens locked up will it attack my goats and their young? They stick closer then the chickens do but I don’t want to set my goats up for failure. However I guess it’s unlikely for a fox to take down a goat? The youngest are 3m old.

I agree with you that it is very unlikely that a fox could take down an adult goat. The fox that was killing my hens actually had to climb/jump over a 5 ft fence where my goats live in order to get at the chickens. I'm certain it never bothered the goats after the chickens were locked up; it just tried harder to get at the chickens. A fox may be a threat to the kids, but they have their mama goat to protect them, and I think would cause enough of a disturbance that your dog would respond. If you begin to have adult goats killed after the chickens are locked up, your predator is almost certain to be a coyote(s). Unless you have mountain lions, but a mountain lion would have been more likely to attack your goats from the beginning, since a chicken is barely a snack to a mountain lion. Is it practical for you to place a camera where you can see what may be lurking around your chicken coop and goats?

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I agree with you that it is very unlikely that a fox could take down an adult goat. The fox that was killing my hens actually had to climb/jump over a 5 ft fence where my goats live in order to get at the chickens. I'm certain it never bothered the goats after the chickens were locked up; it just tried harder to get at the chickens. A fox may be a threat to the kids, but they have their mama goat to protect them, and I think would cause enough of a disturbance that your dog would respond. If you begin to have adult goats killed after the chickens are locked up, your predator is almost certain to be a coyote(s). Unless you have mountain lions, but a mountain lion would have been more likely to attack your goats from the beginning, since a chicken is barely a snack to a mountain lion. Is it practical for you to place a camera where you can see what may be lurking around your chicken coop and goats?

Oh I don’t even want to test losing a goat we only have 4, 2 mamas and 2 babies their loss would be like losing a child. I have a live feed camera in the goat pen but not on their surroundings. The chickens are housed separate. However the goats and chickens all free range. This is giving me too much anxiety
We also have 2 outdoor cats but only the chickens are being messed with.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I had decided that if my dogs didn't soon make contact with the fox, I was going to need to spend the night on my roof, then shoot it when it came lurking. I wasn't looking forward to losing a night of sleep, but still feel that it would have worked. You may need to do something similiar unless your dog is soon able to confront the predator.