chicks disapearing

[homeyhall]

Help!
My 3 week old chicks are disapearing. I have them in a secure pen and no-way large animals could get them. 2 have disapeared out of 10 so far. I also have mice running around the pen. (Small), I've looked for snake but, haven't seen one.
Mommy wouldn't eat them would she? The hen and chicks are all that are in the cage.
Any ideas?
Bill

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Are you using rabbit wire? They can get out of regular chicken wire. And pop their heads out which then leave a predator to yank them out of there.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Is your pen covered? Hawks and owls love chicks

but I would think you'd find some feathers.

 

[ajr]

To repeat what the first reply said, they can get out of regular chicken wire. Had that happen to a couple of mine. Luckily I was there when it happened, caught them and rebuilt the pen. They can get out small cracks you wouldn't think they could, too.

 

[noitulover]

cover everything in hardware cloth. we too, learned the hard way.

we even buried the run at least 2+ feet deep into the ground. good thing too, as something big tried to dig under it the other day. (got about 8" deep)

 

[Soccer Mom]

Snakes are tricksy and some species can climb. I had one that was climbing into the run and snarfing duckings until we caught him and I did my Queen of Hearts impersonation (Off with his head!).

 

[noitulover]

a 7 ft+ black snake found it's way through a 3/4" crack and ate two 6 week old chicks whole. the snake must've been 1.5" to 2" in diameter, but still managed to slip through a crack less than an inch wide. they're tricky and can fit anywere except for through 1/4" thick hardware cloth!