We had a late afternoon storm roll through today, heavy rain but no wind or thunder. It came through about 5:30, with sunset at 7:30, so I figured the girls would sit under the roof eaves and come back out again after so I left them all out.
When I went out at 7:10, I found one chicken missing tail feathers, one chicken with blood on her neck in the coop and am missing two girls, my very favorites.
I searched everywhere and found feathers. Lots from my barred rock. they’re all in one spot. Then I found feathers from the one that was slightly injured, but none from the other missing chicken. (I’m holding out hope the other missing chicken got scared and is missing for the night but I’m sure that’s not the case.) there are zero feathers over a three or so acre area that I searched other than the main pile at the attack spot. It was dark and I could t tell if I also saw Cuckoo marans feathers in the mix but for sure saw Barred Rock.
I’ve seen owls in pairs near my pond in the daytime during rain so thats why I feel like it could be them. Would it be highly unlikely to have two taken and one injured at once by an owl or owls? The lack of feathers anywhere else makes me think an aerial predator.
I’ve been free ranging for three years and this is my first issue. :-( I think they were trapped by an anti climb horse fence from getting away so likely were easy pickings, I’ll need to rethink where the heavier breeds that can’t fly over fences are allowed to get to.
When I went out at 7:10, I found one chicken missing tail feathers, one chicken with blood on her neck in the coop and am missing two girls, my very favorites.
I searched everywhere and found feathers. Lots from my barred rock. they’re all in one spot. Then I found feathers from the one that was slightly injured, but none from the other missing chicken. (I’m holding out hope the other missing chicken got scared and is missing for the night but I’m sure that’s not the case.) there are zero feathers over a three or so acre area that I searched other than the main pile at the attack spot. It was dark and I could t tell if I also saw Cuckoo marans feathers in the mix but for sure saw Barred Rock.
I’ve seen owls in pairs near my pond in the daytime during rain so thats why I feel like it could be them. Would it be highly unlikely to have two taken and one injured at once by an owl or owls? The lack of feathers anywhere else makes me think an aerial predator.
I’ve been free ranging for three years and this is my first issue. :-( I think they were trapped by an anti climb horse fence from getting away so likely were easy pickings, I’ll need to rethink where the heavier breeds that can’t fly over fences are allowed to get to.