DEAD CHICKS!!!

[buffboy]

Woke up this morning to go out and find several dead chicks in one of my broody pens. They are 6 days old and were all doing just fine yesterday afternoon! I had let them out with their mama into the main coop for a couple hours yesterday. I have not noticed any aggression by the mama hen. And she seems to be doing fine with the remaining 5 as of now. Could she have slaughtered them due to early morning non stop chirping?? Gotta figure this out to save the remaining 5 ASAP!!

 

[keesmom]

More information is needed. How is your broody pen set up? Where were the dead chicks? Can you tell what caused their deaths and what time it happened?

 

[buffboy]

Pen is just a 5x5 foot pen inside the main coop. Has a nesting box, water, pine shavings on the ground surrounded by boards and chicken wire. All the dead chicks were on the ground. She went back into the nesting box with all her chicks yesterday afternoon. To be honest it looks like the were mashed but really hard to tell. Actually a few are missing but thinking they're underneath the ramp coming out of the nest. And no the nest is not high off the ground. Only a few inches. Really confused. Thinking about booting the mom and seeing if my other hen will raise the rest with her 12. They are only a few days apart.

 

[keesmom]

I had wondered if a predator got them. Can the other hens peck at them through the wire? Or does it not look like they were pecked?

 

[buffboy]

Well I think the mama has been scratched from the list of suspects. I completely cleaned the entire coop out. Nest box, shavings and everything. Never found any more dead chicks. There were only 3 dead ones on the pen floor and 4 missing. The coop is protected very well. Complete with multiple strands of electric wire jumped from my horse pasture. Absolutely no signs of digging. The broody pen is 5 foot tall but has no roof. Did not think it needed one since it is inside the coop which is protected very well. But I can't rule out a snake but would a snake eat 4 chicks and then kill 3 more and just leave them? I am really confused. What ever happened happened last night. Thinking about using one of the dead chicks as bait in my trap and set it outside the coop tonight to try and catch whatever.

 

[buffboy]

Correction...cleaned the entire brood pen out not the coop.

 

[keesmom]

What kind of snakes do you have? If it's a big enough one I could see it eating more than one. I don't have snake issues here so I don't know if they would kill some chicks but not eat them. How high is the bottom line of electric fence? Could a weasel or other such small critter get in? Or rat?

 

[buffboy]

The bottom strand is about 3 inches off the ground and then two more right above it. But the bottom two feet of the coop is all boards along with chicken wire. And there is no gap between the boards. Completely closed off. And the chicken wire is folded out at the bottom and runs away from the coop underneath the grass about 8 inches to deter digging. We have king snakes, black snakes, copperheads and many more. But the cat stays outside at night and usually does a pretty good job of keeping them run off. But I can't rule it out. But I also have the entire outside of the coop surrounded with "snake out". Some form of powder sprinkled on the ground that is supposed to keep snakes away. I guess if a snake is the offender than that stuff sucks!

 

[ChickCrazed]

The bottom strand is about 3 inches off the ground and then two more right above it. But the bottom two feet of the coop is all boards along with chicken wire. And there is no gap between the boards. Completely closed off. And the chicken wire is folded out at the bottom and runs away from the coop underneath the grass about 8 inches to deter digging. We have king snakes, black snakes, copperheads and many more. But the cat stays outside at night and usually does a pretty good job of keeping them run off. But I can't rule it out. But I also have the entire outside of the coop surrounded with "snake out". Some form of powder sprinkled on the ground that is supposed to keep snakes away. I guess if a snake is the offender than that stuff sucks!

Chicken wire won't even slow down a mink, weasel or a snake. I'm not sure where you are located but mink and weasel are prevalent almost everywhere and not a predator most people consider. I would consider replacing the chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth to make sure you are covering all the predator bases. Now that it (whatever it is) has found your chickens it will be back!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Poultry netting provides very poor protection - it does a great job of keeping chickens IN but is entirely ineffective at keeping most predatory animals OUT. Many predators are able to fit right through the holes of poultry netting without leaving a trace of their entry/exit.