Disappeared: Entire Flock of Chickens

[WindingRoad]

Hello everyone, I appreciate any help and to hear others opinions. Is it possible for a large group of chickens to disappear overnight without finding evidence of predators? We are heartbroken and frustrated. My dear friend and next door neighbor, overnight had his entire flock of 29 chickens and 2 Turkeys disappear. We found only few feathers on ground, which could have been there before. I have had chickens for many years, we have had problems with predators breaking into our house and getting one or two, usually raccoons. We are in Oklahoma, our known predators are bobcats, raccoons, possums, owls, skunks, large snakes. We have coyotes and an occasional mountain lion, it's in a rural area. I need help please so we can figure out what happened. He had no cameras and he does not lock them in at night. Which I think he should always do. They normally roost in several different locations, some on the back porch, far away from the hen house and they are all gone. Dogs nearby barked a lot last night but not sure at what. He had 8 ducks that normally hang around the chickens which were all okay. He thinks it was a person who came in overnight and stole his entire flock, which I think is highly unlikely, but can a predator carry off an entire flock without finding feathers/bodies/evidence? We walked 30 acres looking and find no trace of what might have happened. UPDATE: a Turkey and a hen showed back up, walking from the west. He is devastated at the loss and isn't wanting to get more chickens. I wanted to learn so we can try to prevent this from happening in the future.

My neighbor laughs because I lock my feed in steel trash can. And I keep two bags in each can so they are too heavy to lug off. I guess I need to get a padlock for my coop. Have any more come back?

 

[Schuey72]

Hello everyone, I appreciate any help and to hear others opinions. Is it possible for a large group of chickens to disappear overnight without finding evidence of predators? We are heartbroken and frustrated. My dear friend and next door neighbor, overnight had his entire flock of 29 chickens and 2 Turkeys disappear. We found only few feathers on ground, which could have been there before. I have had chickens for many years, we have had problems with predators breaking into our house and getting one or two, usually raccoons. We are in Oklahoma, our known predators are bobcats, raccoons, possums, owls, skunks, large snakes. We have coyotes and an occasional mountain lion, it's in a rural area. I need help please so we can figure out what happened. He had no cameras and he does not lock them in at night. Which I think he should always do. They normally roost in several different locations, some on the back porch, far away from the hen house and they are all gone. Dogs nearby barked a lot last night but not sure at what. He had 8 ducks that normally hang around the chickens which were all okay. He thinks it was a person who came in overnight and stole his entire flock, which I think is highly unlikely, but can a predator carry off an entire flock without finding feathers/bodies/evidence? We walked 30 acres looking and find no trace of what might have happened. UPDATE: a Turkey and a hen showed back up, walking from the west. He is devastated at the loss and isn't wanting to get more chickens. I wanted to learn so we can try to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

[Sea Wolf]

If he made an enemy, then yes, someone probably came and took the birds as revenge. They weren't locked up and were loose all over the place so they were easy targets. He needs to confine the birds to a coop for their own protection. They can free range during the day but he needs to protect them at night. It could also have been a group of predators dogs/coyotes that scattered them all over. As they have no real home they will now be living wild wherever they ended up. Some more may trickle back if they are within sight of the place. Have they? He still has the ducks, a turkey and a hen. If he isn't going to house them for their protection he probably should not get any more. They are being forced to live in the open as wild animals and will suffer the fate of most wild, prey animals. These birds are domestic stock and need to be protected for their own good. Maybe you can talk him into using the coop if it is secure.

 

[Citytransplant]

I had a flock of 20, every night would count them. One morning I had 19 couldn't' figure it out. long story short, a racoon caught the first, took a few days to gather a bunch of racoon friends and they left only a few pieces of combs. Yes it can happen.

 

[One Lucky Momma]

This is heartbreaking. Cititransplant has a good point - one went missing first. I wonder if your neighbor keeps a regular count of his birds. Would he miss one or two?

I continue to be dumbfounded by how docile - almost hypnotized- chickens are at night. I could see a couple of jerks walking in and lifting them off their roosts without much commotion. Seems like 4 legged predators would have caused a lot more ruckus.

But the red herring for me is the ducks. Why weren’t they taken?

I am so sorry for this loss, especially at this time in his life. Hopefully he can learn from it and recover enough to try again, maybe on a smaller and much more secure basis.

 

[TheFarm41]

My first thought was a chicken rustler. But then I saw that there was turkeys missing too. Have you ever tried to grab a full grown turkey off of its roost? They have huge wings and will try and beat you to death until they get away!

Oh - I just read the last part, a turkey has returned. Maybe it was an animal preadtor and many of the hens scattered into the woods to get away, hopefully more will return.

 

[oldhen2345]

Hello everyone, I appreciate any help and to hear others opinions. Is it possible for a large group of chickens to disappear overnight without finding evidence of predators? We are heartbroken and frustrated. My dear friend and next door neighbor, overnight had his entire flock of 29 chickens and 2 Turkeys disappear. We found only few feathers on ground, which could have been there before. I have had chickens for many years, we have had problems with predators breaking into our house and getting one or two, usually raccoons. We are in Oklahoma, our known predators are bobcats, raccoons, possums, owls, skunks, large snakes. We have coyotes and an occasional mountain lion, it's in a rural area. I need help please so we can figure out what happened. He had no cameras and he does not lock them in at night. Which I think he should always do. They normally roost in several different locations, some on the back porch, far away from the hen house and they are all gone. Dogs nearby barked a lot last night but not sure at what. He had 8 ducks that normally hang around the chickens which were all okay. He thinks it was a person who came in overnight and stole his entire flock, which I think is highly unlikely, but can a predator carry off an entire flock without finding feathers/bodies/evidence? We walked 30 acres looking and find no trace of what might have happened. UPDATE: a Turkey and a hen showed back up, walking from the west. He is devastated at the loss and isn't wanting to get more chickens. I wanted to learn so we can try to prevent this from happening in the future.

Two legged predator. Put up cameras in the area, then you will know what is going on at night. I did and was shocked to find the raccoons and cats that roam my yard at night. And I have two dogs who seldom go out and bark at them, even when raccoons are on the patio steps with their nose pressed to the doggie door. Also, since I made a production of putting up the cameras in view of the neighbors, I haven't had anyone break into my storage shed and take tools. HMmmm.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

We had neighbor's who had people steal birds every few nights.

Also a bobcat will take a grown turkey with no evidence

 

[jsr5]

Still thinking of humans the fact the turkeys came back attests to their fight. Probably be a well scratched up member or two of the "gang" of rustlers. Only things I can think of that would take that many chickens at a time would have left most of them behind dead. but no sign no carcases. I have no experience with bears but I'm sure they wouldn't carry them off without a trace they would have eaten as they went. Hope your LE crowd can get to the bottom of it.

 

[Finnie]

But the red herring for me is the ducks. Why weren’t they taken?

Could be because ducks don’t sleep at night the same way chickens do. They are active in the dark and would be harder to catch.

Now, the ducks would put up a ruckus, so I wonder why the owner didn’t hear that. Maybe they put up a ruckus every night, so he is tuned out to that.