Disappearing birds

[tn_artist]

Racoon is my first thought do you have hardware cloth on your coop

The coop is hardware cloth, but the run is chicken wire.

 

[hispoptart]

Sure hope you find them in the morning.

 

[Chicken Heel]

My wife and I lost a small dog named Max to a large male coyote several years ago. It came into our garage just after dark and took him. This occurred even with our border collie mix Hermione being in there with him at the time. I hate those rascals.

 

[tn_artist]

My wife and I lost a small dog named Max to a large male coyote several years ago. It came into our garage just after dark and took him. This occurred even with our border collie mix Hermione being in there with him at the time. I hate those rascals.

Wow

 

[guineapeeps]

A while back we lost a Wyandotte pullet to a possum because I forgot to close the upper coop door. A couple weeks later, we lost her sister during broad daylight. No feathers, no body, nothing. I figured hawk or cat. A few days ago, I noticed that one of our two silver duckwing OEGB missing. Again, broad daylight. I always check when I close them up, to make sure they are all accounted for.
This evening, I didn't get home before dark, and my children "didn't think" to close the coops. All birds were in the yard when I left. When I found out the kids didn't close up,I went out to do head check and door closing.
The younger game cockrel always roosts in the bush behind the coop, so I knew to find him there. While I was retrieving him, I noticed movement. The Turkin was on the roof of the run. I collected her and put her in the coop. Then my daughter noticed movement in another bush. On the way to that shrub, we encountered our Spangled OE pullet. The one in the bush was our black OE pullet.
After counting heads, we are missing one Silkie cockrel, one game bantam pullet, one EE and one bantam Cochin. No feathers, no bodies. The only thing different, other than them missing, is that several chickens are roosting on different roosts than their norm. There are three on the roost no one has ever used at night, seven are crowded on to a roost that usually only has three, hardly anyone is on the three main roosts, the rest are in their normal spots. Both other pens have everyone accounted for.
I'm hoping that they are just hiding and we will see them at dawn. The birds that were still out, were not the usual ones. (Usually the two lowest ranked roos)
I know that any predator could have taken them, but four? With no evidence? Two are almost a year old, the others are 5 months.
Thoughts? (Other than "Your children let you down" )

Do you have any fox in your area? My biggest predator during the day has been fox. They come into the yard in the middle of the day and grab and go, leaving nothing behind. I have lost guinea fowl in broad daylight while I am out in the yard with them. I started putting a portable radio (boom box type) in the yard and blared talk radio, which helped some. (If you have neighbors nearby, this may not work well for you since no one wants to hear politics all day....not even the predators!)
Good luck....Hope you find your chickens and your predator!

 

[microchick]

No matter what predator is taking your birds if it was my flock the first thing I would do is lock them up and keep them locked up until the threat is dealt with.

We live in a predator rich environment that includes coyotes, bobcats, fox, raccoon, possum, hawks, owls and even cougar. My birds are safest when they are in their coop and run. My run is kennel panels and my coop is metal clad. The run is covered with heavy deer netting and surrounded by a hot wire.

I've had birds for 5 years now and so far, knock on wood, I have yet to lose a bird to a predator and that includes our dogs. On the rare and I mean very rare occasions that I let my birds out to scratch around, I'm sitting near by with a rifle across my lap keeping an eye on my birds like a mother hen with one chick.

Free ranging has hazards along with benefits. Losing birds is almost a given. Losing a LOT of birds is a red alert situation.

Until you can figure out what is happening, my best advice is to keep the birds under lock and key, put up a game camera, figure out what the threat is and then deal with the threat.

If you live in an urban situation, once you find out what the threat is, call your local conservation dept and ask them for help ridding your yard of nuisance wildlife. I'm lucky. Here if we have nuisance wildlife we are allowed to exterminate it if it isn't a protected species like eagle, hawk, owl or cougar and even in the event of a cougar as a predator, if it threatens, we can eliminate the threat.

I am so sorry that you have lost so many birds. I have SDWs and I'd be heart broken if they started to disappear. Good luck sorting this all out. Also if your children aren't able to remember to close the coop door, maybe it's time for an automatic system to do it for you.

 

[WthrLady]

Morning Update??

 

[tn_artist]

All four are accounted for. The OE must have been under a bigger chicken as she was in the pen this morning. The Silkie and Cochin were waiting to be let in, so that just left the EE. I noticed a ruckus in another pen. Usually it has four other EEs, three Cuckoo Marans and a Welsummer. Well, in the dark I must have counted an EE as the Welsummer. Wellie was in the wrong pen and there were 5 EEs. She is back with her sister, and all is well. We are going out of town, so they will be penned for a week.
No idea where they hid, or why the EE roosted with a different flock, but I'm glad they are all here. I feel so much better.

 

[tn_artist]

Thanks everyone for your concern and advice. We really had only lost one to human error and the two disappearances. I'm still hoping the duckwing shows up in a couple of weeks with some babies, but we shall see.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Around here, if the hens don't roost as per usual, it's an indication that a predator of some kind has frightened and disrupted them. For a few nights afterward, they don't trust their roosts or even the safety of their hen house, and once, when a hen was taken right by the gate, they didn't want to go through that gate the next night. We had to lead and/or chase them through it to rebuild their confidence in it. I've come to the conclusion that chickens are a bit emotional. They are... well ... kind of "chicken!"

So their behavior is telling you something. Maybe there was a snake? But a raccoon seems more likely. When we caught one almost in the act, there were no feathers because the kill was practically instantaneous and hen put up no fight.

Good luck going forward.