Disappearing chickens

[Duckfarmer1]

I've had a mink problem before. Slaughtered my ducks and left 1 there to rot without eating anything, slaughtered my neighbors chickens and ducks, never removed anything. Couldn't be a mink there would be blood, feathers, and a body.

We had a skunk eat a duck last summer...left no signs except that my dog got sprayed...if it wasn’t for that, I’d have had no clue where the duck went...what predator got her. We put out many traps, but I think my dogs scared it off because they were nosing around them too much, and the baits went dry too often. Apparently skunks take the body and make the mess elsewhere. We have coyotes too, but I’ve been told you see signs of a struggle. From what I’ve read, the mink leave the carcass...just grab the necks??

 

[hayley3]

Skunks can't carry off full grown ducks and they can't catch a duck unless the duck is cooped or somehow unable to escape. A raccoon won't even carry off a duck. However I saw the fox with the duck in its mouth running like the wind.

 

[cmom]

I would put a game camera up because it will be back and then you will know what you're dealing with.

I did just 2 days ago, nothing yet except my neighbor told me a hawk has been getting his, except when mine went missing they was completely locked in my coop, so we could clean our porch and integrate a new rooster (lavender orpington he's gorgeous and I love orpingtons)

I have had predators come and kill birds and then not show up for a couple of days. I have several cameras and move some of them around. Here we have had mostly coyotes. Recently a neighbor gave some coyote hunters permission to hunt on his land. I have heard some shooting and lately haven't seen hardly any. I'm thinking the hunters may have gotten them. Here the predators roam mostly at night. I have had a coyote show up on a couple of cameras a couple of times in a little over a month. Before hardly a night would go by without seeing a predator on at least one of the cameras.

A coyote behind some of the coops.

Here is an owl that went through some crappy netting which I have since replaced. It had killed a couple of birds a couple of nights prior. I moved the birds replaced the crappy netting with another piece of crappy netting and had put a camera in the pen and the owl went right through the netting.

 

[Wackums]

We had a skunk eat a duck last summer...left no signs except that my dog got sprayed...if it wasn’t for that, I’d have had no clue where the duck went...what predator got her. We put out many traps, but I think my dogs scared it off because they were nosing around them too much, and the baits went dry too often. Apparently skunks take the body and make the mess elsewhere. We have coyotes too, but I’ve been told you see signs of a struggle. From what I’ve read, the mink leave the carcass...just grab the necks??

Minks will slaughter alot of any bird for fun. They'll eat some but they eat from the head to the intestines or to the butt. And coyotes leave alot of struggle. Never heard of what skunks done though.

 

[Wackums]

I have had predators come and kill birds and then not show up for a couple of days. I have several cameras and move some of them around. Here we have had mostly coyotes. Recently a neighbor gave some coyote hunters permission to hunt on his land. I have heard some shooting and lately haven't seen hardly any. I'm thinking the hunters may have gotten them. Here the predators roam mostly at night. I have had a coyote show up on a couple of cameras a couple of times in a little over a month. Before hardly a night would go by without seeing a predator on at least one of the cameras.
View attachment 2013910
A coyote behind some of the coops.
View attachment 2013928
Here is an owl that went through some crappy netting which I have since replaced. It had killed a couple of birds a couple of nights prior. I moved the birds replaced the crappy netting with another piece of crappy netting and had put a camera in the pen and the owl went right through the netting.View attachment 2013941View attachment 2013942

Maybe it did go through my net then

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

No feathers usually means aerial predator or snake. Everything that walks is sloppy with feathers and blood.

I agree. Snakes really kill those chickens traceless, I had an experience before on snakes being a predator. And it really killed those chickens stealthily...

 

[hayley3]

I had a 6 foot black snake crawling along the roost, with the chickens on it, and it didn't hurt them. Freaked me out though. And a 6 foot snake in the nest was a bit intimidating. I had to let it eat 5 eggs that day because my daughter forgot to get them.
I was over run with mice and that snake helped a lot. I could not have reduced the mice population down without that snake being there.
There is sometimes a balance in nature.