Disappearing Chicks.. Who is the culprit?

[PurpleCArTires]

Any chance the snake may still be in there hiding? It does take them a long time to digest.

Can you put a camera up?

It's possible. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera. Should have bought the trail cam at the yard sale this past Saturday .

There isn't a ton of places it could hide. I kicked the bedding all around and felt in the soffett. I'll have to get my husband to bring out the big ladder to really see in there.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

another disappeared last night. Either the killer is still inside, or something got it yesterday evening before I locked up and I didnt notice it was gone!

I am wrapping my entire chick pen in hardware cloth today!

 

[Isadora]

Wow, sorry about your silkie chicks getting picked off. Do you have anywhere else to keep them until you can get it secured?
I also would lean towards a snake, but maybe a rat as well.

 

[SilverBirds]

So sorry you lost another silkie. I'd clean out the entire pen incase something is hiding in their and the wrap the hard wire cloth around afterwards.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

So sorry you lost another silkie. I'd clean out the entire pen incase something is hiding in their and the wrap the hard wire cloth around afterwards.

Yeah, i will be displacing all the bedding in the process of wrapping the pen. I kicked all the bedding around yesterday and nothing was found, but I'll be doing it again.

What's interesting is its only targeting the silkies, there was 12 chicks total and only 3 silkies and it went for the silkies each time.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Wow, sorry about your silkie chicks getting picked off. Do you have anywhere else to keep them until you can get it secured?
I also would lean towards a snake, but maybe a rat as well.

Yeah, i brought the smallest 1 week olds back into the house brooder. I put the remaining 3 week old chicks in a large cage inside the pen. I am gonna Fort Knox the crap out of the pen today and hopefully can release the older ones this evening when I am done. I am keeping the smallest inside for another few days just to be sure the massacre is over.

Unfortunately, i cant keep them all inside for much longer as my insider brooder is small and meant for new-borns to just gain strength before going outside to the big coop.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

PS. yesterday, I screened all the windows and sealed every little crack i found with foam insulation and blocked off the hole leading to the covered run. there was minimal chance anything could have gotten in after lockdown.

 

[Isadora]

PS. yesterday, I screened all the windows and sealed every little crack i found with foam insulation and blocked off the hole leading to the covered run. there was minimal chance anything could have gotten in after lockdown.

Do you have any pictures you want to share? If we know what we're looking at we might be able to offer more suggestions for predator proofing.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

So sorry about your chicks. My guess is a snake. A lot of snakes can climb. Check the rafters, under roof panels. Are there trees overhanging the coop? I suggest investing in a game cam or Wi-Fi cam if you have capability for that.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Do you have any pictures you want to share? If we know what we're looking at we might be able to offer more suggestions for predator proofing.

Yeah I'll snap a few in a bit. We are on the way to get a few rolls of hardware cloth