don't forget to lock up the coop for the night!

[hayley3]

By 4:45pm it's dark here. I would love to have one of those but I'm moving so not putting a $200 door in someplace I'm leaving. But I will definitely look into one. Things were fine for me til I went back to work. I get off at 4pm but takes me a while to get home.

@DownwardDog
I hope you find your other babies. All you can do is assume who took them..without seeing them in the act. I thought dogs took mine but changed my mind later. The possum had found the remains and I'm not sure how much he ruined the crime scene.

 

[wamtazlady]

So sad to hear about your loss. Hopefully you'll find the others when it's daylight.

I don't lock mine into the coop and some day it might come back to bite me. Their run does get locked. The whole thing is surrounded by electric poultry netting. Hopefully that is enough to keep away Mr.(or Mrs.) Fox who is living on our hill. So far it's worked although neighbors have lost birds and eggs.

 

[wildwestcoast]

Oh no!

Well for us, tonight we were gone 2 hours (3-5pm) and the kids went out to do their coop chores and close them up for the night. My daughter noticed 4 of our 8-wk-olds missing. We quickly found one with no head/throat in the yard and lots of feathers all around him/her. 3 other chicks are still missing, while the other 4 chicks and mama hen are safe inside the coop.

I'm assuming a hawk took the one in the yard -- could another hawk have picked off the other 3? I'm hoping beyond hope that the other 3 are scared off somewhere, not moving. They'll likely survive the night if a fox doesn't get to them, though they'll be freezing! I'm hoping I see them in the morning, praying, praying, praying I do!

Sometimes, I feel I just don't have the strength for this. My heart breaks not knowing what has happened to the other 3 young ones. :-(

oh no! that is the worst around where we live when you see them headless but if the bodies are still there that means weasels. In particular Martin where I live. My brother had raccoon problems at his coop, but they were taking the whole chicken to eat it. same with another friend, taking the whole bird but in her case a pile of feathers left behind. she has decided not to get any more chickens as it is too heartbreaking

 

[N F C]

Oh no!

Well for us, tonight we were gone 2 hours (3-5pm) and the kids went out to do their coop chores and close them up for the night. My daughter noticed 4 of our 8-wk-olds missing. We quickly found one with no head/throat in the yard and lots of feathers all around him/her. 3 other chicks are still missing, while the other 4 chicks and mama hen are safe inside the coop.

I'm assuming a hawk took the one in the yard -- could another hawk have picked off the other 3? I'm hoping beyond hope that the other 3 are scared off somewhere, not moving. They'll likely survive the night if a fox doesn't get to them, though they'll be freezing! I'm hoping I see them in the morning, praying, praying, praying I do!

Sometimes, I feel I just don't have the strength for this. My heart breaks not knowing what has happened to the other 3 young ones. :-(

Anything new on the missing chicks?

 

[threescompany]

last night i didn't lock up the chickens on time. My daughter came running downstairs saying the chickens were making alot of noise. i went tearing out the back door and sure enough...they were hollering, flying around in the dark and generally panicked. I called for a flashlight and I heard something going over the back fence when it heard my voice. Initially I only counted 5 (which meant one was missing) I was mentally kicking myself for putting off closing them up while I checked the coop and run to make sure the predator was gone. Thankfully I found #6 hiding in a nesting box. I caught them all and put them in the coop and locked it but they were still pretty freaked out and making alot of noise. So the moral of this story is do not put off securing the chickens at night..we were lucky but you just never know when a predator is going to show up and wreak havoc.

So glad your chicks were safe!!

 

[DownwardDog]

GOOD NEWS UPDATE!!!

This morning, we found our three missing chicks emerging from UNDER the coop! They were chilly but alive! Can't express how happy I am! Our coop is like Fort Knox, so when they are free- ranging, it kills me when I can't protect them. They mostly forage in the surrounding wooded areas and have lots of places to hide. I think this chick just didn't hear or see the hawk in time. Sad for hi,/her, but thankful the other 3 were not victims too!

 

[wamtazlady]

How wonderful that you found your 3 lost chicks. They knew to find a safe place to hide and spend the night.

 

[N F C]

GOOD NEWS UPDATE!!!

This morning, we found our three missing chicks emerging from UNDER the coop! They were chilly but alive! Can't express how happy I am! Our coop is like Fort Knox, so when they are free- ranging, it kills me when I can't protect them. They mostly forage in the surrounding wooded areas and have lots of places to hide. I think this chick just didn't hear or see the hawk in time. Sad for hi,/her, but thankful the other 3 were not victims too!

Great news!

 

[wildwestcoast]

GOOD NEWS UPDATE!!!

This morning, we found our three missing chicks emerging from UNDER the coop! They were chilly but alive! Can't express how happy I am! Our coop is like Fort Knox, so when they are free- ranging, it kills me when I can't protect them. They mostly forage in the surrounding wooded areas and have lots of places to hide. I think this chick just didn't hear or see the hawk in time. Sad for hi,/her, but thankful the other 3 were not victims too!

Great news! glad that you didn't lose those three

 

[hayley3]

I love happy endings.....