Dying chickens

[HollowOfWisps]

I have not! Are you thinking snake? They eat dumor all flock pellets. We use a 5 gallon waterer from tractor supply but they also have a kiddy pool and a water bowl in the run. They have ventilated shade all day.

Mink actually. They will love blood and sometimes will bite the head or neck sucking some of the blood out leaving the body otherwise untouched.

 

[pineirafarms]

Sorry for the losses. Where are you located? Most state vet labs will perform a necropsy/autopsy on a chicken’s body if kept cold on ice in a cooler, and taken in or sent overnight to the lab as soon as possible. They test for diseases, do cultures to look for infection, and look at the organs for any clues. Here is a list of state vets to call and discuss how to get one:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Thank you! I’ll take a look at the list.

 

[pineirafarms]

We put up a camera after losing SEVERAL more chickens. Yeah… we found the problem.

 

[WingItRanch]

We put up a camera after losing SEVERAL more chickens. Yeah… we found the problem. View attachment 3894830

And the bobcat isn't eating them?! Just killing them and leaving them without any obvious wounds? Crazy.

 

[Eggcessive]

I lost 3 hens to a bobcat a couple of years ago in mid afternoon. It came back and carried each body off into the woods. That was a first, since I had free ranged my flock for 11 years. Are you locking up the chickens at night? Are some getting attacked during daylight hours? I would keep locked in a run or you may lose all of them.

 

[pineirafarms]

I lost 3 hens to a bobcat a couple of years ago in mid afternoon. It came back and carried each body off into the woods. That was a first, since I had free ranged my flock for 11 years. Are you locking up the chickens at night? Are some getting attacked during daylight hours? I would keep locked in a run or you may lose all of them.

That’s crazy! Mid afternoon!? Yikes. We weren’t, but we are now. Their door is boarded off and we let them out through the human door every morning.

 

[pineirafarms]

And the bobcat isn't eating them?! Just killing them and leaving them without any obvious wounds? Crazy.

Not all of them. It was eating some and leaving some. There were no obvious signs they had been attacked, but we also have ants and by the time we came in the morning they were being devoured by ants. The day before we put up the camera was the first time we found blood in the coop and we’d been losing chickens for weeks before that.