- Jul 26, 2013
- 22
- 7
- 69
If this story is too long, just skip to the last part.
I had two guinea and they were very valuable assets around the house. Initially we had 4 but 3 disappeared the first time we let them out. They got scared when night came and ran off into the woods. The last one stayed and was on my porch the next morning. He likes to hang out on my porch with my mastiff and with me in the garage when I'm working on stuff. He's a very curious bird, pecks my wrenches and any shiny object I'm using really. Anyway, we needed another because I think he thought he was a human. I got tired of him crapping on my door mat and garage floor.
Fast forward a year:
In may we picked up a female and they took to each other like they were always mates. No more hanging out on the porch. The tick started disappearing as these little machines would mill around the yard all day eating. Eventually the female started to wander into the outskirts of my yard, into the tall grass and bushes that borders the forest. The male would yell at her and keep back. He never crosses that line into the woods.
On to last week:
She failed to return to the coop one night... then the next, then the next so we started making every effort to get her in. Fearing that one of these nights wandering predators would kill her.
Well it happened. We got home late and couldn't find her in. The male was on the porch... she was MIA.
Later that night I was awoken to the worst screaming I have ever heard in my life. I knew she was dead as I scrambled to grab my gun and run into the darkeness with nothing but my boxer shorts and bare feet.
I chased the sound of rustling leaves as far as I could down into the woods, over stone walls and downed trees. I was trying to get a set of eyes with my light or something ... anything I could shoot at. I had to know what it was that grabbed her, but every time I got within 20 yards it would move farther down the steep hill. Eventually, I had to back out and return home because my feet were not meant to run blindly through the woods at 1am, and the mosquitos were so thick I probably was bitten hundreds of times.
Yesterday after work my ten year old son and I attempted to track the trail down. I really needed to see a foot print or something to find out what it was that took her. I knew where it went mostly so we had an idea where to go. We started where the attack began, we discovered she was sitting on a nest with 19 eggs inside just on the edge of the lawn. We followed a steady trail of her feathers. Then eventually about 60 yards from where I stopped pursuing it we found what was left of the hen. No signs of what it was that did it.
Everything in me says a raccoon took my hen. Her head and neck were gone, her breast were eaten and the tail feathers almost all gone. My problem is I have never seen a raccoon here and just a few weeks ago an orange wild feral cat appeared and has been heard fighting in the woods more than once. He's been through hell, frost bitten ears and missing half a tail. He's a true survivor for sure. I saw him again today just a mere 20 yards from my house.
Does anyone believe based on the description of the remains a feral cat could be responsible for this? Or was my assumption of a raccoon more logical?
I had two guinea and they were very valuable assets around the house. Initially we had 4 but 3 disappeared the first time we let them out. They got scared when night came and ran off into the woods. The last one stayed and was on my porch the next morning. He likes to hang out on my porch with my mastiff and with me in the garage when I'm working on stuff. He's a very curious bird, pecks my wrenches and any shiny object I'm using really. Anyway, we needed another because I think he thought he was a human. I got tired of him crapping on my door mat and garage floor.
Fast forward a year:
In may we picked up a female and they took to each other like they were always mates. No more hanging out on the porch. The tick started disappearing as these little machines would mill around the yard all day eating. Eventually the female started to wander into the outskirts of my yard, into the tall grass and bushes that borders the forest. The male would yell at her and keep back. He never crosses that line into the woods.
On to last week:
She failed to return to the coop one night... then the next, then the next so we started making every effort to get her in. Fearing that one of these nights wandering predators would kill her.
Well it happened. We got home late and couldn't find her in. The male was on the porch... she was MIA.
Later that night I was awoken to the worst screaming I have ever heard in my life. I knew she was dead as I scrambled to grab my gun and run into the darkeness with nothing but my boxer shorts and bare feet.
I chased the sound of rustling leaves as far as I could down into the woods, over stone walls and downed trees. I was trying to get a set of eyes with my light or something ... anything I could shoot at. I had to know what it was that grabbed her, but every time I got within 20 yards it would move farther down the steep hill. Eventually, I had to back out and return home because my feet were not meant to run blindly through the woods at 1am, and the mosquitos were so thick I probably was bitten hundreds of times.
Yesterday after work my ten year old son and I attempted to track the trail down. I really needed to see a foot print or something to find out what it was that took her. I knew where it went mostly so we had an idea where to go. We started where the attack began, we discovered she was sitting on a nest with 19 eggs inside just on the edge of the lawn. We followed a steady trail of her feathers. Then eventually about 60 yards from where I stopped pursuing it we found what was left of the hen. No signs of what it was that did it.
Everything in me says a raccoon took my hen. Her head and neck were gone, her breast were eaten and the tail feathers almost all gone. My problem is I have never seen a raccoon here and just a few weeks ago an orange wild feral cat appeared and has been heard fighting in the woods more than once. He's been through hell, frost bitten ears and missing half a tail. He's a true survivor for sure. I saw him again today just a mere 20 yards from my house.
Does anyone believe based on the description of the remains a feral cat could be responsible for this? Or was my assumption of a raccoon more logical?
When my Wyandotte bantam was killed, the telltale missing chest/head said it all (as well as our inundation with the masked terrors). 
It truly causes unbelievable amounts of heartache. 
