First predator loss!

[DDRanch]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is heartbreaking. I lost a SL wyandotte a few months ago mid day to a red-tailed hawk. He ate the hen's head and neck before my dogs frightened it away. I mention this because another red tail (or maybe the same one) chased all my hens into an open shed. Fortunately, just some feathers and a tail were lost. I was very surprised that the hawk went right into a shed. Free range is over for now.

Again, I am sorry for your loss. We know how you feel.

 

[lleighmay]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your pet hen. That being said, I must offer the following observations..... Possums are easy to see because they are not particularly nervous and don't flee at the first sign that someone's there. I have several who come up to the house to eat with the cats and at least one who frequents my garage. Believe me- if you have possums you also have raccoons and probably foxes and bobcats as well, not to mention any other predator that wanders, crawls, or flies through, and any hungry predator may seize the opportunity for a free meal in daylight if available. I usually work night shift and you wouldn't believe the wildlife I see even in suburban neighborhoods you wouldn't think would support more than a house cat (I knew of one bobcat who raised a litter of kittens under a backyard shed about 50 ft from the house in a crowded subdivision every year for several years). Concentrate on making your pen and coop as secure as you possibly can. This is a better solution than sitting out waiting for creatures to pick off and besides, if you create a void other creatures will fill it. Burning your brush pile does lessen the habitat for critters in your yard (either prey or predators) and the LGD will help as well but nothing can take the place of a secure enclosure.

 

[tfpets]

I just want to say I am sorry, it is heart wrenching to lose our pets this way, and not knowing for sure is awful. We finally figured out ours was a skunk after some time and many losses.
I wish you Good luck for a speedy resolution of your issues!
Tina/tfpets

 

[NancyDz]

Sorry for your loss. To me it sounds like a raccoon, I think I read somewhere that possum's start at the back of the chicken.. not the head. I know when I lost some in a similar way, it was a coon. As others have said.. predator proof your coop and run.

Garbage, cat and dog food, rodents... all those things attract possum, keep those things contained and unavailable, the possum will move on. They are transient and only stay as long as
the pickings are good...

Good luck!

Nancy

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Everyone has been so nice and supportive. I really appreciate that!

My chickens mostly free range. I have a few pens with open tops with Silkies in them and some in very secure tractors with rare breeds in those but my laying hens all free range. I haven't a large enough pen to put all those in, they stay in 2 side by side coops at night.
I just thought this as odd because it was during the day. All the chickens were all out free ranging. The Silkie pen is right next to this shed as well as an Araucana covered pen.
I keep wondering if it was a hawk as we do have them out here but the chicken was partially under an old tractor that is the size of a riding lawnmower. I didn't think a hawk would go under something like that to eat the chicken.
Any small animal could have come up from the woods and around the brush pile and gotten to the shed but would have to be small enough to go through the hog wire fence. No one would have seen it, though me and the neighbors are home.
This is the back of the shed and DH starting to burn that brush pile. This is the back of our land without much of any visibility from any homes.

 

[birdlover]

Don't underestimate hawks!!! I had a run in with them a few years back and was amazed at what they can and will do! This is a longish story (but interesting, I think) - warning you ahead of time.

My hens free ranged in my backyard (I'm in the suburbs) and we built their coop under the balcony (deck?). There's lots of room under it and we have latice covering the perimeter except for a large entrance way for the riding mower which my dh keeps under the balcony. Okay, so this hawk starts hanging around and the first time we were alerted by the chickens' squawks, my dh went down to check on them and found a hawk UNDER an outdoor table that we had under the balcony. Okay, so I hang bird netting over the entrance way, and a day or two later, the hawk flies under the balcony (despite the bird netting) and scares out my little black silkie and kills her. I found it eating her when I went to give them some treats. NOW I'M REALLY MAD!!! So, I take chicken wire and cover all openings to get under the balcony. A couple of days later, I come home from substitute teaching and, when I pull up in my car, I see a hawk UNDER THE BALCONY trying to get out. It heard my car coming and it was trying to make a quick get-away. I got under the balcony and wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do but while I was trying to figure it out, the hawk managed to find a little space to escape. I found my pretty buff orp pullet I'd only had a week, totally gutted and quite a bit eaten. It looked like she ran behind a freezer sized metal box I kept their feed in and the hawk managed to get her (mind you, she was between the metal box and the wall it was up against) and eat her right there. Now I was baffled and the only way I could see that it managed to get in were some spaces where the lattice work met the balcony. The hawk would have had to fly under and up over the lattice to get in!! I covered the spaces with chicken wire and it never came back. I don't know if I deterred it or it was so freaked out by it's near encounter with me that it didn't want to take a chance coming back. Soo, after this "book" I wrote, you can see where a determined, hungry hawk will, indeed, enter places you would think were off limits!! Good luck with your predator, whatever it is!!!