First predator

[BDutch]

I'm glad your one has a companion.

Yes, having two, gives bigblueteach time to think about the future without having to act soon (apart from making it safe).

Sorry for your losses Bigblueteach.
Do keep these 2 safe. A predator often comes back.

Leaving the bodies and just taking one is what I associate with coyotes. All my fox experience is "grab one and go".

Not where I live. We have no coyotes but the foxes often kill several chickens and take just 1. They tend to kill the whole henhouse if the chickens are locked in. It has a name too: surplus killing.

 

[Blue Andalusian]

What language is this? Ogre?

I have Broken Keys!

 

[Anon112]

Not where I live. We have no coyotes but the foxes often kill several chickens and take just 1. They tend to kill the whole henhouse if the chickens are locked in. It has a name too: surplus killing.

It's just awful.

When a fox makes off with a chicken (which has happened twice to me in the last 5 years), I can at least sort of make peace with it being part of life, the cycle of nature, etc.

But when you come out to find 5-10 lifeless bodies killed for seemingly no reason (which happened twice to me about 8 years ago), it's so upsetting. So wasteful.

A difference might be that the only predation I've had in the last 5 years has been opportunistic during the day while I had the chickens out and I was nearby. The foxes had to do a "grab and go".

 

[Kzp1020]

I lock my chickens up an hour before dark and release after 8 am. Most predators hunt at dawn,dusk or night to avoid detection.If your run wasn't covered and the predator got in and carried 2 off it was likely a fox or coyote.Dogs leave the bodies.Birds of prey can't carry chickens off and hawks don't hunt after dark

Do birds if prey really not carry chickens off?

 

[McChooky]

Do birds if prey really not carry chickens off?

Most just carry pieces of meat to a safe place to eat such as their nest Some chickens are too heavy .Nothings written in stone.There are exceptions