- May 25, 2012
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We've had chickens for a year, and haven't lost any chickens - until now.
We live out in the country, so we know there are coyotes around. Our original run is quite coyote-proof. We have never had any sign of any coyotes getting anywhere near our run though. We've even forgotten to close the door at times.
We got 30 new chicks this year and needed to expand the run. So, the run is now just aviary netting held up off the ground by various supports. The bottom of the netting is held to the ground by placing 2x4's on top. Obviously not ideal, but again, never had any evidence that anything ever tried to get in.
This morning, several of our chicks were outside their pen. Upon investigating, the netting was pushed in on one side. On the other side, it was pushed out and 2 of the 2x4's were several feet from where they had been. We think we are missing 3 chickens. Most of the feathers are outside the coop.
We also found a dead/mangled chicken IN the coop. It was missing it's head, all the feathers off it's chest, etc.
So, would a coyote go all the way into the coop to eat the head off a chicken and then leave it there? Are we dealing with something else?
We have barn cats, so it's not mice/rats. Small possibility our cats did it, but I don't think they are strong enough to push in the netting, and we've never seen them go after the chickens. Small possibility it's our neighbors dog, they have been interested enough in our chickens lately that we can no longer free range them (after peacefully co-existing for a year).
We are leaving on vacation tomorrow and need to secure our chickens before we go. The original run is too small for 40 chickens! (It's 8' x 20' or so).
We live out in the country, so we know there are coyotes around. Our original run is quite coyote-proof. We have never had any sign of any coyotes getting anywhere near our run though. We've even forgotten to close the door at times.
We got 30 new chicks this year and needed to expand the run. So, the run is now just aviary netting held up off the ground by various supports. The bottom of the netting is held to the ground by placing 2x4's on top. Obviously not ideal, but again, never had any evidence that anything ever tried to get in.
This morning, several of our chicks were outside their pen. Upon investigating, the netting was pushed in on one side. On the other side, it was pushed out and 2 of the 2x4's were several feet from where they had been. We think we are missing 3 chickens. Most of the feathers are outside the coop.
We also found a dead/mangled chicken IN the coop. It was missing it's head, all the feathers off it's chest, etc.
So, would a coyote go all the way into the coop to eat the head off a chicken and then leave it there? Are we dealing with something else?
We have barn cats, so it's not mice/rats. Small possibility our cats did it, but I don't think they are strong enough to push in the netting, and we've never seen them go after the chickens. Small possibility it's our neighbors dog, they have been interested enough in our chickens lately that we can no longer free range them (after peacefully co-existing for a year).
We are leaving on vacation tomorrow and need to secure our chickens before we go. The original run is too small for 40 chickens! (It's 8' x 20' or so).
