Flock attacked by "something" roosters and hens lefty for dead

[mossyroo]

I agree on the dog angle. When I was young we had a dog that got in the coop and killed about 100 young chickens. Dad killed the dog.

 

[kubotafoot]

How do u post questiona?

Either go to start a new thread or reply.

 

[kubotafoot]

Hen still continues to do well. Rooster is getting stronger, too, but unable to hold up neck on his own. Can turn left and right and once you raise head to a certain height, be can go on, but can't get movement started on his own. Suggestions?
Walked fence line and small hole on one side.....Thinking weasel........Found last missing body in back pasture completely disemboweled and torn apart.. Birds have not beed out of barn since attack.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Sounds about right. Weasels are nasty and mean creatures. They will rip them apart, drink some of the blood and leave all behind. From our dog attack experiences...and there have been a few, the dog takes the dead chickens with her.

DH has an English setter. Of course I know it's her nature, so whenever she has attacked my chickens, although I am not happy, the anger I feel is from the situation, not from her.

Anyways, she has always partially buried the chickens she killed. Maybe because she knows I will be mad, maybe because she is waiting for DH to get home to show him what good prize she has acquired.

 

[kubotafoot]

Any helpful suggestions on the care or culling of the rooster who is unable to lift his head on his own right now? Any experience with birds regaining strength and muscle over time? I am willing to put in the extra effort, but if it is going to be worthless in the end as no one has had a recovery from this type of trauma, I'd rather end his life now and not put him through the work, either.He seems to want to lie on his back!!! Will this mess up his crop/digestion? If I position him on his feet and he sets, he stays there for a moment or two (unless he falls asleep from exaustive feeding time) and then flips himself over to his back where he is like a turtle and stays there. Any time I move him to another position, he fights it and "goes turtle" again.... Thoughts? Help? Thanks!!

 

[Colle]

You could try to put him in a small basket with some towels in it so he can't turn around.

 

[kubotafoot]

Kept him alive and getting stronger day by day until last night. Still was unable to lify head to eat and would have to be hand fed for months as his injury was neurological... Gave him peace last night by killing. Thanks to those of you who had suggestions. He is now at peace.

 

[Outpost JWB]

So sorry it had to end that way, but you did what was best. Did you ever find the predator?

 

[kubotafoot]

Not yet, but tracks of late show weasel. Making barn ground level as secure as possible and praying for the best. Thanks for asking.

 

[Halimah]

We must have experienced an unusual bobcat then. He or she wiped out 3 ducks and 8 chickens while we were away in the evening two nights ago. All was quiet when we got home, so we didn't expect anything. Then my husband woke up to a sound, not the usual loud death cry and not the usual clucking one hears when a hen falls off a roost. He went up to the gated chicken yard and shined his light on the perches and there were NO chickens. Then he noticed that the bobcat was 5 feet away from him. He'd shut the inner sliding door to the coop, preventing the bobcat from going inside this time, maybe to retrieve his killed fowl. He shooed it away, whereupon it surprised him by leaping up into a persimmon tree, then to another persimmon tree also growing in the chicken yard and from there leaped to the corner of the barn where it clung briefly, then jumped to the ground outside the chicken fence and took off into the redwoods.None of the fowl were dragged away. Seemed like wanton killing. We could see that some of the fowl had chunks taken out of them, and the big white duck's neck was gone. We decided to offer the carcasses to this predator by placing it outside our fenced property, but so far, 24 hours later, the big meal waiting for the cat has been declined.

We've been raising chickens for 38 years in the same location, and never lost a chicken to a bobcat--racoons yes, bobcats no. This was a shocking experience, to say the least. We so missed the sound of our gorgeous Araucana rooster crowing this morning.