flock wiped out

[quaasi]

something got into our coop last night and slaughtered all but two hens who managed to escape somehow
i’m guessing it was a raccoon since the hatch on the back of the coop that opens and allows the birds into their pen was broken as if something heavy but able to climb and small enough to fit through a chicken sized door had been on it, like a fat raccoon
im currently out of state so this is all being relayed to me but i’m heartbroken, it just killed thirty birds and left them there
our golden laced roo was dead when he was found but his columbian wyandotte brother was still alive somehow, with a lot of back and tail feathers pulled out and of course some gnarly injuries from that... my roommate treated his injuries as best as they could but he passed a few hours later
today feels like a dream and my brain is having trouble wrapping around the fact that thirty beloved pets were just annihilated in one fell swoop

i’m going to start baiting traps when i get back, is there any kind of food that you guys have had the most luck with when trapping raccoons?
attaching a photo of the two surviving hens, because i love them

 

[chicknmania]

Sounds weird that a raccoon would kill thirty birds and not eat any. Sounds more like a mink to me as far as all the slaughter.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so very sorry!
Are your two survivors inside where they will be safe? Whoever it was, will be back! Will you be home soon? The coop needs fixing, so no critters can get into it ever again, before any birds move back into it.
Live traps with a dead bird, or canned cat food, may work. Only trap if you will then shoot the varmits caught!!!
A game camera would be good, to ID who's coming around. Any tracks or fur left? Raccoons or weasels could do this...
Mary

 

[quaasi]

I'm so very sorry!
Are your two survivors inside where they will be safe? Whoever it was, will be back! Will you be home soon? The coop needs fixing, so no critters can get into it ever again, before any birds move back into it.
Live traps with a dead bird, or canned cat food, may work. Only trap if you will then shoot the varmits caught!!!
A game camera would be good, to ID who's coming around. Any tracks or fur left? Raccoons or weasels could do this...
Mary

they are absolutely inside, they’ve been given fresh food and water and i’ve been told that they have been eating and drinking so thankfully they feel good enough to do that - they’re currently being kept in my dogs old kennel in the kitchen
i’m not going to be back until sometime in the spring, so it would have been more accurate to say that my housemates are going to start setting traps (and yeah i’m sure they’re going to start eliminating any raccoons/minks/foxes that get caught)
i’m not sure if there were any tracks at the time :c i can ask my roommate to go out and look around

the coop and pen are due for an upgrade so i think in the spring it’ll be time to build a new one, but idk at this point should i even get more chickens? this has been such a hard blow

 

[quaasi]

actually, an update: the java passed, maybe from shock/stress? or some kind of internal injury... the fayoumi is all alone now, and she was already incredibly flighty and unfriendly before this all happened, i hope she’ll be ok since she seems unharmed but i just
don’t know ugh

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

I sorry about your tragic loss! May the Lord comfort you during this very difficult time. I hope the lone chicken will be okay.

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry!
Your Fayoumi is showing her superior survival traits, in escaping this disaster. Solitary chickens aren't happy chickens, but adding birds to a dog crate in the kitchen won't work either, so she may need a new home.
Mary

 

[chicknmania]

Tell your roommates to get her a mirror in the interim, til you can figure out what to do. If you're not coming back til spring, and they're not going to get any more chickens, it should be ok after a couple of weeks. She will be lonely, so yeah, get her a mirror, a stuffed animal chicken, or another friend.

 

[chicknmania]

Sadly, if you're going to have chickens, you're going to have losses, eventually. However, every loss is a learning experience, and you do learn. We've had poultry for 15 years. I wish I knew then (when I first started with them) what I know now. But, that's the way it goes. Please don't feel like you can't get any more. They'll continue to bring you happiness and entertainment. It's rare to have a mass slaughter like that, imo. Oh, it could have been a fox too..sometimes they do that. I still don't think it was a raccoon.

 

[quaasi]

Tell your roommates to get her a mirror in the interim, til you can figure out what to do. If you're not coming back til spring, and they're not going to get any more chickens, it should be ok after a couple of weeks. She will be lonely, so yeah, get her a mirror, a stuffed animal chicken, or another friend.

they’re going to put one of these horizontally up against the kennel so hopefully that helps ;; i’m not sure if the stuffed animal chicken will fool her but they’re going to try that too! thanks for the suggestions, ideally i’d like for her to have more friends but it’s almost winter in upstate ny and we wouldn’t be able to get chicks
it couldn't hurt to check and just see if anyone needs to rehome some birds, or if anyone would be willing to take her in