Hi! I don't know if anybody can help, but hopefully we can end this mystery I have...
Last week, we noticed two of our chickens missing.
A small - very small - hole, was apparently dug under board and fence from the side of the coop's loose soil. Looking into the coop at the hole, though, it seemed like even so, that it was an extremely small squeeze to get through at the bottom of the fence. We covered that hole up simply putting the dirt back in place, and a cement block.
A day or two later, our red (she's been w/us since the beginning, and the teacher for some of our younger ones) was gone. I looked around for any other holes (I think there was another small hole near that same spot) and did find one in the back, simply pulled up, indention in the dirt, allowing a small critter to get under the fence.
I sealed that up, putting block and other objects in its place. I could have missed this spot the first time around too.
Since yesterday, I put a chain and lock on the coop door.
Over the past months, I guess I may have been too distracted or nonchalant to notice that our chickens had not really been giving us many eggs. Once or twice, I thought, ok, maybe production will pick up. With winter coming on, we really have no big amount of eggs stored up or available.
Could this have been a two-legged, thus human, creature, quietly nabbing our chickens and eggs? Did they go through the door and/or make the holes to distract us from really securing the coop?
Discouraging about that is that we've had no problems giving away eggs when we've been blessed with them in abundance. Now, we don't feel safe enough to leave the home or things alone.
There have been no visible signs of feathers scattered all over the place nor are there any signs of blood splatter nor severed beaks.
Or was this a four-legged creature?
No noise (that we heard). Are there critters that can get in there, nab a chicken or two without feeling the need to eat and rip it up then, and then squeeze back out of the hole it came in, with the chicken(s) in its mouth??
There are many coyotes around. In fact, seem in abundance lately. A howling-fest the other week.
Skunks can be in the area too. Hawks often fly over our 'little' New Mexico border town.
Last week, we noticed two of our chickens missing.
A small - very small - hole, was apparently dug under board and fence from the side of the coop's loose soil. Looking into the coop at the hole, though, it seemed like even so, that it was an extremely small squeeze to get through at the bottom of the fence. We covered that hole up simply putting the dirt back in place, and a cement block.
A day or two later, our red (she's been w/us since the beginning, and the teacher for some of our younger ones) was gone. I looked around for any other holes (I think there was another small hole near that same spot) and did find one in the back, simply pulled up, indention in the dirt, allowing a small critter to get under the fence.
I sealed that up, putting block and other objects in its place. I could have missed this spot the first time around too.
Since yesterday, I put a chain and lock on the coop door.
Over the past months, I guess I may have been too distracted or nonchalant to notice that our chickens had not really been giving us many eggs. Once or twice, I thought, ok, maybe production will pick up. With winter coming on, we really have no big amount of eggs stored up or available.
Could this have been a two-legged, thus human, creature, quietly nabbing our chickens and eggs? Did they go through the door and/or make the holes to distract us from really securing the coop?
Discouraging about that is that we've had no problems giving away eggs when we've been blessed with them in abundance. Now, we don't feel safe enough to leave the home or things alone.
There have been no visible signs of feathers scattered all over the place nor are there any signs of blood splatter nor severed beaks.
Or was this a four-legged creature?
No noise (that we heard). Are there critters that can get in there, nab a chicken or two without feeling the need to eat and rip it up then, and then squeeze back out of the hole it came in, with the chicken(s) in its mouth??
There are many coyotes around. In fact, seem in abundance lately. A howling-fest the other week.
Skunks can be in the area too. Hawks often fly over our 'little' New Mexico border town.
