Well, after a pleasant 2 year spell with no predation whatsoever, it looks like my good luck has finally run out. I've lost 3 birds in the past 3 or 4 days; two at night, one in the day time. The first two were small, a 4 month capon and a Buttercup hen. All I found was feathers and the capon's crop. There was a small hole in my fence on two different sides; on one side, it appeared to have chewed through welded deer/garden fencing and on the other it pushed/bit through the chicken wire (this part of the fence separated the chickens from the garden only, it also had a garden/deer fence around the perimeter, but someone left one of the gates open). Today I lost a third, sometime during the day; a full grown Plymouth Rock hen. This time the carcass was there; eaten into from the lower side of the bird. It mostly munched on the gizzard and ate the meat off the leg, leaving the bone. Some of the feathers were plucked from the bird.
I found fox tracks the night the capon was taken; but isn't plucking far more characteristic of a feline predator?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
I found fox tracks the night the capon was taken; but isn't plucking far more characteristic of a feline predator?
Thanks for any help you can offer.