Fox or human?

[Filmgeek]

Hello,

I just moved to NH a little over a month ago and was given four young chickens (not quite chicks, but not grown up yet). My partner and I grew to be very attached to them and we were so excited because they were starting to grow up (nesting).

We went away for the weekend and thought we had the barn secure, but when we came back they were gone. All that was there was a pile of feathers and a tiny bit of blood.

Now, at first I thought it was a fox or a fisher cat that got them, but then I started to think about it and really...there was hardly any blood.

I'm new to raising chickens and this experience has been absolutely devastating.

I guess my question is, could a fox really do that? Eat four whole chickens and leave nothing but a pile of feathers and a tiny bit of blood? Or do I have to be worried about more sinister, two-legged creatures?

 

[CMV]

If you hear the sound of hooves assume it's horses, not zebras. You have a four-legged predator, not a two-legged one.

Sorry for your losses.

 

[huntercf]

I agree with CMV, two-legged creatures would just pick them up, no feathers, no blood. Many smaller predators with smaller prey don't leave alot of blood around because they kill the prey by breaking their neck or biting it. Then they haul it off to a safe area to eat or back to their young (it is that time of year). Sorry for your loss, don't get discouraged. Sometimes life deals painfull lessons so we will learn from them.

 

[dieselgrl48]

Fox will make several kill's in a night.They usualy don't leave their prey behind.They wiil often take and bury for later eating.Racoon's will usualy eat them where they are.I just lost 4 beautiful Millie Fluer weekend to coon's and they ate in coop.I have to deal with racoon,coyote,fox and possibly mink here.I just trapped a coon 2 night's ago and reset again tonight.I watched a HUGE fox one morn at 10am run from field next door grab one of my HUGE crested ducks by the neck and make off with it in less than one minute.It's never ending when you have poltry or water fowl trying to keep them safe and be able to enjoy them at same time.And wow we have BOBCAT here too now YIKES.Hope they don't come this way.

 

[1_FnkyFrm]

Maybe a coon..

 

[Filmgeek]

Thank you everyone.

I guess I was almost hoping it was a human because then there would be a chance that they were still alive...or at least there would be the possibility of me being able to catch them and call the police on them.

A fox or a raccoon, well...you can't really call the cops on them.

Before I was given these chickens, I really thought they would just be kind of dumb and lacking of any sort of personality. I couldn't believe how wrong I was and I named one Doc Brown because she had crazy white feathers sticking out of the top of her head that looked like Doc Brown's hair in Back to the Future. They would respond to my voice (when I would visit them several times a day I'd go, "ChickENS!" or "Hey kids!") and they would even sometimes let me pet them. They were such a joy to be around and I miss them terribly.

I'm definitely not going to give up, though. I'm a bit nervous, but I have definitely learned from this horrible incident. My partner and I have been browsing the coops section of this site and we found one that we think we would like to model ours' after. We're going to try to make the thing as secure as we possibly can without having turrets.

It was very hard for me to look at the closed barn door today when I was working in the garden.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
We have bobcat in most of the state they have always been here most folks just do not interact with them.

For the OP you want to build a really secure coop / run /pen. If you have wildlife you are providing them with a possible food source, there is only one way to stop preds most do not want to have to deal with them is this way, if you have preds free range is out of the question unless you stay withy them or invest in livestock dogs . Me I just trap hard during trapping season and knock the predators down to where they do not bother my birds. I work for more then a few farms down this way doing the same thing . I just re homed a "mean" rooster the other day he did not seem as mean after a coupla days of 30 + hens LOL