Getting hard to continue.

[7263255]

We lost our little hen . Some animal took her right through the chain link fence. She was our first to start laying and was a sweet little girl.
Shure makes it hard to keep going knowing we may lose more.

 

[MohicanHase]

So sorry!! But keep your head up. do you know what got her? once you do you can take preventive measures against it taking another.

 

[7263255]

really don't know what it was. My wife had just checked on them and we left them out in the pen while we went to vote. Only gone 20 min or so .
When we returned I went to put them to bed. We have a small coop inside a chain link dog pen. We lock them in at dusk after our first great loss of five. It was just after sunset when we returned and I found the evidence of the event . Not pretty!
Not giving up but really hard to see my wife in tears. They are her babies.

 

[MohicanHase]

do you have trail cams? or live traps? I would want to catch whatever did that befor it strikes again.

 

[welasharon]

You need to run hardware cloth a couple feet up the side of the fence at the bottom. This prevents animals from reaching in and grabbing them. You also have to make sure they can't get in through and gaps. So sorry you are dealing with this. It is hard.

 

[JensChickies]

Maybe you can try an electric fence. I have heard those work well.

 

[RonP]

Beware, whatever found your birds will likely be back now.

Do everything to protect them.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I am so sorry for your loss. I know how horrible it feels to find the remains of a chicken who was attacked by a predator. It was probably a raccoon. I have tried to make my chicken run a fortress after my losses. We put metal siding 3 feet high and dug it into the ground to help prevent digging and climbing. The upper part of the fencing is welded wire, and we even decided to cover the top with welded wire,just in case a raccoon does find a way to climb up the side and to keep out raptors.

 

[7263255]

Thanks everyone for the advise and ideas. It is hard to deal with and especially after we raised em up and saw the first eggs. But we go on , learn from these mistakes, and try to improve the way we are doing things. This has been a great tool so far (BYC) and I am glad to have such experience available to draw from.