Saturday morning I found my 3/yo WPR Salena in the corner of the coop with her neck ripped out. There was blood smeared on the walls and in splotches and puddles around her. We buried her under a tree at the bottom of a hill next to where we buried our only other chicken that had ever died, Tempest. Both chickens were at the top of the pecking order for extended periods of time.
Sunday morning my dad informed me that at about 2:30 that morning, he had gone out to investigate some commotion in the pen. Relvet, my year old Buckeye hen, was growling at something in the coop. My dad said that he kept hearing scratching noises in the coop, but didn't see anything. He did notice that the eggs in the brooder boxes were smashed. I checked out the coop myself, and found a dead sparrow just inside the door. Sparrows get in there all the time to eat the feed(a problem which I remedied today by screwing a rubber sheet to the inside of the chicken door that they can push through.). This was strange though, the little wild bird had no marks on it. It was on the ground on its stomach, looking almost as if it had died there in peace, or it had died in mid-air and fallen.
Sunday evening I found and filled four gaps under the fence with packed down fist-sized rocks. One of the gaps was big enough for a mink, I believe.
Sunday night I set two live traps in the coop, baited with eggs. Only one of my girls was in the coop, one was behind some boards next to the fence, three were perched on the pen gate, two had escaped and come all the way up to the house to perch on the back porch. I moved the two in the pen to the porch, where they stayed.
This morning I hadn't caught anything in the traps, so I'm going to reset them in different places and bait them with some hopefully more attractive bait.
I'm unsure as to what killed Salena, but I'm hoping to catch it.
I'm going to attach a picture of her wound, but they are very graphic and bloody, so beware. If anyone has any ideas on what may have killed her, I'd love to know what you think.
Sunday morning my dad informed me that at about 2:30 that morning, he had gone out to investigate some commotion in the pen. Relvet, my year old Buckeye hen, was growling at something in the coop. My dad said that he kept hearing scratching noises in the coop, but didn't see anything. He did notice that the eggs in the brooder boxes were smashed. I checked out the coop myself, and found a dead sparrow just inside the door. Sparrows get in there all the time to eat the feed(a problem which I remedied today by screwing a rubber sheet to the inside of the chicken door that they can push through.). This was strange though, the little wild bird had no marks on it. It was on the ground on its stomach, looking almost as if it had died there in peace, or it had died in mid-air and fallen.
Sunday evening I found and filled four gaps under the fence with packed down fist-sized rocks. One of the gaps was big enough for a mink, I believe.
Sunday night I set two live traps in the coop, baited with eggs. Only one of my girls was in the coop, one was behind some boards next to the fence, three were perched on the pen gate, two had escaped and come all the way up to the house to perch on the back porch. I moved the two in the pen to the porch, where they stayed.
This morning I hadn't caught anything in the traps, so I'm going to reset them in different places and bait them with some hopefully more attractive bait.
I'm unsure as to what killed Salena, but I'm hoping to catch it.
I'm going to attach a picture of her wound, but they are very graphic and bloody, so beware. If anyone has any ideas on what may have killed her, I'd love to know what you think.
