Had a good scare this morning.

[sawilliams]

woke up to 3 dead birds in my yard. They are all chick size and not fully feathered. So i run down to my coop where i have 11 8w pullets with my flock and at first I don't see them. I finally locate then all 11 safe and sound so i check the garage even though there is no logical enterance for an animal and the 6 in the brooder are safe. Ok so mine are safe what are these? I'm guessing one of my cats got to have some fun last night but ive never had more then 1 dead animal in the yard and rarely do they get the birds so I'm thinking that cat might have had some help from another animal along the way. I believe only 1 of the 4 cats was out last night but the neighbors have cats too. So Posey of me is worried what animal other then cats might have left these prizes for us as only 1 was partly eaten the other 2 were just dead which is more typical of a cat. But 3 birds? Did she manage to get a nest? They arent that small and look like they could have been at least flying age

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Most likely a cat or coon

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Are there any prints around where you found it?

 

[sawilliams]

Are there any prints around where you found it?

No it was in the grass where my girls usually play with thier furry or feathered toys.

 

[Julie SC]

looks like Blue Jay or Scrub Jay. Maybe crows pulled them out of the nest.

 

[sourland]

Immature jay of some species. Primary suspect is your cat, but crows may also be the culprits.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Any wild predator would have eaten them. Maybe their nest fell and a cat got them. They are too small to fly. Maybe something chased them from their nest. Very sad.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings sawilliams,

Those are baby Scrub Jays. Their parents are very protective of them and hide the nests well. The chick looks very thin, perhaps one of the parents did not return to the nest for some reason. The nest was then abandoned, and after hunger set in, the chicks most likely jumped out instinctively. Being too young they died from shock, and the one was made into a partial snack. I've seen this here, as we have many Scrub Jays on the property.

Remove the bodies, so that the chickens don't peck or eat them. Dead birds and other animal carcasses, are a common cause of life threatening enteritis and other diseases in chickens.


God Bless

 

[sawilliams]

I did remove the notes as soon as i confirmed it wasn't any of my chicks. We haven't quite been on this property a full year so I'm not sue of the nests around here as this is our first season for baby bird hatches my property before was in the city with far fewer trees. The cats have so far most brought us moles and gophers though we did have one not dead bird that a cat snuck into the house. I'm pretty sure you're right ut was probably just a glory find that the cats brought in. It was just very surprising and at little startling at first.

 

[rum3002576]

Did you get the high winds last night? We had terrible winds and I seen 3 nest that hit the ground