Half the Flock Lost With No Sign of Entry

[yolkie]

Last night at some point something got into my coop and took 6 of my 13 hens! I woke up this morning to 7 of them huddled in the corner, this is the biggest loss I have had yet! My questions is: Does anyone know of a predator that would either scale a 6 foot fence that is buried 1 foot down into the ground, and somehow take all the bodies with it? Or has anyone ever heard of an owl doing this? It happened at night so I can't imagine it would be a hawk. I checked and all of my chicken wire fencing is intact except for a small hole between where the fencing meets, but it's only the size of an egg. No bodies were left behind, in fact I didn't even find feathers of the buff orpington that got taken. I will be setting my traps tonight, but if anyone has input on what I should be looking for that would be great!

 

[De Wet]

Last night at some point something got into my coop and took 6 of my 13 hens! I woke up this morning to 7 of them huddled in the corner, this is the biggest loss I have had yet! My questions is: Does anyone know of a predator that would either scale a 6 foot fence that is buried 1 foot down into the ground, and somehow take all the bodies with it? Or has anyone ever heard of an owl doing this? It happened at night so I can't imagine it would be a hawk. I checked and all of my chicken wire fencing is intact except for a small hole between where the fencing meets, but it's only the size of an egg. No bodies were left behind, in fact I didn't even find feathers of the buff orpington that got taken. I will be setting my traps tonight, but if anyone has input on what I should be looking for that would be great!

what about a bobcat

 

[annettemb]

Fox will scale a 6+ foot fence and take birds with them!!!!

 

[centrarchid]

How big / old are hens?

If very small, raccoons will sometimes eat all leaving few if any remains. This seldom happens unless chicks are victims.

Foxes, red or grey, are prone to take multiple victims and remove them sometimes doing so leaving minimal sign. Your fence may not be an effective barrier to such as already mentioned.



Move flock before tonight if pen cannot be effectively covered. Look closely for access points you may have missed.

 

[jellybellyx6]

Last year we watched about six foxes scale our six foot fence and catch one chicken each and jump back over like it was nothing. It took a week for them to take our flock. We also had chicks in as wire hanging cage that had 1x2 openings and a raccoon reached in there a and grabbèd them l like it was nothing and left no trace of them at all. I would guess you have a few predators that were drawn in by an animal such as an owl making the first kill and leaving the remains not far from the coop for other animals to find. Our group of foxes came back several times in one night to get more.

 

[yolkie]

I don't think a bobcat, we live in eastern MA and they are only supposed to live in the mountains around here.
Upon closer examination I did find grey fur on the edge of the fencing so I feel like raccoon or fox, I just never thought a fox would climb a fence like that, we do have a lot of them around here though. Whatever it was took several different ages: all three of my 3 year old hens, two of my 4 month old pullets and one of my 1 month old pullets. The youngest ones were caged separately within the coop so the other four are still safe. My coop has a door, which I usually keep open because it is hot, but tonight I will lock them in and set some traps. Thank you for the input everyone!