Hawk killed all 47 chickens in an hour!

[Bartlett Farms]

File a police report. Let them talk to the neighbor. That is was i did. I lost 85 at one time.

 

[lutz123]

First, I'm so sorry. That must have been devastating!

Just curious as to why no one is thinking mink or weasel? I thought that they typically do kills in this manner.

I agree that I would absolutely be careful not to accuse the dog unless you have concrete evidence. Also, I would call the local extension office for advice. You can describe the kill to them and they may be able to tell you about other similar incidences in your area - for comparison only, not that this animal has attacked before. They are very experienced with farm animals in your area and the predator threats that are common - and are always very happy to help!

Edit to add: It also might not be a bad idea to just get a generic trap and bait it with a dead chicken and see what you catch.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I believe minks and weasels eat the heads - they don't leave untouched bodies lying around.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Not true, usually they will cut the chicken's jugular and lap up the blood leaving the body intact. They may come back for it later but usually don't immediately eat much of anything.

 

[Snegurochka]

I'm so sorry for what happened. I know it's selfish, but I wouldn't warn the neighbor about it unless you're confident your neighbor is a responsible person. After all, if you warn them, and later you have to shoot the dog, they will automatically know who's responsible, and if they're crazy they can make your life miserable. I've heard way too many horror stories on this forum. If you can figure out a way to mention to them that a dog killed your chickens, but not necessarily their dog, and how upset about it you are, that might work. Hopefully if it was theirs, they'll be smart enough to connect the dots on their own.

 

[Britney]

I have been trying to keep up with this thread...All that I can think of is the time and the money that we are constantly putting into our coops to keep our pets safe. We have a predator light that goes on that shines directly into our bedroom window. I can not begin to count the times that we ran into our back yard with our riffles in our hands wearing bedroom slippers and a robe that we keep above our riffles. Most of the time it is only rabbits that trigger the lights. All that we can do as a group is help each other and educate each other and hope and pray. It is so sad that at night our chickens are so blinded and helpless. I hate waking up to dead birds. It has been so long since I had to deal with it. All that I can say is good luck to all of us farmers and do what you feel is the right thing at the right time because as we all know there is no turning back the clock.

 

[emvickrey]

Three or four years ago we where loosing a chicken or two on a regular basis and DH followed the feather trail to a neighbor's house down the road. He confronted them about it and said it wasn't their dog. So DH had them follow the feather trail that went to their back yard and there laid dead mutilated chickens. He was informed that if his dogs are seen in our yard again they will be shot. It wasn't long and all the dogs where gone. We found out they where killing another neighbors dogs too and he kiled them all. Saved us the trouble. We hate to have to shoot any animal but when our animals are in danger we do what has to be done. Warning shots first. If they come back it's the last time.

It's allowed in our area. Other states and counties have different rules. We can even charge the owner of the dog for the cost of the chickens.

 

[emvickrey]

Quote:
Not true, usually they will cut the chicken's jugular and lap up the blood leaving the body intact. They may come back for it later but usually don't immediately eat much of anything.

Possums eat the heads too. Weasels drink the blood. A raccoon will rip it to shreads. Birds of prey will fly off with it. A coon can actually open the door to your coop or pen if you don't lock it. Found that out the hard way. We now have locks.

 

[chickened]

My money is on a weasel or mink. A dog is a slasher they rip and tear hence "dog teeth or canines". If it were dogs and more than one there would be dismemberment (carnal instinct) as they pull and tear from each other.

 

[rebecca100]

A hawk will kill and leave. BUT it is NOT typical. I had a mostly enclosed pen with a section of top open and the rest covered containing about 30 barred rock and EE chicks about 3 weeks old. A hawk got in there and killed 17 of them. I heard the racket and looked out and saw the dang thing. I ran outside screaming for dh. It tried to fly when I ran outside and got hung up in the wire. DH grabbed a cage and used a stick to unhang it and knock it in the cage. We then called fish and game to come get it. The officer id'd it as a red tailed hawk. We also showed him the damage. He said then that it was unusual for a hawk to kill that way, but in this case there was no doubt whatsoever that it had done it. I was shocked at the carnage it had caused. It had looked as if it had killed for the joy of killing and hadn't eaten a thing(of course I scared it off before it could!). I kinda wonder if it was killing them all because they were such easy targets?