- Oct 7, 2008
- 31
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Long, long story:
So, I usually let my chickens out of their coop in the early afternoon to wander around my yard and they always find their way back inside by sunset, in which I go and lock them in.
Two days ago, I go to lock them in and find that I'm missing one of my Sussex. I spend the next hour poring through the yard with a flashlight, with no luck on finding the missing chicken.
Morning yesterday, I search again and still don't see anything. Afternoon comes, and I suddenly find chicken feathers and intestines strewn across the lawn. (They weren't there a few hours before either!) I have a suspicion that it was my dog (a large German Shepard), but, thinking it was an isolated thing (the dogs have been with my chickens for the past year with no problems) I don't do anything.
Today, I let my chickens out as usual, and spent the day outdoors working on the yard and what not. The chickens are happy as usual, I feed the sunflower seeds, and everything seems great. I turn my back for five minutes, and lo and behold, now there's a dead Sussex on the lawn.
This time, she's got no wounds on her, is still warm, but her neck is floppy and probably broken. In anger, I lock my dog up and take the dead chicken away, mourning over the loss.
An hour later, I go outside to check on the other chickens. To my horror, I discover that my Red Comet is missing. I spend the next hour poring through the yard again with a flashlight, but find no sign of her.
Earlier in the afternoon, I saw two hawks circling up in the air. I'm pretty sure they were hawks since I heard the "Kaaww! Kaaww!" sound they make. We were outside near the chickens the whole day, so I didn't think to take any precautions.
However, I'm not sure whether the culprit are the hawks or my dog. I never did manage to find the body of the first Sussex, however the body of the second one was perfectly whole with no wounds whatsoever. No sign of the missing Red Comet either, no feathers, nothin'. If it was my dog, it is possibly she got to her before she killed the Sussex, since I remember wondering where the Red Comet had gone to a few minutes before I discovered the Sussex's body.
So my question is, is it possible for a hawk to snatch a full grown chicken bodily away? Or is the murderer my dog, who has expertly hidden the body somehow?
So, I usually let my chickens out of their coop in the early afternoon to wander around my yard and they always find their way back inside by sunset, in which I go and lock them in.
Two days ago, I go to lock them in and find that I'm missing one of my Sussex. I spend the next hour poring through the yard with a flashlight, with no luck on finding the missing chicken.
Morning yesterday, I search again and still don't see anything. Afternoon comes, and I suddenly find chicken feathers and intestines strewn across the lawn. (They weren't there a few hours before either!) I have a suspicion that it was my dog (a large German Shepard), but, thinking it was an isolated thing (the dogs have been with my chickens for the past year with no problems) I don't do anything.
Today, I let my chickens out as usual, and spent the day outdoors working on the yard and what not. The chickens are happy as usual, I feed the sunflower seeds, and everything seems great. I turn my back for five minutes, and lo and behold, now there's a dead Sussex on the lawn.
This time, she's got no wounds on her, is still warm, but her neck is floppy and probably broken. In anger, I lock my dog up and take the dead chicken away, mourning over the loss.
An hour later, I go outside to check on the other chickens. To my horror, I discover that my Red Comet is missing. I spend the next hour poring through the yard again with a flashlight, but find no sign of her.
Earlier in the afternoon, I saw two hawks circling up in the air. I'm pretty sure they were hawks since I heard the "Kaaww! Kaaww!" sound they make. We were outside near the chickens the whole day, so I didn't think to take any precautions.
However, I'm not sure whether the culprit are the hawks or my dog. I never did manage to find the body of the first Sussex, however the body of the second one was perfectly whole with no wounds whatsoever. No sign of the missing Red Comet either, no feathers, nothin'. If it was my dog, it is possibly she got to her before she killed the Sussex, since I remember wondering where the Red Comet had gone to a few minutes before I discovered the Sussex's body.
So my question is, is it possible for a hawk to snatch a full grown chicken bodily away? Or is the murderer my dog, who has expertly hidden the body somehow?
