Help! Can someone please help me identify the predator that killed over 1/2 of my flock

[KettermanHillCoop]

I'm surprised that your dogs didn't carry on if it were a fox. The M.O. is typical but the lack of your dogs having any reaction seems rather peculiar...

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you. We do have an enclosed run but they have scratched the area down to dirt and I feel bad leaving them locked up. I appreciate what you are saying but I honestly would rather not have chickens if I have to keep them locked up. I expect to lose a few here and there and am ok with that knowing my chickens lived a happy life but 6 out of 10 is just devastating. It has been 2 years since we started and we have lost 2 to predators, obviously upsetting too but I can live with that.

Convert that run to deep litter. That will give them a healthy environment when you DO HAVE TO pen them up. The litter will attract all sorts of beneficial insects and worms, as well as beneficial bacteria and fungi to build strong digestive and immune systems. The beneficials also work to keep pathogens in check.

 

[Mossy500]

Could be a cat/s.

 

[keesmom]

A long time ago our first flock of 6 was killed by a fox at noon at this time of year. Fast forward several years and coyotes wiped out a flock of 16 on Memorial Day. They have young to feed and are out at all times of day and night.

I am surprised your dogs didn't bark. My old dog (my avatar) wasn't exactly a guard type but he certainly let me know when something was wrong with the chickens. Of course being a Keeshond he tended to be barky. Unfortunately we weren't home during the attacks I mentioned above.

Maybe I need another dog.

 

[B&B FarmsSc]

A long time ago our first flock of 6 was killed by a fox at noon at this time of year. Fast forward several years and coyotes wiped out a flock of 16 on Memorial Day. They have young to feed and are out at all times of day and night.

I am surprised your dogs didn't bark. My old dog (my avatar) wasn't exactly a guard type but he certainly let me know when something was wrong with the chickens. Of course being a Keeshond he tended to be barky. Unfortunately we weren't home during the attacks I mentioned above.

Maybe I need another dog.

 

[B&B FarmsSc]

From experience....id guess 'yote' or fox. The missing babies kinda signal a stash meal hauled off and the pics youve shown are pretty indicative of the live kill scenes. Been a trapper for over 20 years...the somewhat circular "kill" zone is pretty obvious for canine. Id guess wild from the missing ladies

 

[New2chickchicks]

I'm surprised that your dogs didn't carry on if it were a fox. The M.O. is typical but the lack of your dogs having any reaction seems rather peculiar...

The only thing I can think of why would not have barked is if it was too early and they were still sleeping. The other thing I was thinking about is that if the attack happened where the bodies/feather piles were found only the pile of buff silkie feathers with the shell less egg would have been completely in their view, the others were in our neighbors yard and they would have only had a view of them if they were outside.

 

[Sylie]

I am hoping someone can help me identify the predator that took/killed 6 of my 10 chickens today. The coop run door was opened at 5 am this morning. About 12:45 I took a walk back to the coop to collect eggs when I noticed some feathers and a shell less egg on the ground. I recognized the feathers as one of our smaller buff silkies and thought a hawk had been by to take her. The coop had 2 of my girls in the nest boxes so I called the other girls, 2 more came running. There were no feathers in or around the coop or run. I took a walk into my neighbor's yard and noticed a lot of feathers and our golden laced wyandotte's body. I thought I must have been mistaken about the buff silkie so started looking for the other 5 missing chickens. I walked a little further and found more feathers and our black silkies body. I walked to the front of our neighbor's house, about an acre and a half away and found more feathers and one of our polish chickens bodies. There were other spots of feathers but no birds. We have had a hawk attack before and I heard it happening from inside my house the blue Jay's and crows were going crazy, it was a small buff silkie pullet and it's neck was severed and it had talon marks, it was so loud outside though it could not be ignored. I have 2 dogs that will bark if there is another leashed dog walking by but we never have strays in our neighborhood and if there was a dog in my yard the dogs would have barked. I heard nothing, no odd bird noises and the dogs have not made a peep all day. We have hawks at our house everyday and have only had that one issue with the smaller pullet, and again I did not hear the other birds making a ruckus like they do when a hawk is around. There was also no real visible damage to chickens bodies except for the polish which appeared to have a bloodied behind, a puncture to the chest and some bruising. I did not see blood on the other two bodies I found. I still have not found the other 3 missing chickens. I am at a loss for what could have done this and would like to protect my remaining 4 from whatever this creature is so any insight would be greatly appreciated. We live in CT so our main predators are hawks, skunks, fox, coyote, Fisher cats, raccoons, opossum. I have seen fox, skunks and possum near us but we are not in the woods and I have not seen anything regularly or recently. Our wyandotte was a pretty large bird and so was our Easter egger who is missing, the other missing are a smaller buff silkie and another polish. They are often in our neighbor's yard so I am not sure if they were dragged or just over there when they were killed but my guess is at least 2 of them were dragged or they spread out when being threatened by something. The bodies were stiff when I found them but not covered in flies. Also a couple weeks ago when I went out to close the coop, a huge owl was on a tree above the coop and flew away when it heard me, it was dark so I didn't see it but I heard and felt it. I hope this is enough info for someone to figure out what did this so we can prevent future attacks.

I am so sorry for your loss, that's awful. My guess is fox or coyote for reasons already stated, they have kits/puppies to feed and planned to come back for the birds they could not carry at one time.
As for not penning the chickens up, I understand that. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't either. Is there a way that you can fence in a very large section of yard? (or even the whole yard) So it wouldn't be like penning them up.

 

[lazy gardener]

Electric fencing would be a good option. I've used Premier 1 electric poultry net fencing. It is moveable and the longer length will give you a run that is 40 x 40'.

 

[New2chickchicks]

Thank you all for your responses it has been very helpful. I spoke with the boy next door and he did notice the feathers this morning while waiting for the bus, they are outside by 7:45 so it must have happened at dusk, which also would explain why my dogs did not bark...they were still sound asleep. We usually do not open the coop until around 9 but my husband went fishing this morning and grabbed some eggs for his fishing buddy so just left the door open. I am pretty confident it was a fox, they are very common around here and although I have never seen one in my yard, the guy down the street with chickens sees them all the time and I have seen them myself within .5 miles of my house I noticed a faint skunk smell near our shed which is next to our coop and was wondering if there was a skunk living under our shed, as I was reading about different predators, I read that red fox urine has a faint skunk smell. I went back early evening after I read it and the odor had already faded so I believe a fox was around.this morning. The other 3 missing chickens also did not return to the coop at night so I think they were killed and dragged off, one of them was a fairly large easter egger chicken so I think a smaller animal can be ruled out.