Help please.

[StevieNacole]

Im trying to figure out what killed our 3-4 week old chicks. We had 10. 3 missing, 5 found dead and 2 still alive. The ones found dead were still in the coop. One had a small patch of feathers missing on its chest, looked like something bite it, but wasnt very deep... a few had, I think small bite marks and the others, I couldnt find anything...

Whatever it was, it had to have been small. Looked like it might have crawled under the fence and dug into the chicken house. but it was a very small opening.

Rats? Mice? I have no idea. Any suggestions would be nice, Thanks

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Where were the bite marks? Sounds like either a rat or possum.

 

[StevieNacole]

chest, stomach and sides.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Was anything eaten?

 

[StevieNacole]

It looked like one had a a small hole in its chest, but it wasnt very big. also, three were missing never feathers or anything...

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Sounds like a rat got the missing ones, but more like a possum for the dead ones. Probably just one or the other though, most likely a rat.

I'm so sorry for your loss, and I hope that your others are okay. You might want to bring them inside in a kennel or something tonight, just to trick the predator and make sure it doesn't think it can come back. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[StevieNacole]

I think youre right and I am definantly bringing them in. Thank you so much.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Glad I could help. Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens has a lot of info on predators and protecting your chickens if you want more info. It is my favorite chicken keeping book.