HELP! Something killed 20 of my hens in one night!!!

[tcstoehr]

>> but the entire coop being massacred just leaves me feeling very unsettled and uncomfortable.

We hear you loud and clear.
Good luck with that camera. That's about the best way to figure out what actually did this. Without an actual sighting or some video evidence, even an expert can't be sure.

 

[chickienuggers]

You can order a super game cam from amazon for like 50 bucks. It takes really good video and is motion activated. We have one and it is really helpful. We have coyotes, bear and fox on our property and the neighbors dog too.

 

[chickienuggers]

By the way I am soo sorry for your loss! It is devastating to lose your whole flock for no reason at all! How horrible!

 

[ChickGuy]

It was most likely a mink.Mink are known to kill animals for the fun of it as shown in your pictures.This coming from a 15 year trapper.

 

[welasharon]

I read the predator thread a lot before I got my chickens and decided to build my entire pen using hardware cloth...even on the top. We have had nothing get in to them but that doesn't help if you forget to close them in. I feel bad for you. Sometimes I panic and run out to make sure I have closed them up! It really doesn't matter what got them as it could be the same problem later or it could be another predator. I just planned for them all....except bears. If a bear comes along I will have a problem. good luck

 

[RJSorensen]

Around here, if that were to happen, I would suspect a Raccoon. They like to kill all they can find and then start to take the bodies back to their 'hide'. So most likely either someone/something or daylight interrupted the removal of the rest of the dead birds. We have had two occurrences like this in the valley in the past week. One was fancy pheasants and the other chickens, 30 or so each time, with just a few missing. In my experience your photo looks like a coon got them.

Other varmints as noted prior can and will kill all they find, but the head and neck damage gives the nod to a Raccoon. I am so sorry for your loss, and that such a simple onetime error can lead to such heartache and personal trauma. I hope you get back on the horse so to speak, and rebuild your flock. They are such a joy to own and watch, I enjoy them immensely.

Anyway best to you as you go on from here, life is just hard at times.

Regards,

RJ

 

[ChickGuy]

A coon will only kill what it can eat.

edited by staff

 

[JeanR]

Most coons will kill every bird that moves, and eat or take just one. A Bobcat will take just one, and return daily for its next one, if they are not protected. If a Raccoon family,. young ones, they will take a least one apiece===and may come back before the next night or DAY! Trap them and never release!

Grizzly Bears eat the entire bird, lost 22 one night to a Griz Sow and 3 young ones. They had a feast. but the cubs played with them and left feathers. Older Bears eat everything they can swallow--leg bands and all! My houses are electrified a night all season, until the Bears are reported DENNED in the fall. Heartbreaking, but some young ones in a house that was not trashed, have given a new start of same bloodlines and now are PROTECTED==as well as possible!

 

[Denwendairy]

Am so sorry- this must have been devastating for you. Hoping the camera or trapping helps you get answers.

 

[Ochocolucas]

HELP!!! So my coop has been on this property for over 30 years. we used to have problems with bobcats reaching through the wire so we have about 3 different layers of various chicken wire. we have had coyotes jump our 6ft chain link and get at the chickens when they were out roaming the yard . however they go in the coop at night and theres a small back door that slides down and closes. I had not let the hens out the past few days because they were jumping out of their fenced area and getting in my garden before I could harvest the veggies from it. but yesterday I let them out because we got a produce delivery for the animals. ANYWAY, I forgot to close the small back door to the coop and when I went out 6am this morning they were all over the bottom of the coop dead. not much blood. so at first i thought maybe they were all poisoned by the produce (but our other animals are fine) there were feathers everywhere and when I counted 5 out of 20 were missing. the ones left behind didnt have visable wounds except maybe some blood on the head or neck, but not eaten or chewed on, almost like the neck was snapped and the animal moved on. I didnt find a trail of feathers or blood to the canyon , which we live RIGHT next to. I don tknow what would have done this, a coyote i think would have eaten the small hens that were left in the coop instead of leaving them there, or carried them off....
Oh and yes, the one that looks like its sitting up in the back right IS currently still alive. she looks to have small puncture wounds on her neck and wobbles around in shock but so far is still alive.
Please Help me figure out what could have done this, also the size of the small back door is kind of visable just behind my lone survivor. we live by a canyon in san diego, california. we have coyotes, bobcats, opossums, racoons, skunks, apparently we also have weasles.... I just dont know what would leave all of them dead and have taken 5 away...
www.ranaldifamilyfarm.com

We had a very similar experience over the past year. We at first determined that it was a weasel, weasels are mostly nocturnal so we have left a light on in the chicken house for the past year and mostly stopped the slaughter. I say mostly because we recently started losing 1 or 2 at a time, something got into the pen again and we had a large rooster that had been attacked and was completely traumatized but died 2 days later. 3 weeks later we found several hens dead even with the light on and the coup door closed, one had a large wound on the neck and the other had a small wound on her neck. I am now suspecting that a family of ravens that took up residence near the chicken house this summer, I am pretty sure they are attacking the hens while they are in the laying bins, I am finding egg shells far from the chicken pen that are being carried off and eaten. We have had that coup in place for 20 years without problems, but this has been a rough year for our chickens. Good luck in solving your problem, you might want to try a light on it has not interfered with our chickens egg production.