Looking for help in identifying our most recent predator or 2... so we live in a pretty rural area in Virginia with known foxes, coyotes, hawks, eagles, possums, rats, snakes, raccoons.... We have week old chicks with their moms all the way to 1 year old chickens(about 70 total?), a few turkeys and ducks. All are free ranged on our 8 acres during the day and cooped up every night.
The past 2 weeks we have been having major issues with our 2 month old chicks. We have found 6 dead in a 2 week period.. 1 every other day or so. By dead, I mean that we find a pile of feathers right near the coop, with only the beak left.. no body, no feet, just the beak and all of the feathers, on 2 occasions the intestines were left. There is no evidence of a trail, it seems to have been eaten right where it was caught. This has only been happening during the day and nothing has been trying to break into the coop.
Of course we have since been keeping them locked up in the run, but oh my goodness are they mad, they would much rather be free to roam. We have live traps set around our property and so far have caught a cat and a possum. Nothing has gotten our older chickens or the babies, just the younger ones.
Issue #2.. our turkey girl started a nest in a wooded area. We thought she finally went broody after laying 11 eggs because she was sitting on them for over 6 hours. We decided we didn't want to leave her off in the woods, so we relocated her and her nest to a corner of the run, which of course she wanted nothing to do with. She was pacing and freaking out to be let out and after a few days we gave in. She ran right to her spot in the woods and laid another egg.. so stupidly I put all of the other 11 eggs back in her spot and decided to let her do her own thing. The next day, I noticed that she laid an egg on our back deck, so I walked to her spot in the woods where all 12 eggs were gone.... not one broken shell or any yolk spots. What the heck would have eaten 12 large turkey eggs in 1 day?? Could a snake seriously eat that much without so much as 1 broken egg??
Any help/opinions welcome! Again, everyone is angrily and safely locked up until we get the issues taken care of so that they don't suffer any more loses.
The past 2 weeks we have been having major issues with our 2 month old chicks. We have found 6 dead in a 2 week period.. 1 every other day or so. By dead, I mean that we find a pile of feathers right near the coop, with only the beak left.. no body, no feet, just the beak and all of the feathers, on 2 occasions the intestines were left. There is no evidence of a trail, it seems to have been eaten right where it was caught. This has only been happening during the day and nothing has been trying to break into the coop.
Of course we have since been keeping them locked up in the run, but oh my goodness are they mad, they would much rather be free to roam. We have live traps set around our property and so far have caught a cat and a possum. Nothing has gotten our older chickens or the babies, just the younger ones.
Issue #2.. our turkey girl started a nest in a wooded area. We thought she finally went broody after laying 11 eggs because she was sitting on them for over 6 hours. We decided we didn't want to leave her off in the woods, so we relocated her and her nest to a corner of the run, which of course she wanted nothing to do with. She was pacing and freaking out to be let out and after a few days we gave in. She ran right to her spot in the woods and laid another egg.. so stupidly I put all of the other 11 eggs back in her spot and decided to let her do her own thing. The next day, I noticed that she laid an egg on our back deck, so I walked to her spot in the woods where all 12 eggs were gone.... not one broken shell or any yolk spots. What the heck would have eaten 12 large turkey eggs in 1 day?? Could a snake seriously eat that much without so much as 1 broken egg??
Any help/opinions welcome! Again, everyone is angrily and safely locked up until we get the issues taken care of so that they don't suffer any more loses.
