how do you know what took your chicken?

[Robotmomma]

We lost one of our chicks yesterday. We can't tell what happened. They were out in their day pen which isn't that secure. I think maybe she got out of the pen and something got her. I don't think something took her out of the pen.

I found her feathers in my neighbor's yard. Very little blood just a small amount of blood on a couple of the feathers. No remains anywhere to be seen. Would a hawk leave a few feathers? It was probably sometime between noon and two pm. We have a family of hawks living nearby and they have swooped down on us trying to get a chick before.

My other suspect is this feral cat who is great at catching squirrels. But I thought he might leave more carnage behind. I couldn't find anything but feathers.

Any thoughts?

 

[sourland]

It may well be the cat or a hawk or any of a myriad of other predators. Bottom line is be on guard - it will return.

 

[Robotmomma]

I was worried whatever it was would come back to get them one by one. I have them locked in the "secure" run today. I need to figure out how to give them more space to roam without breaking the bank. It Is such a bummer because we have a decent yard and they love to free range and hide under all the bushes and things.

We loved our chick too and are so sad she is gone. She was such a friendly girl. A little comet who liked to be held.

 

[trailrider330]

In our one and only experience with a hawk taking a chicken, the hawk killed the chicken within 100 feet of the coop while it was free-ranging. The hawk sat there with the carcass and started eating it on the spot. We (and our dog) could get within about 10-15 feet from the hawk before it flew off, but it quickly returned to continue feeding until we disposed of the carcass. I think it would take awhile for a hawk to eat a whole chicken and depending on the size of the hawk, and the size of the chicken, it might have a harder time flying off with it. Depending on where you live, racoons, weasels, fox, coyote, bobcat, a cat, a dog, or countless other critters could be responsible for your chicken's disappearance. Were you able to find any tracks that would clue you into what could have done it?

Sourland is right, whatever it was, it knows where it can get an easy free meal and it will be back. If you can, borrow a trailcam and try and catch the critter in action so you know what you are dealing with. That might make it easier for you to determine how to protect your flock. In the meantime, consider beefing up your run and adding other some protective barriers (hardware cloth, an apron, electrified fence, etc.) and/or figure out how the chicken got out in the first place.

Good luck. Dealing with all these critters looking for a free and easy meal may seem like a never ending battle, but it can be done.

 

[DmCrawlz]

We have at least ten 8+ foot tall pepper trees growing wild in our chicken coop (very evasive, we did not plant them). We have only lost one chicken to a hawk but that was because it was allowed to free range far from their normal run. I see hawks out all the time and have never had a problem with them...I have always attributed it to the fact that the hawks can't actually fly in and scoop up the chickens because the trees block their flight path?? May be a good idea to plant some trees or large hedges? The hawk that did eat our chicken was a large one and was able to carry it over our 4 foot fence and 100 feet into the woods. It did not eat the chicken all at once, it revisited several times until we were able to bury our poor chicken.