I’m heartbroken...

[USMC chicken mommy]

We had 10 gorgeous 2.5 month old girls....they have been free ranging for a month....they always stay in the yard, as we have 2 acres. The neighborhood dogs are old and wouldn’t hurt a flea. Came home yesterday to only 3 girls, cowering in their coop. I knew there was something wrong because they are never in there.

I found one dead girl, appeared to have a broken neck, on my front porch. Another dead girl under my deck. 4 are still MIA. Our neighbor, which is retired and always sits on her swing and watches the girls, didn’t see a thing. She did however, see a dog carrying one off. Only clumps of feathers from my MIA girls.....

One of my survivors have lost all of her tail feathers, but appears to be ok.

We have only lived here for a year. We have lost our service yorkie and 6 birds in a month. I just love my babies.

Now the 4 girls remain in the run until I get home.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Sorry that this happened Totally free ranging your birds will result in losses from predators, it’s inevitable. Since you have 2 acres you should consider building a large covered run for your flock to forage in safely.

 

[A.M. Eggs]

After I lost my whole flock to coyotes, I built a super strong, huge, sturdy chickens coop and run. I have thick fencing material that goes up five feet and down 1 foot. Chicken wire and hard wire follows. I have an aviary net going up and over the top. The chicken coop has hard wire going down one foot and covering all ventilation. I have no holes in the coop bigger than 1/2 inch in order to stop even the smallest of predators.

Sorry that you are going through this terrible event.

 

[Henriettamom919]

I am so very sorry

Do you have any clue whose dog it was?

 

[Eggscaping]

The neighborhood dogs are old and wouldn’t hurt a flea. Came home yesterday to only 3 girls, cowering in their coop. I knew there was something wrong because they are never in there.

Our neighbor, which is retired and always sits on her swing and watches the girls, didn’t see a thing. She did however, see a dog carrying one off. Only clumps of feathers from my MIA girls.....

I'm so very, very sorry for what happened to you. How horrible! You do seem to have a contradiction in those two sentences though. If your neighbor saw a dog running off with one of your chickens, then perhaps your thought that they are old and wouldn't hurt a flea is not accurate.
I know that we have two small, elderly dogs who, while they won't chase cats or the like, WILL go after anything that flees, flapping and squawking, in front of them. It's just the instinct of most dogs. They have caught and killed fledgling birds that hadn't quite learned to fly yet - just out of the nest - because the bird flapped a lot and made squawking noises. Never say never.

 

[Camellia]

I send my condolences your way! So sorry for your loss

 

[cmom]

@USMC chicken mommy, @Henriettamom919 and @Camellia
Do you have a game camera you can put up. Most likely whatever it was will be back then at least you will know what you're dealing with. Several years ago I was loosing birds and couldn't figure out what was killing them. I couldn't find anywhere a predator could have gotten into the pen and coop. I put up a game camera and discovered it was an owl. I have two coops that are open on one side. Now I have netting completely covering all of my pens and haven't had another loss.

 

[USMC chicken mommy]

I'm so very, very sorry for what happened to you. How horrible! You do seem to have a contradiction in those two sentences though. If your neighbor saw a dog running off with one of your chickens, then perhaps your thought that they are old and wouldn't hurt a flea is not accurate.
I know that we have two small, elderly dogs who, while they won't chase cats or the like, WILL go after anything that flees, flapping and squawking, in front of them. It's just the instinct of most dogs. They have caught and killed fledgling birds that hadn't quite learned to fly yet - just out of the nest - because the bird flapped a lot and made squawking noises. Never say never.

Actually it’s not a contradiction. The old girl whom she seen carrying a bird off is an elderly dog who can’t hardly walk, much less kill the birds. The dog lives across the way, and they have hens, geese, turkeys and ducks and has never bothered them. I guess anything is possible, though. It truly unnerves me that people think that just because there’s no leash law, they can just allow their animals to run at large with no responsibility. Since I live in a very rural area, we only have satellite internet and my nest cameras are literally dead in the water. The dog that came into my yard and killed my yorkie, (I was standing less than 10ft away), the owners still won’t take responsibility, so we are having to go to court. They illegally rehomed that dog, though. Sadly it looks like I’m going to have to keep my gun within arms reach even when I’m outside in my own yard. Smh. Thanks for everyone’s condolences. It was a sad day.

 

[USMC chicken mommy]

 

[grace4every1]

We had 10 gorgeous 2.5 month old girls....they have been free ranging for a month....they always stay in the yard, as we have 2 acres. The neighborhood dogs are old and wouldn’t hurt a flea. Came home yesterday to only 3 girls, cowering in their coop. I knew there was something wrong because they are never in there.

I found one dead girl, appeared to have a broken neck, on my front porch. Another dead girl under my deck. 4 are still MIA. Our neighbor, which is retired and always sits on her swing and watches the girls, didn’t see a thing. She did however, see a dog carrying one off. Only clumps of feathers from my MIA girls.....

One of my survivors have lost all of her tail feathers, but appears to be ok.

We have only lived here for a year. We have lost our service yorkie and 6 birds in a month. I just love my babies.

Now the 4 girls remain in the run until I get home.

I'm so sorry your babies had to go through that and sorry for your loss. I know it has to be devastating.