I have, did have 3 hens (one rooster) and 3 guineas. Now I have 1 hen, 1 rooster, and 3 guineas. They are free range 24/7 and I haven’t had any real problems before, a close call with a hawk once.
But anyway today I want to check on the birds and collect eggs and the first thing I see is one of my best layers dead on the ground (in the run), it looked like it had been tossed around, no bite marks or nothing just missing a few feathers near the gullet, and its left leg is out of socket.
So then I ring the bell and all the birds come running up from the field and I notice that my rooster is missing all of his tail feathers and that there was only one hen and I look around and notice that there are a few guinea feathers in the corner of the run. I fed them some millet and corn got up and looked for the other bird, and I found it laying about 9ft from the coop next to the tree, dead. In the same condition as the other bird, it looked like it had been tossed around missing a few feathers and that’s it.
There weren’t any tracks (we had a huge rain storm last night) and I think it attacked some time during the night. One dead hen (the one sittin dead by the tree base) had some ants on it, 2 eggs were in the coop and there were a few feathers in the coop (it didn’t look like much action happened in there). We normally get 2-3 eggs in a day, and I didn’t collect eggs yesterday, so it had to of happen during the night.
At first I thought it was a coon, but there are no bite marks or nothing, just it looked like joy kills. Something like what dogs would do. And lately there has been a white pit roaming the streets. What do u think it could be? We are going to put a game cam by the coop and see if it comes back. But im betting that its a dog.
The birds will only be free range now when I am home now, and the guns will be ready. If it turns out that it’s a dog I’ll have to get some pics of it trying to get in the coop first. I guess I’ll go ahead and dig a hole for whatever it is. What do you think I should do? What do you think could of killed my 2 hens?
& wow this fourm has changed so much, its been a wile since ive been on. Glad to be back! and this means more baby chicks this spring. : )
But anyway today I want to check on the birds and collect eggs and the first thing I see is one of my best layers dead on the ground (in the run), it looked like it had been tossed around, no bite marks or nothing just missing a few feathers near the gullet, and its left leg is out of socket.
So then I ring the bell and all the birds come running up from the field and I notice that my rooster is missing all of his tail feathers and that there was only one hen and I look around and notice that there are a few guinea feathers in the corner of the run. I fed them some millet and corn got up and looked for the other bird, and I found it laying about 9ft from the coop next to the tree, dead. In the same condition as the other bird, it looked like it had been tossed around missing a few feathers and that’s it.
There weren’t any tracks (we had a huge rain storm last night) and I think it attacked some time during the night. One dead hen (the one sittin dead by the tree base) had some ants on it, 2 eggs were in the coop and there were a few feathers in the coop (it didn’t look like much action happened in there). We normally get 2-3 eggs in a day, and I didn’t collect eggs yesterday, so it had to of happen during the night.
At first I thought it was a coon, but there are no bite marks or nothing, just it looked like joy kills. Something like what dogs would do. And lately there has been a white pit roaming the streets. What do u think it could be? We are going to put a game cam by the coop and see if it comes back. But im betting that its a dog.
The birds will only be free range now when I am home now, and the guns will be ready. If it turns out that it’s a dog I’ll have to get some pics of it trying to get in the coop first. I guess I’ll go ahead and dig a hole for whatever it is. What do you think I should do? What do you think could of killed my 2 hens?
& wow this fourm has changed so much, its been a wile since ive been on. Glad to be back! and this means more baby chicks this spring. : )
